beo

We got bought out by a Yankee hedgefund manager that doesn't give two solitary poos about the region. The Panthers are merely an investment toy now, just about every last trace of our previous culture and history has been destroyed under him. Even bad teams make money, look at how long the Bidwells and Fords have owned their teams for. He's never going anywhere. I miss JR, flawed as an owner as he could be he at least cared deeply about the team, us, and the area. Tepper doesn't. And now we're doomed to this unless some dirt gets dug up on him, though even if that did happen the NFL would likely push it under the rug. I'm at the point of just treating the team like an expansion team that I loosely follow rather than the Panthers, at this point the 1995-2018 Panthers are about as related to the current iteration as the old browns are to the 1999 expansion Browns.

Not trying to single you in particular out or anything but in general I am so, so tired of seeing remarks like this because they just aren't true and in a way it's sort of excusing what David Tepper has done to this team since he has bought it. We absolutely didn't suck. For an expansion team we have done quite well for ourselves if anything. Let's take a look at other expansion teams in the NFL and also other North American sports leagues since 1995... Carolina Panthers all-time win loss record prior to being bought out by David Tepper- this was our lifetime win-loss record up until the 2019 season: 185-194 (.488). Our record since? 27-45 (.375) and our worst stretch in franchise history. At one point before Cam's shoulder fell off we were actually in the positives, but we all know how that season ended. 4 NFC Championship game appearances (what i'd characterize as deep runs). 2 Super Bowl Appearances. Is this world beating? No. But for a new franchise it's far from the worst you could do. For comparison, lets look at some other expansion teams from 1995 onwards: Houston Texans: 142-197 (.419) 0 CCG or SB appearances Jacksonville Jaguars: 190-262 (.420) 3 CCG appearances, 0 SB appearances Cleveland Browns (yes they are an expansion team, the Ravens kept their players and more importantly their executives): 127-258-1 (.330). 0 CCG or SB appearances In other sports... NBA: Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies: 971-1258 (.436). 1 appearance in the WCF Toronto Raptors: 1071-1157 (.481). 2 appearances in the ECF, 1 Finals App. and championship Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2004 onwards): lol, lmao. 0-0. NHL: Nashville Predators: 1 conf finals app. , 1 cup app. Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers: 1 conf finals app. Columbus Blue Jackets: 0-0 Minnesota Wild: 1 conf finals app. Vegas Golden Knights: 2 conf finals app., stanley cup win Seattle Kraken: Too early to say but they seem to be on a good track I don't care enough about the MLB to know how their playoff system works but they've only added two teams since 1995. Diamondbacks won a title in 2001. Rays made a run fairly recently but haven't gotten a chip yet. Among these teams the only ones i'd say that clearly have a step on us are Toronto, Vegas and perhaps the DBacks. If you go further back, the Ducks (1993), other Panthers (1993), Marlins (1993) and Heat (1988) have done well for themselves. But historically we're pretty easily top half among other newer franchises in NA Sports Leagues. Tepper didn't inherit suck. He inherited a team that had flashes of greatness in the past which weren't fully realized due to ineptitude from our higher ups. We were hoping these would finally be fixed with JR gone, yet they've merely been exacerbated. From 1995-2018 we were the most volatile team in NFL history by a mile if you go by yearly win fluctuation. Chaotic mediocrity. Since, we haven't even had a winning season. We weren't the best but it was a far cry from the joke we've turned into now. We're the sort of team people groan about when they're on primetime, an absolute laughing stock to the general NFL fan and our fans should be unhappy with the atrocious product that has been on the field ever since we ruined Cam.

It's starting to feel like the team we were actually fans of died in 2018 when Tepper bought it. The organization as a whole just doesn't feel the same, like a skinwalker wearing the old team's skin and nothing more. Everything's so closed off from the fans compared to how it used to be. Not only are we ran like just another soulless corporation, but we don't even win or even so much as match the level of success we've had in the past either.

