BrianS

This is the worst "hot take" I see in our fanbase. Do you seriously believe our front office and staff didn't see the problem? Come on man, they knew it was a problem. Seriously - what do you expect them to say publicly? "Yea, our OLine is gonna suck" We signed Moton. We signed Elfein. We signed Erving. We drafted Christianson. We drafted Brown. Etc Now, you can argue that some of our signings were not what we would have liked. But consider for a moment that we walked into last offseason with a 42 million dollar weight strapped around our neck. We just didn't have the resources available in terms of cap space that other teams had. You can argue that our draft picks haven't shown out yet. The season has a long way to go. A lot can change. Norwell and Turner started 2014 on the bench, but were playing in December. This ain't Madden where you can power through a season in a couple days and fix problems. This is the NFL. It takes time.

The Dallas game? Yea, that was on the defense. You can't give up 36 points and win very often. The Philly game? Not on the defense. 21 points is a very reasonable number of points to give up. I don't care what Rhule said. The defense was fine.

And there it is. The thing that turns your franchise into a "window" team (or perennial loser) instead of a consistent contender. I'm hoping our front office is finally getting this, even if we as fans aren't quite there yet. When need and availability match up in the draft, great, love it. But specifically saying "We're going to draft OLine because we need it" is nuts. You can't love a guy because he's what you need. Sure, if you have two guys graded the same, obviously you look at need to break that tie.

Funny thing about that. We have priors for doing exactly this. The first game of 2014, our starting OL was: Bell, Velasco, Kalil (the good one), Silatolu, Chandler. The first game of 2015 our starting OL was: Oher, Norwell, Kalil, Turner, Remmers. That exact progression there was the entire genesis of the infamous Rivera "The answer may be on the roster". Norwell, Turner and Remmers were all on the 2014 roster, they just didn't begin the year on the field. Likewise, consider how our ENTIRE defense changed in one offseason - the famous Rhule all defense draft. Yes, it's painful to be where we are right now, but this is typical Panthers fan reaction when a season starts with some success. We overreact. This season was never our season. Not sure why we can't square with that. This was / is supposed to be our transition year. Settling in with the Rhule system and becoming that team that might not quite be there, but no one really wants to play in December. We're also still sitting on 42 million in dead cap. We just didn't have the money to go get what we needed. Doesn't matter who is to blame for getting us to that point, the fact is it's 42 million we couldn't spend on the team we're fielding this year. Next season, if we're still in dire straits on the OLine, it's very fair to question the staff / front office.

While I don't disagree with the OP sentiment, the unfortunate fact is that there simply aren't any takers out there. Think about it this way. Who would the market be for Donte? If you aren't interested in the player for this year, you can get him for free next March. That eliminates pretty much half the league right there. Further, we just picked up CJ Henderson for a 3rd and Stephon Gilmore for a 6th. What does that tell you about the market right now for CB's? There just nothing there. We bought in a low market, which is what you're supposed to do. The only way I see that changing is if there is some bizarre series of season ending injuries to starting CB's across the league.

I appreciate the zeal of the OP, but the problem with grading based on highlights is that by sheer definition, you're grading only the absolute best plays of the game or the absolute worst. It's just not helpful in determining what the problems may have been. For example, giving BC a low grade based on his getting overpowered. First off, this should be a cautionary tale for all of the huddle OLine coaches. BC's game was never power. It's technique. Putting him at guard is dumb. That's not his game. Second, you had a rookie in his first start playing out of position. Don't let that be understated. I can't remember who it was, some Panthers lineman from the past, who was asked about switching from right to left. He said it was like learning to wipe with your other hand. You can learn it, but it can be messy. Third, if there was a solid anchor on the interior, and all you saw all game was BC ushering his guy upfield and past the QB, how much better would you rate him? A good OLine can easily compensate for having one backup quality player in it. Unfortunately, it appears right now that we have at least three. That's unlikely to change this year. Hopefully our coaches realize that and account for it.

I mean, how could this not happen? Rhule talked him up after the Dallas game. Kiss of death man, kiss of death.

In all fairness, if his first read wasn't there, chances are he was getting hit before getting the second one.

You cannot - CANNOT - Let that happen. Moore was the better receiver last year. He's the better receiver this year. With the cap situation this coming offseason, the smart move is to front load some money for DJ into next year. I think outrage would be warranted frankly. Think of it this way. What kind of numbers would DJ put up in a highly successful offensive system? With Mahomes in KC, Rodgers in Green Bay, Wilson in Seattle, etc.

For a guy who believes in stats and analytics, he's sure missing some big ones right now. In 2020, 12 of 14 playoff teams averaged giving up 23 points or less per game. 2021 reality check: Currently averaging 18 per game. Our defense is fine. In 2021, 12 of 14 playoff teams averaged scoring 26 points or more per game. 2021 reality check: Currently averaging 23 per game. I see you Joe Brady.

