BrianS

One thing I have noticed when Sam gets sacked / pressured is that it's rare he only has one guy in his face. He's often got a couple, which doesn't really leave him anywhere to go to either avoid the blitz or throw it away. I can't remember very many "bang bang" fast, blind side sacks. He usually sees the pressure coming, but because the line looks like a sieve he just can't do anything. Sam is a good athlete, probably a top 10 *athlete* at the position. Problem is he isn't a *transcendent* athlete like Cam was. We can't count on too many Houdini moments. I'm encouraged by what he's shown so far. Two years is exactly the right amount of time for us to decide if he's gonna figure it out. But man, we have got to fix that line this offseason. I really hope to see some of our rookies later in the year.

lol @ all the people thinking YGM is the answer. The guy has put almost nothing on tape since he arrived. Yea, the kid may have potential, yea, he's had some injuries. I'm not closing the book on him by any means. But he ain't the reason we got gashed. The simple fact is that up until today our defense has been getting handed nice leads in the second half. Enough that the other team is throwing a lot. Our defense doesn't have the size to stand up to a pounding like that. You've got to look at our defense similarly to the Colts defense back in the Manning years. It was a defense built to play from ahead, allowing their smaller but incredibly fast players to attack. That's what our defense is. You beat it the same way you beat the Indianapolis Mannings.

I really like our pass offense v their pass defense.

I don't disagree, but the "take" we were responding to was Burleson saying that ZEKE was getting 100+ yards and 3 TD's on our defense.

I'd be real careful with that sort of prediction. Our line is second worst in the league in yards before contact in the run game. That's not great for a back like Chuba who is looking to pick a hole, make one cut and hit it. I agree, Chuba has homerun potential. I am just not convinced our current OLine can get him the holes he needs to maximize his potential. I'd feel a lot better about our run game (in the absence of CMC) with a back like Mike Davis who can get yards after contact.

What's even more absurd is the player. Zeke has exactly two 100+ yard games in his last 19 - one of which was in a blowout over Philly last December. Sorry Nate, Zeke looks washed to me. He's good on blitz pickup, so I expect to see a lot of him this weekend. But I'm not bullish on his chances of being great in the run game. I guess that's why it's a "bold" prediction?

Athletically, Tremble is a better prospect than Gronk was. He's faster and stronger. Obviously, that doesn't make him translate to the All Pro level, it just means that athletically there is no reason he can't get there. In fact, Tremble compares very favorably in the measurable department to Travis Kelce. Again, Tremble ain't Kelce. As with pretty much every position and player in the NFL, the success of Tommy Tremble will come from things that happen off the field and between the ears.

We're actually top 10 in pocket time. Looking at it under this lens, I'm not sure pocket time is a very good measurement for an OLine. Looking at that list, there is a mix of great and crap OLines in that top 10. While our pocket time numbers look good, I'm not sure it's really telling us anything. What doesn't look good is hurries, pressures and hits. Basically, what the stats seem to be saying - to me at least - is that Sam is doing a good job of understanding his line isn't as strong as it should be. He knows, and he's getting rid of the ball quickly. We're also seeing a pretty high blitz rate, which certainly impacts pocket time, pressures, hurries, etc. I think that makes sense. You have a questionable OLine and a QB who until recently was known to make poor decisions under duress. Sam just needs to keep making good decisions and beating the blitz. I think a better set of stats to look at for OLine is rushing. For example: That is sorted by Yards before Contact, per attempt. We are second from bottom. When you flip that sort the other direction, you see something that looks a lot more like what you'd expect. Imagine what CMC would look like if he were 3 yards downfield before he was touched. Don't let a single stat fool you into thinking our OLine is "ok" / "average".

It appears that field position doesn't hold up very well as an excuse / reason for the poor performance. This season, he's punted 10 times when the line of scrimmage has been on the Carolina side of the 50. Those 10 punts average 40.6 yards. Which *still* ranks him last in the NFL in punting average. As an interesting aside, that dude we got rid of a few years back, Andy Lee? Still punting. Averaging 51.5 per kick this year.

I think it's a fair assessment for the moment. If we beat Dalls this week, I would be very disappointed if we didn't get to the edge of the top 10 next week. Yes, the Jets were bad . . but the Saints are not that bad, the Texans aren't the train wreck everyone thought and apparently the Cowgirls are still the media darlings.

