Peon Awesome

I think Evero just wanted Bryce to have another 4th quarter game winning drive

Chau Smith-Wade playing 4D chess

We keep running the straight up the gut runs with Dowdle that didn't work the first game either. Dowdle's best run was the sweep outside in the redzone and the passing game has been generally successful. Don't understand why Canales insists on running the same unsuccessful play over and over to constantly put us in tough 3rd downs.

I'd start the game going pass heavy, like in the second Falcons game, to exploit the heavy box sets New Orleans will undoubtedly start with. Then after building a lead and creating a tired Saints defense, punish the Saints with a very heavy run game, wearing them down more and churning out the clock.

The Bears literally went from the #1 seed in the NFC entering this week to the 7 seed with this loss.

I both did a bad job of explaining what I was trying to say and also being disingenuous. Truthfully I would love the Panthers to make the playoffs no matter how and no matter what ultimately happens in the playoffs. But I was trying to say, I'd like to see the Panthers make the playoffs because they put it all together, play great football and dominate the Bucs in a sweep, rather than get gifted the division because the Bucs completely implode and lose all their games. Cause in that situation, we just look like the beneficiary of a historically bad division and the outlook isn't quite as bright. But the last thing I want is the Panthers to just lose out and get a better draft pick.

It doesn't really matter what the Bucs do anyway. There'd be only fleeting satisfaction if we stumble into a playoff spot from a terrible division only to get blown out by the 5 seed. If we can't handle the Saints and sweep the Bucs to stake our claim to the division title and prove we've officially arrived, we might as well roll out the red carpet for the Bucs and look ahead to 2026.

You could do a heck of a lot worse than having a team full of Chuba Hubbards. Great work ethic, consummate teammate. It's an enviable problem to have 2 great running backs that can shoulder the load.

Yeah Bryce is not making the pro bowl with Dak, Stafford, Darnold, Goff, Jordan Love, Hurts. Safe to say, his 5th year option will be about $26-27 million, which is basically half of what 2021's class got annually on their extensions 2 years ago (Tua, Lawrence, Herbert).

As far as I'm concerned, they both have comfortably lived up to those contracts so far.

Alaric Jackson and Ronnie Stanley got extensions recently at relative bargains, which should help in negotiations. Between that, the 5th year being a relative bargain plus the option to tag puts us in reasonable negotiating position. With cap rises, it will still require roughly top 10 money, but I don't see him coming close to resetting the tackle market.

Not sure if intentional, but you left out Legette. I realize he's underwhelmed more often than not, but I'm still holding out hope he puts it together with some more consistency.

Online culture skews overwhelmingly negative. People use the internet to offload their anger and disappointment because people don't want to hear that crap in real life. That being said, there are some people on here who are more frustrated than happy when the Panthers win, especially if Bryce has a good game. They would prefer Bryce play awful, we lose out and draft or sign a new QB, than Bryce leads us with good play to a division title and we pick up his 5th year extension. Why? They will say it's because they KNOW Bryce is incapable of being a good QB and say it's better long term for the Panthers to move on sooner than later. But the reality is that they've staked their ego so strongly to that opinion that they can't stomach being wrong. And if that is more important to you than the Panthers success, you're probably not a real fan. But I think there's only a few people like that. I do think most Bryce "haters" would happily eat crow and go buy a Bryce jersey if he starts averaging 300 yards per game

It's especially impressive given his small frame. No one expected his body to hold up coming into the NFL and even after getting hit at an above average rate, he's barely missed any time. To not only shrug it off once again, but elevate his game and lead us on two clutch drives to win the game, you have to give massive props.

I think Canales is still learning and growing as a coach. I mean he was only an offensive coordinator for 1 year and now a head coach for 1.5 years here. He's still green but I do think he is genuinely learning from his mistakes and making adjustments. Last week, I think he got complacent at Dowdle's run game dominance and our presumed talent level advantage over the Saints and called a super vanilla game that got exploited. And once it was clear we'd have to throw to win, the Saints could switch to a heavy pass rushing scheme and make Bryce uncomfortable on each dropback. This time Canales played on the offensive and realized teams are going to sell out to stop the run and he let Bryce air it out. Overall was a great gameplan.