Yes. A comeback is typically thrown before the receiver makes a break. The QB reads the DB and decides whether he's leveraged to make the play or not. Basically the QB is just throwing to a spot before the receiver reaches the top of his route. Double moves and stuff the QB can't get the read until after the move has been made. The QB can't even make the read until the receiver reaches the top of the route and makes his break. Unless you see something very specific pre-snap, those types of routes are typically your last read before you check it down. A lot really comes down to the way the play and progression are drawn up.

This cannot be said enough. Pressure up the middle is the WORST CASE SCENARIO for any QB. It's the fastest, most direct way to put a QB under pressure. Why does that matter? Well, obviously because defensively you WANT to put the QB under pressure to force mistakes. You cannot ask ANY QB - Mahomes, Rogers, Brady, etc - to face pressure on 50% of his drops. How do you beat a great QB? Pressure and contain. If that's the formula for beating the best of the best, how much does that affect a guy who isn't in that stratosphere? I don't know if Sam is the answer. Maybe, I have no strong feelings either way at this point. But this game wasn't a fair representation. No QB should ever face pressure on half his drops.

This is exactly what I've been saying. BC, for all that he is, doesn't appear to be stout enough to play G. My only observation is that we should stop moving him around, put him at LT (where he played his entire college career) and see where we go. Nothing to lose really, and it gets both tackles in their most comfortable position.

It's all on the interior. If you can't anchor, your whole line looks bad. Tackles can't do their job because a lot of their technique revolves around ushering the edge player upfield past the QB, or to a point where the QB can simply step up. Whole thing breaks down when the pressure is up the gut.

And we have FOUR of those.

There's always this guy:

This is EXACTLY how we should look at it. We get him for a year, and our young CB's get to soak that in. If we work out a team friendly deal, great. We got a guy who in his prime was one of the best. I suspect we'll see a decline now, given age. Doesn't mean he can't contribute. But worst case, he wants more than we are willing to pay, he walks. We just flipped a 6th for a late 3rd. Who doesn't love that?

Yea, it was 33 - 14, and we brought it back to a one score game with a young team still finding their way. We never gave up. What would you like us to do? Put in PJ? Come on man. Get behind our team. For the Cowboys, why would they throw it? That's dumb. They owned us in the run game. There was no need to throw it when they could run, grind clock and see the game out. They did exactly what we hated Rivera for doing, albeit with more lead than Rivera usually built up. They nearly came to regret their choice. If we get that stop after kicking off, we get the ball back and tie the game . . . how big of an IDIOT does McCarthy look? Colossal. Rivera sized. Maybe Fox sized. I take comfort in seeing our team continue to grow. You seem to take joy in seeing us fail. Have fun with that.

It would be foolish in the extreme for fans to believe that what we can see isn't just as glaringly obvious to our front office. So yes, of course we've called around. But other teams are also not blind, and have scouting departments. They know how badly we need some help there, so it will come at a premium. It's obvious, isn't it? The worse you need it, the more you're willing to pay to get it, right? I applaud the front office for not overpaying to get a guy. That's the kind of restraint that builds a consistent contender as opposed to a "window" team. I want to see the Panthers as part of the playoff conversation EVERY YEAR. This front office looks like it may actually get us there.

When talking about Jaycee coming back this year, Fit just said in his press conference "We plan on going to the playoffs". That's a big statement.

When healthy, it's very possible - maybe even likely - we have the best cornerback room in the NFL. If the opponents want to put two WR's on the field? Fine. Our CB's won't get winded. You want to go four wide? Fine. Jaycee, Stephon, CJ, Donte. Good luck. Oh, and Chinn over the top.

Not sure he had another second tho, that pocket was looking pretty grim by the time he threw it.

Gilmore doesn't fit the profile of players we sign under Rhule. He's 31 now, he'd be 33 by the end of a 3 year contract. He wants 15 mil per year . . . pass. With Henderson and Horn on the roster as big, physical, man corners. Donte to bring speed. I just don't know where you fit him. That said, at 7 mil per year for two years? I'd do that. We could still pay Donte, we'd have Horn and Henderson. Our CB group would be STACKED.

Or as an extra lineman in short yardage / goal line packages . . . all places where we've struggled to just get some PUSH.

Garbage time? How do you figure that? With 5 minutes left in the game we were down one score. Sam brought us back but the defense couldn't get a stop. That's a QB doing his (*@#ing job and getting us back in the game. How different would the narrative be today if the defense had gotten a stop, and Sam drove us down to tie the game? "Garbage time" only applies when a team loses by 2+ scores. We did not. We showed that we don't give up, ever. That's exactly the sort of attitude you want in your young team.