Mr. Scot

Said going into the second game what I wanted to see was improvement over the first game. That was gonna be a tall order against one of the best defenses in the league. Did I see it? Well, lets take a look. Starting first with our own defense: They went into the game down a starter (Horn) lost another in the first half (Thompson )and had a third look gimpy near game's end (Burns). Despite all that though, they held up well for a lot of the game. Certainly don't wanna see any more injuries, but I like what Evero is doing scheme-wise. Mind you, the offense didn't make it easy. The Saints defense is as advertised, and having a quarterback in only his second start going against them is a recipe for disaster. But while it wasn't exactly a thing of beauty, it wasn't a disaster either. Last week's biggest issue for Young was turnovers. This game he only lost one, and even that one I wouldn't put too much on him. The defensive lineman who smacked it out made a great play. That'll happen, but it's not the result of a bad decision so much as a missed block. On that topic, yhe offensive line certainly had a bigger challenge than last week. And like the defense, they were down a starter. There were going to be struggles. In this case, enough that starter Cade Mays ended up taking a seat for Calvin Throckmorton. We're still at least a couple of weeks away from Austin Corbett being available again, so those struggles might still continue for a little bit. In the passing game, I'm gonna guess the staff told Young to be more cautious about throwing to receivers with little separation. Unfortunately, that seemed like all we had. Two games in, what's painfully obvious is that our receiving corps isn't giving Young a lot to work with just yet. That left the Saints free to concentrate heavily on the run, and it worked. As a group, our pass catchers are generally smart with good hands, but there's not a lot of playmaking ability there. Now, you can still work with that against some defenses, but not one as good as the Saints. The staff may need to tweak some of their scheming, mixing up route combinations or other things to try and compensate, but even with that it's likely to be a limitation for most if not all of this season. So what about Bryce? Well, besides overall protecting the ball better, he made some good audible calls and even ran a very efficient two minute drill. That's a maked improvement over last week when he looked uncomfortable doing anything up tempo. Yes, it was against prevent, but you still have to execute. He did, even when the Saints realized they'd screwed up and tried to tighten up at the goal line. The TD pass to Theilen was a really nice piece of improv. Happy to see it So bottom line for me? Again, watching a rookie quarterback in only his second pro start playing against one of the best defenses in the league would normally fall under the genre of horror. In this case though, it was more of a thriller. Is that improvement? Yeah, I think it is To anyone still looking for magic this season, you're probably gonna be disappointed. But if you put it in perspective and keep in mind where we are (basically mile two of a hundred mile journey) it's progress. Slow progress maybe, but progress nonetheless. And I'll take that...

Right

Not a bad first half overall. Miscues and growing pains, sure but that's to be expected. Still like what I'm seeing from Young. And the defense looks sharp. Let's see what kind of adjustments we get at halftime.

Saints going heavy against the run trying to force Young and the receivers to have to beat them passing. Probably see a lot of that until Young gets more comfortable.

Nice work by Thielen preventing a pick

Appreciated

She decided to wait until tomorrow to go to the ER. Her regular doctor will be on duty then.

Near pick by Xhinn

We call you a lot of things

Starting left guard

Young audibled there

Burns...damn

Luke!

Thanks for thoughts and prayers, everyone. Appreciated tomorrow as well...

Congrats

The entire staff gets input on their respective positions, and that's not unique to the Panthers. McAdoo was the OC, so yeah he'd have input on the QB spot.

Not what it says... The paragraph states that all of their scouts had the same opinion on Young, which isn't hard to believe at all. That doesn't necessarily mean they all thought he should be the pick, just that they all evaluated him similarly. To be clear though, it also wouldn't be that hard to believe everyone ranked Young as the best. That doesn't require he be a generational prospect, just that he's the best available in this draft.

Understood

No argument

Change of plans. She can't see her usual OB/GYN doctor until tomorrow so about halfway to the ER she decided to have me take her home. We'll be heading back out in the morning. Prayers again tomorrow morning, please. I'll still likely be distracted tonight but we're home.

FYI: Might not be around much for tonight's game. Lady Cowboy Fan had another surgery last Thursday, and she's having some pain in the area where it was done. She's been trying to tough through it but it finally got bad enough that she's decided to go to the ER. Obviously this takes precedence over football. I might be back if everything is okay but right now we don't know. Prayers appreciated

Haven't seen that anywhere but outside of a massive quarterback like Cam Newton, sneaks are as much about your blockers as they are the quarterback.

Our quarterback coach would be extremely familiar with Drake Maye.

From the pre-draft process article about Young... Old free agents didn't seem to be the vibe. Not after the Panthers and Reich had spent most of the last five years cycling through rentals. The obvious call was to draft one, but picking ninth, there's no guarantee. And while there were some good ones who might be available in 2024 in UNC's Maye and Southern Cal's Caleb Williams, that seemed a little far down the road. Because as good as Young was, the Bears ended up with the first pick despite having a decent young quarterback in Justin Fields. Their pick might be available. Waiting until next year would be more of a roll of the dice. So the Panthers turned their thoughts to the now, and how to make now work. "We've not won a bunch of games in the last few years," Reich said. "So how many years can you go? Can you keep putting off this thing to take your shot and get your guy? And part of the calculus is, do we have enough capital to be patient for another year? And then naturally, as a coach, you know, you're always optimistic. I mean, we're at nine right now. I'm sure I'm not planning on being lower than that next year. "I mean, everybody knows, you always have to be playing that game. You're not just in this draft; you have to be looking out a year or two. But you also have to factor in how full is the gas tank. Or do we need to fill up right now?" "The fact was, we felt so strongly about the quarterback this year, right?" Fitterer said. "Like, even in our February meetings, where every scout had the same opinion on this guy. It never really changed. It just kind of held strong that way, right? That reinforced that we're doing the right thing." Fitterer and the scouts thought a certain way in January. A new staff of coaches rolls in in February, and they initially think the same thing. The more they learned, the more sure they became. They had conviction.

It's an annual exercise...