For the TL;DR crowd: Dak is great, Sam is questionable, Cowboys win.

I did see the Texans game, that wasn't adversity. Adversity is starting the game with your best player in street clothes and your shutdown corner at home and (likely) out for the season. In game is being behind and showing the stones to turn it around. We've done none of that.

I'm actually baffled at either set of fans who think this game will not be close. I think we have a better team, but Dallas has a more experienced team. In close games, that can matter. And they are at home. This is likely to be the first time our team will face some adversity this year. Both in terms of injuries and in game. We'll learn a lot.

At their current rate, Burns finishes the season with 17 sacks, Reddick finishes the season with 23.5. The NFL hires a therapist for the QB's on our schedule. Except for Matt Ryan, who retires mid-game week 8.

Pretty sure Moton's first year was him sitting behind Daryl Williams when Daryl was earning himself a phat contract. Oh, and Rivera. There was ALWAYS Rivera in those days.

I talked about this in another thread, can't remember which one. Basically, our front office and staff know we have an OLine problem. They are professionals. They see it. The problem is that there just aren't very many good OL in the league. Let's face it - Mike Remmers and Greg Van Roten *still play in the NFL*. That should really tell you all you need to know about the amount of OL talent available. Honestly, I'd rather pay more for the OL than WR's. That money we gave Robby Anderson? Yea, gimme a LT instead. Please and thank you. But those guys just aren't there.

This is also a great point. There was a Baldy breakdown posted this week of a CMC run where the line blocking wasn't too great, but CMC made something out of it. His focus was on CMC . . . probably as it should be. However, if you watch carefully, you can see Terrace Marshall just crushing some fool on the edge. If you can't get fired up about your rookie receiver killing it in the run game you aren't doing the fan thing right. I have no doubt if you ask TMJ to set an edge for an outside zone run, there WILL be an edge.

A team that is 4-0 will make the playoffs 83% of the time. A team that is 3-1 will make the playoffs 63% of the time. That's what the numbers say.

Looks like what you've got there is a safety who has trouble with acceleration and change of direction. Just looking at the scores, I've never seen the guy play. If he's a FA at this point, there's probably a reason.

OLine isn't getting fixed this year, at least not by an acquisition of talent. Perhaps one of our rookies grows up fast. We no longer have any reasonable capital to spend. We need that first round pick.

This seems obvious to me. With Arnold, sure, he was ok - solid - but not spectacular. His production wasn't irreplaceable. Suspect as a blocker, and just "ok" as a receiver. Seven receptions, 84 yards on the season. With Perryman, he didn't fit. He just wasn't the right guy. On one hand, he was the lone unvaccinated player on the team at one point. On another, he just couldn't get on the field. These are red flags. You might also question if perhaps he didn't fit our scheme as we thought he would. Perhaps he wasn't buying in. Finally, as Panthers fans, we've often questioned in the past why we would hang on to players when it seemed obvious they weren't working out. This staff doesn't have that problem. If it isn't working - for any reason - they move on. I find that refreshing. "We made a mistake, we're moving on" is something we haven't had nearly enough of in the past.

If we, the public can see the OLine problems, rest assured the team can see it. That *doesn't* mean they can do anything about it. I'm reasonably sure that if the Jets offered Becton for Dan Arnold and a third Fitts would bite their arm off taking that deal. That wasn't the offer however.

You don't judge QB's until year three. And even then, it's not certain, witness Sam Darnold. You certainly don't judge rookie QB's after THREE (*&$@ing games. I'm not judging Darnold until the season is done. Let alone any of the rookies.

I am not saying he's wrong, but seriously, at least in the Jets / Panthers game our pressure got there so fast I'm not sure Peyton Manning or Tom Brady could get the ball out fast enough. I'm afraid of what that quote says about their culture more than anything. Reeks of "It's not my fault" way too much. Especially when it's an experienced vet saying that about a rookie. Not a good look at all.

I thought Horn played pretty well in the slot, given he is a rookie. Heck, even for an older player I thought he was pretty good in there. Thing is, man corners tend to be fine playing in the slot. They are accustomed to shadowing their guy. When you take a zone corner inside, you're asking him to chase a guy, not play a zone. Thus, those types of corners tend to be the ones you go "he's an outside corner". Jaycee, CJ . . . they are man corners. They'll be fine. I'm even optimistic that Donte can come around to it. Good man corners can play inside.