kungfoodude

Burrow appears to be a relentless competitor and had a reputation for having high intangibles. I haven't heard that kind of talk about Darnold. Definitely not saying he doesn't work hard, but there are just some guys that are at another level. Not sure he is. I don't think Sam was a desperation move, I think they considered him the best of a bunch of gamble options. We'll see. I'd much rather you be correct than me.

Plus we have a favorable early schedule, as well. We started strong last year, so I suspect we should start strong this year. But, we also had the element of surprise early last year whereas now there is a full season if tape on our offensive and defensive tendencies.

I think we will have our answer before mid-season, whether good or bad.

WR just depends on how quickly those guys get acquainted. Samuel was a very, very good weapon for us last year so I wouldn't be shocked if our WR corps wasn't a little worse this year just because his replacements don't produce like he did and/or are as consistent as he was last year. That could very well change in 2022 and beyond, however. QB....well....higher ceiling than last year, way, way, way, WAAAAAAAAAAAY lower floor. DL has been upgraded big time, IMO. Even losing Kerr, I think Fox and Jones and even Reddick make our pass rush potentially ferocious. That is arguably the most exciting unit on the team. OL....TBD. I don't think the starters will be much better but I think we won't see the dramatic drop off once injuries start being an issue.

I genuinely wish I could see what they see and you see but I don't. Where you all see the college play, the portions of an elite skillset and the promise of potential....I see his NFL career and what he actually DID when it mattered. As a buddy of mine once said at an AAU tournament, "Potential just means you haven’t done poo yet."

You are always going to see people that think they can motivate or get the best out of a person with "potential." I can tell you as someone who has done some career development for people in my field, sometimes all that raw potential just simply remains unrealized. They may fool you for a long time by you just simply being around them. They say all the right things, they do all the right things but once you set them out on their own....all that motivation and potential evaporate.

Knowledge doesn't always equal competence. I have worked for a corporate guy at a Fortune 500 company multiple times when he was a site manager. One of the best people I have worked for but I have also never seen a worse example of being able to make a full time hire. Literally bungled almost every job search and hired nightmare employees(almost all of them terminated by now). I saw at least a couple of the processes and it was "general knowledge" that he shouldn't hire some of these people. He did anyway, despite what the rest of us thought. Imagine the draft room when Hurney takes a guy like Gaulden?

Well, Darnold has never been average in his career so....it could also be a lot worse to watch. We have to at least be somewhat prepared for that possibility, as well. His playing style should be more fun to watch. That I am expecting.

The amount of fans that believe this is actually stunning.

I think the Panthers Confidential shows Tepper is pretty involved in all the decisions made. He is definitely a hands on owner.

The the people that fall back on that argument never actually mean it because they usually have opinions counter to the team/coaches/players at some point. It's the typical lazy argument when you just don't like what is being said/read. Guess what, sometimes the posters on this board DO know better than NFL GM's/coaches/owners/etc. Just because they have more information or and/or more experience doesn't mean they aren't prone to making dumb errors or just being bad at their job. They aren't any different than any other workplace in the country. Some people suck, some people are great and the rest fall somewhere in between.

Yes, that game was not that dissimilar from our regular season matchups against them. People are forgetting we went 4-3-1 against them(essentially a split) and the scoring for the season series was, I believe, exactly even. We aren't out of it but we MUST win this next game.

I hope this next crew is better. The 2020 results from the draft look pretty good. Two good starters(potentially long term) and a starter to key backup guy. If we can get two good starters and another potential starter out of the 2021 draft, they might make me a believer.

TBH, the Darnold story for us is not about his accomplishments in college or what he did(or mostly did not) do in the NFL. We bought in on his potential and that they could reconcile a bust QB. They all but stated in that Panthers Confidential video that it was a flier on a guy with potential. He either works out or he doesn't. If not, we just move on to the next guy. I don't think anyone is under the illusion that he is a franchise QB. The hope is that he is a guy that can spell you until we get a franchise QB. If he works out, maybe that is a few years. If he doesn't, we'll probably be the on that derailed Deshaun Watson train if it ever makes it back on the tracks.

I don't think Eli is a shoe-in.

Oh I know. After 2015 I woukd defend us vigorously as a franchise because our overall all-time record was good, our accomplishments were stout. Then came the decline of the last five seasons(minus 2017). Now our all-time record is quickly sliding to the cellar, our winning seasons percentage is sliding to the cellar, and we have still yet to have back to back winning seasons. Eventually I started to realize that we were historically a bad franchise.

Go back and read that again.

We definitely did not play like poo tonight. We just didn't take advantage of the opportunities in the first period and Ned let in a soft goal.

Losing home ice is huge. That is not good news, flat out.

Intensity is up. Just have to finish. I know once we go EN they will bang one in to win. Have we had a single 6 on 5 goal all season?

That was a very, very avoidable goal. I don't want to lose on that BS.

Dammit Ned.

I just wish our PP wasn't so obviously overmatched against Tampa.

Not a problem. I will neg us to victory.