d-dave

I can't imagine going now. I love my team, and I watch them as I can. But going downtown, paying for parking, food, snacks, drinks, etc inside and outside of the stadium...No thanks!

I don't blame fans. We've had a poo product on the field for a LONG time. The Panthers have been saturating the market with a LOT of hopium this offseason. It doesn't help that the NFL media machine has tagged us as an up and coming team. Why spend your hard earned money on a Panthers game where they are going to look like crap? They need to get better before they'll have some fan by in. What do we hang our hat on? For years, it was Defense, and it was a heck of a D. We don't have that identity right now. It doesn't help having a former Youth Pastor (the way he talks) head coach and a QB who is a physical outlier. Fans are going to fan their own way. But Tepper needs to figure out his own owning style.

Great point! The quotes from O'Connell about teams failing rookie Qbs and the one about how you coach them after 3 picks and a loss were really interesting. To me, an idiot with a keyboard, it means NFL teams need to be patience if they are going to have quality QB play. So bringing me to Bryce, is there some benefit to being patient. I know it's not a particularly popular opinion around here, and even I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Most QBs, when benched lose their confidence. It takes a LONG time to get it back. Bryce on the other hand was benched, and came back a different player. I feel like that's worth a lot more than the physical talents of a guys like AR15... I think Bryce has the mental make up to be a good NFL QB. His problem will always be his tools. Now it's on coaching to work around that. Bryce is more physically gifted than late years Drew Brees (low bar, I know). While I'm content to see what happens this season, there's a small part of me that says...maybe we should see what grows? (let me duck and hide from the well earned vitriol the Panthers have earned). Then again, I agree that some guys get it while others just don't. I'm still hoping for the Panthers and Bryce to find success this season. But if not, I won't be too surprised if the plug is pulled and there is a restart.

No. Sorry to burst everyone's bubble. If Hooker is out taking snaps, then THERE IS A MASSIVE issue beyond how poor we've played. Why not? I'm a reactive person! Make changes for the sake of changes! I get it. But why? Because of Bryce and off season trades. First round QBs usually have value, even if they suck. Bryce is the same way. Bryce does have talent, and I could absolutely see some teams in the off season kicking the tires on Bryce. Benching him for a practice squad QB after two weeks will tank his value. May as well release him then. The rest of the team will not be happy, and I don't think anyone wants to deal with that. No one wants to waste a year of time. The guys want to win. It's very possible we do move on from Bryce this off season, but we don't have another option which will help us win. Bryce almost lead an extremely improbable last minute drive. He didn't get it, but the play calling did him no favors. So just drop him and plug in someone who they see in practice who doesn't have the skills to step in? No.

So I had a night to sleep, read about some of the other games, and reflect on what I saw. The first half was just horrific by the Panthers. Heck, I was ready to call it quits completely. The second half was a MUCH better team. The problem was we were down 20-3. That's not a good way to try to get a win. But I will give the Panthers credit for clawing back. Look, it was closer than it should have been. The Panthers have to STOP giving other teams turnovers. Bryce - He did have some really great throws today. He also had two fumbles and a pick. On top of the four from week 1... Dude, this is not acceptable. Bryce is still up and down. Part of it is definitely him. Part of it is the coaching and scheme. The fact there were almost zero plays where they moved the pocket didn't help him at all. Dave - C'mon discount youth pastor. He talks a word salad to avoid throwing his players under the bus. I can appreciate that. But in the meeting room, you have to sit folks down. You also need to call better plays. The last drive was a completely doable drive. Instead, we had the world longest dead drive. We had ONE play out of (20? it felt like 20) that gained yards. What's going on there??? You're supposed to make teams defend every blade of grass, but the entire game was pretty predictable. EJ - I'll give him a few props for breaking the 200 yard rushing streak, and generally holding AZ in check. BUT his D let the Cards march down the end the first half and start the 2nd. For fugs sake - figure it out! Your job is to put these dudes in places to be successful. T-Mac - You are a beautiful Hawaiian god! He's a f'n DUDE! He really had a fantastic game. Much love for T-Mac. XL - Do you need to go eat some raw racoon or something? I know he's enjoying his bumpkin bit, but it's only going to work so long as he is a decent player. Where's the summer XL who was mentioned as a breakout candidate? Have some pride and go get the ball. This is still not a good team. We have some good players sprinkled out there, but we lack talent in a lot of areas. We have to play perfectly to be able to win, which is not sustainable. The coaches need to figure it out.

