KB_fan

Yes! 3 & out for the Pats on 1st possession. Sweet.

Steve Reed ‏@SteveReedAP 16s17 seconds ago Tom Brady starts for the Patriots.

I think we're 3 for 3 on winning the toss?!?

Folkerts

Are you talking about NFL Network, Game Pass? I'm listening to Panthers radio tonight. Can't log on to Game Pass until tomorrow when I have better internet access.

Joe Person ✔ @josephperson Little surprised there's not a bigger crowd here tonight. Big HS football night in CLT area. Ummm... what was that about HS football in the Why Your Team Sucks article about the Panthers...?! LOL.

http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/Broadcast-Info-Panthers-vs-Patriots-/f3ae0a58-6bc7-411c-ae84-2c0d8644f9ec

Yes, I agree. I don't have a lot of confidence in Folkerts.

WORST. TWEET. EVER. David Newton ‏@DNewtonespn 2m2 minutes ago Stop the presses. Kelvin Benjamin not dressing. #NEvsCAR #Sarcasm He just delights in rubbing it in, it seems. I mean last week it was "KB would have caught that pass" tweets from Newton. Just SHUT UP.

Max Henson @PanthersMax Brian Folkerts will start at center in Ryan Kalil's absence tonight. Kalil watching as linemen go through pregame drills.

Jonathan Jones ✔ @jjones9 Not playing tonight: Funchess (hammy), C Jones (groin), Brockel (shoulder), Silatolu (calf), Kalil (knee), Dickson (groin, ill)... ...C Johnson (calf), Lotulelei (foot) and Short (back). Wes Horton and Kony Ealy start at DE. Love and D Edwards at DT. Coleman over Boston Steve Reed ‏@SteveReedAP 12m12 minutes ago Sitting OUT for Panthers tonight: WR Devin Funchess, DE Charles Johnson, DT Kawann Short, DT Star Lotulelei, C Ryan Kalil, TE Ed Dickson......CB Lou Young, S Colin Jones, TE Richie Brockel, G Amini Silatolu, and OT Davonte Wallace, Mike Reiss ✔ @MikeReiss Wide receivers have taken the field and no Julian Edelman for #Patriots tonight.

What I'm hoping to see: 1) Sharp offense right from the start - Cam focused and leading the charge. Definitely like to see some of the WRs like Boykin & Brown establish themselves - make some tough catches and show good hands. (Hoping Funchess will also be one of the leading WRs of the game, but unclear if he's playing tonight?) 2) Want to see the run game make some progress against the 1s, and hoping Wegher gets a chance to show us how he can play against tougher competition. (i.e. getting subbed in for some snaps while the 1s are still playing) 3) Take-aways by our defense, by Coleman, Tillman, Ealy. 4) Better special teams, especially punt return coverage. I'm really surprised we're still struggling so much in this area. 5) Defensive dominance shutting out Brady. Wouldn't that be sweet. ABOVE ALL - NO INJURIES!

Nice write up Jeremy. I see what you're doing, LOL. Link these two players so closely together in everyone's minds that keeping Wegher can't be separated from keeping Ward too,. Yup...! :-) Maybe it will work!

Excellent. Thanks

Re: it being so quiet here today, I think most of us are "posted out" after all the emotion & frenzied posting following Kelvin's injury. A lot of the excitement is dampened for today, even if some of us still have hope for a good season. I know I don't feel like posting much. Also, with it being a home game, some huddlers are at the stadium taligating and not on the computer...

Funchess is out. Also out: Star, CJ.

I just discovered I can probably use the data at Pro Football Reference to do what I want. Let me see if I can come up with a % of rookies started over time for the Panthers... at least for the past few years...

Hi all, reading yet another thread with this debate ("Ron favors too many veterans" versus "look how many rookies we started last year") has got me thinking of a statistic that would be interesting to compare across teams and across years: Total rookie starts per team, per season. Does anyone know if this data is compiled anywhere? Would it interest people if I could do some work on it? If so, can anyone point me to a site where I can find a list of starters for each team for each game? I've not come across that data in an obvious form anywhere. Perhaps I'm missing something?

Yeah, it hurts to read. But given that KB played all but the last day of camp, and had outstanding catches during the BUF pre-season game, you gotta give it to him. He was looking stellar, and while it hurts to now have him gone, it's good to acknowledge how he came in focused and ready to excel, especially after the questions that were raised about a possible "sophomore slump" during OTAs when he was battling the hamstring issues. KB earned the MVP certainly. Just so sorry we won't get to see him play this season.

He had some kind of minor surgery for a groin injury in June I believe. I don't think he participated in OTAs. He's been on the PUP since the beginning of Camp.

Just a correction, Ginn is most-experienced after Cotch. Here's a table listing WRs in order of experience (games played) #PlayerPos.HTWTDraft YearDraft StatusTotal gamesTotal Starts82Cotchery, JerrichoWR6' 00"2032004Round 41739219Ginn, TedWR5' 11"1802007Round 11274115Boykin, JarrettWR6' 02"2182012UDFA421187Hill, StephenWR6' 04"2152012Round 2231912Brown, MikeWR5' 10"2052012UDFA18813Benjamin, KelvinWR6' 05"2402014Round 1181711Bersin, BrentonWR6' 03"2112012UDFA17116Brown, CoreyWR5' 11"1782014UDFA15417Funchess, DevinWR6' 04"2322015Round 20083Lucas, MarcusWR6' 04"2182014UDFA007Browning, PaulWR6' 02"2202015UDFA0018Byrd, DamiereWR5' 09"1622015UDFA0081Capers, AviusWR5' 09"2002015UDFA00

Can someone remind me of the process for adding players to the IR? We can't add Kelvin to IR now because we'd first have to waive him and would lose him (ala Gaffney). At what point can he be put on the IR? I'm assuming it's when we cut down to 53, but I'm not positive of that.

Oh, one other change I'd make on the PS: I'd have Cox ahead of Foucault. I just haven't heard / seen anything to justify keeping Foucault around...

That looks like quite a plausible scenario. I fear we'd lose Wegher. There are some teams that are hurting at RB and he could be picked up. That risk of losing him could possibly open up a spot on the 53 for him, but it's hard to know at whose expense it would be. We know Brockel is a coach favorite / swiss-army-knife type guy. I'm not so sure we keep Teddy Williams. I hadn't gotten the impression that he had a good camp. You could be right about only keeping 5 WRs, but I'm a bit concerned about Funchess. He's seeming a bit fragile at the moment with all these hamstring tweaks, etc. Boykin has shown some flashes, as well as some bad drops. I'm not quite sure he's on the cut list yet, but I think, like you. that the odds are in favor of Cotch & Bersin ahead of him. A lot will depend on whether he steps up during the next 3 pre-season games...

Tweets to KB from teammates and some players around the league, incl. Kam Chancellor http://blackandbluereview.com/kelvin-benjamin-injury-reaction/