45catfan

Since we backed into the playoffs and dropped about 5 draft spots, based on how Big Boards are shaping up, look for an OT, DL or CB. The top Edge and LBs will be gone.

The difference being in 2014 we knew we were building something special. Sure enough we went 15-1 the next season on the way to the SB. I have zero delusions about this team taking kind of step next year. Heck, I think we will actually regress to be completely honest with you.

Not "might be", BETTER DAMN WELL BE. I can't relive this nightmare again where we miss the jackpot QB draft. The '27 draft is slated to be insanely loaded. Bryce will be our QB next fall, but better not be the fall of '27.

I just vomited in my mouth.

It's difficult to be overjoyed when you are simultaneously extremely embarrassed.

Enjoy folks, it ain't happening again next year. This is brutal.

Not next year, we are stuck with wee man. Remember, he just got us to the playoffs...sort of.

Exactly. So freaking weird to backdoor into the playoffs based on our rival needing to win.

Yay...backdoor into the playoffs.

It's the bottom two NFCS teams, what did you expect?

I guess the refs/Vegas got to Cousins, lol!

Every since our first game versus them in '95, they have been the Panthers/my mortal football enemies. The Saints and, to even a lesser extent, the Bucs rivalries pale in comparison. I hate the Cowboys, but playing one another, I'd pull Jerry Jones' squad. Heck, I really hated the Tom Brady Bill Belichick Patriot teams, but I favored them in the SB against the Falcons. Oh yes, their implosion was chef's kiss glorious in that game.

A lot of the QBs in the portal only have '26 as their last year of eligiblity. A good bit with two years. Safe to say if the top 3 underclassmen (other than Mendoza) all go back, WOW the '27 class is looking STACKED! https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47427877/2026-ncaa-football-transfer-portal-26-qbs-watch

This is going to be a HEAVY Sr/RSR/Gr class. In one of the draft site I visit, of entire list of 30 QBs, only 6 are underclassmen! We know Mendoza is coming out. The next three are Moore, Simpson and Mateer. Mateer did not play well down the stretch, was banged up and does not have a first round grade. I think he goes back. Then you have Gunner Stockton ranked #18 (383 Big Board) and Avery Johnson #20 (492 Big Board) neither will come out. Mendoza may be the only underclassmen QB to come out this draft and that is crazy. Moore might just because he knows there are at least two other teams in the top 6 looking for a QB. Money might bring him out early. I think Simpson stays, but if he think he could be a top 10 pick, maybe not.

The blue print is out there there. Stop our run, build a lead and make Bryce Young beat you with his arm the remainder of the game when we become one-dimensional offense. It's not rocket science.

A couple more telling stats: He's manged 273 yards when ahead all season. This means two things, he can't muster enough offense to pull away from opponents, thus we get the "refs rigged it" nonsense all year. He plays no better when the playbook is wide open with a lead, actually worse. Also, Bryce needs a short field. As evidenced yesterday, we managed one score that the defense did not gift a possession in the shadow of the Bucs' end zone. This one is the most condemning of them all.

Here is what you are looking for. Dave goes on 4th down a lot most with manageable yards to go. I think defenses are caught in a defend the run first, don't get burned deep scenario. With a chunk of open field beyond the 8 or 9 man front, Bryce has feasted.

Other than build a SB caliber team around him and ask him to make a few plays per game while limiting turnovers. Acknowledge the limitations Bryce has and move on or fortify around him trudging forward. We have these two paths, which one will the Panthers' front office take?

I'm just relieved they don't have a shot at Mendoza. While they were lingering in the top 5 for a while, I was worried. Shough will come back down to Earth next year. Opposing teams will get an idea of how he plays his game and how the Saints use him. He's going to be good, but I don't think anything really special.

Hubbard in this grouping is wild.

I wasn't really seeing what made Hubbard special to give him a pretty sweet contract. I wasn't against re-signing him, but I was thinking more along the lines of a RB2 deal (because that's what he really is) instead of a RB1 contract. In short, we overpaid...per normal.

How about play well enough that one or two "bad" calls by the refs don't factor into the equation?

The idea the League cares about which turd floats in the the toilet bowl known as the NFCS is laughable. If they were going to rig any game, it would be the Steerlers/Ravens. Rogers and Lamar/Tomlin and Harbaugh. I'm not sure which story line the NFL would prefer, but at least that contest is rigging worthy.

Kurt Warner gets it. I guess Kurt hasn't been seeing the cherry picked stats here on the Huddle where Bryce is apparently an elite QB. Again, his horrible mechanics CAN'T be fixed. Why? Bryce is undersized and the bad mechanics results from him trying to compensate for the lack of height and arm strength. So unless the puts on 20+ pounds and grows about 4 inches, the idea that he's going to fix his mechanics is unrealistic Even if he could wave a magic wand and make that so, QBs at this stage in their careers rarely are successful in changing the throwing motion they have been using since youth league football.

If the Cowboys win, we can move as high as #13.