What I was coming on to say, except Bryce's fumble-6 and pick were pretty back breaking. What was getting me at the end was how there was no plan to move the ball in that last drive. We had 50 yards, and only really moved with penalties. Did anyone have a catch (forgive me, that last drive took 4 hours lol)? For me, I feel less bad since we tried to fight back. Bryce did battle back, BUT he still didn't deliver. Canales did not call a particularly good offensive game. His seat needs to be hot, and I'm find letting Bryce deliver us a new QB and coach.

It's not over. There are plenty of other teams with hopes and dreams. Not us though. Just pain. More pain unless you just let it go. This is a record for me, 6 quarters and I'm done with the season... At least we had summer lol.

Man shoot, I could do that over the summer, but Sunday nights are a no go during the school year for me! Good luck finding more players!

I don't disagree. I'm getting awful tired of watching Bryce Young come out and play poorly. The last half of the season, there was some kind of magic. They couldn't find that this off season I guess. I want my Panthers to be fun to watch, to win, and for all the players (even Young) to do well. If Bryce doesn't succeed off to swing at more QB chances again. Thankfully, it's not my job to fix that. If I were in a leadership position of the team, I'd be having some very frank conversations (and possibly polishing off my resume if the season continues to suck). On the hopium side, I hope that this was just "week 4 of the preseason." Maybe they can get it right next week. It's a nice fantasy until I get bludgeoned in the face by reality

I think it would have to go true dumpster fire for us to clean house. Week One was pretty alarming. All the talk of how different and improved the team was only to come out and look like utter garbage is not going to win anyone over. I like that there's synergy between HC and GM, but there also has to be results. We're not seeing the results. The NFL is a result oriented business. Now, if the team plays a lot better in the coming weeks, great. But let's see it first. I think that Canales should start to see the hand moving towards the seat heater clearly.

While I am hoping like crazy for Bryce to lead the Panthers to sustained success, the proof isn't there right now. Did he make some good throws Sunday? Yes. Did he make some bad throws? Yes. Did XL (and others)let him down? Yes. Did he make some stupid decisions? Yes. Bryce wasn't good Bryce, and the team was pretty poopy. Now the PFF grades...I don't know much about analytical math. OK - but my eyes saw a team that wasn't prepared to play, not just a QB. If we're going to count drops at competitions and missed yards as actual yards...Then I'm the king of England!? Right?

That's pretty cool, when do y'all play? I'd be down for sure depending on schedule.

Terrible? No doubt he was Sunday. Will he ever get gud? No clue. Listening the Panther's Playbook (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8QW-k4du0) the guys made an excellent point: there is no trust. Bryce isn't trusting his line, WRs or the system. That's not good at all. When Bryce has trust, we see what happened after the bye last year. The biggest question is "where did the trust go?" That's something that Canales and Co. need to figure out ASAP. Look, I think Bryce is a nice guy, and I'm glad he's generationally wealthy. But I want my Panthers to succeed. If he's the guy to do it, great. If not, be the guy we need to help us get that top 5 pick.

It's easy for us fans to toss the baby out with the bath water immediately. Tepper created a shitshow. He's been extremely quick to fire guys who aren't producing and continuing to have the same result no matter who the coach is. If Tepper goes full nuclear today, no one half way decent will touch the Panthers while he's the owner. That's just the reality, and @Tbe points it out well. You need to give these guys time to show their incompetence after you gave them all the rope you could. I think Morgan and Canales will get to draft a guy if Bryce continues to play like Sunday the rest of the season, but if there aren't early returns, then we could see it all blown up before the end of the '26 Season. I don't think anyone would fault him if year three, even with a rookie, goes terribly. That being said, Evero has been given more than enough opportunity. I'm tired of the excuses, this is year three. Either you get it, or you need to get out. I have no idea if Evero has any (coaching, he seems like a really sincere dude) redeeming qualities, but his time here hasn't been great.

Well, he'll lead us to wins or to a top pick. If we pick up top, we can find our next QB. Sucks, but that's just the way it is.