We really have to stop comparing Bryce to Cam, it just isn't fair to Bryce OR Cam and they share next to no similarities other than both being QBs the Panthers picked #1 especially when you compare them as rookies. Cam had arguably the greatest college season by a QB of all time coming into the NFL. if Bryce ever ends up as good a passer as Prime Cam was we'll be in good hands. But even with that being said, they both have/had very different skillsets as passers coming into the NFL. Bryce is all about going through his progressions quickly and getting the ball out to an open man. He has great ball placement but his arm, while not bad, isn't the best. Cam had an absolute rocket launcher for an arm but when he was first coming into the league he could sail passes and get too antsy in the pocket alongside some pretty questionable touch. IE, he just missiled it in there when he really need to put more touch on it to make it easier on his receivers to catch it. There are lots more differences of course that I just don't think are necessary to list to convey my point. They're very different players. And all of these flaws, Cam greatly improved later in his career. Bryce will hopefully clean up the mistakes we saw last week, either this year or in the longterm. That first game was admittedly a shock for me, Bryce didn't look good. But he's a rookie. And as said earlier, Cam was a fuging unicorn. There will never be another Cam Newton. Expecting Bryce to come out and look like a worldbeater in game 1 just because Cam did is the definition of unfair to Bryce. We just need to hope Bryce will continue to improve throughout the year. Week 1 wasn't encouraging but plenty of good QBs have struggled in their debut; that being said, I do want to see more from him next week even if it's a tougher opponent.

What will cripple the team is our terrible cap management otherwise. One of the perks that comes with running a football team correctly is the ability to absorb contracts like this where you're backed into a corner and probably staring down the barrel of an overpay shotgun due to circumstance and the news of the Rams trade getting out. But no, we have to waste money on prove it deals that could've instead been carried over, pay Chosen Robbie a ridiculous amount of money, have obscene amounts of dead cap basically every season because of all the horrible contracts we sign and then move on from (3 of our 6 highest paid players arent even on the damn team) and in general fuging ruin our cap so that when valuable core pieces like Burns' deal come up we're backed up against the wall and stuck having to try and nickel and dime every last dollar. The situation from a roster standpoint is strikingly similar to Moton's a few years ago IMO. We can't just trade or release the only good player on the unit; if Burns isn't on the field our DL gets much worse and it showed during pre-season. Wholeheartedly agree that it's silly that people are clutching pearls over a few mil per year annually that won't even be noticeable in a few seasons with Burns but take no issue with all the other money we've burned in a bonfire but I just don't know how we're going to be able to afford Chinn and Brown and all of our other core pieces as well after this.

UNC's foot has been out the door, they're actively trying to kill the conference just like FSU is. Just aren't as public about it. The point of the expansion is to have replacements for when UNC, Clemson and FSU jet for tv money. NC State actually decided to look out for itself for once, I respect it.

this field is getting fuging RUSHED once the clock hits 0

POURING IT ON BABY

duke football not disappointing is a confusing feeling

What a missile of a punt that was, shame that it went into the endzone.

Call on the late hit is fine. Don't like calling targetting, he can't just completely halt his forward momentum. But this is a really weird call, so I'll concede that I may have jumped the gun.

Wonder how much Clemson is paying these refs.

LETS GOOOOOOOOOO

HOLY poo

The best part about watching Elko's D is how disciplined it is. Nobody ever misses their assignment for the most part, always guys around the ball and staying in their running lanes. Reminds me a lot of the Panthers' 2013 team.

riley bailing out yet another terrible 3rd down playcall but lets go

Clemson is on the road in week 1 against a Duke team that went 9-4 last year returning the vast majority of it's starters alongside a very disciplined and well coached defense under Elko. Clemson also has a new OC and inexperienced QB at the helm. I honestly don't know what a lot of people expected. I mean we're basically doing everything an underdog shouldn't do to win and are still only down by 1. Just don't know how the team'll hold up in the 2nd half once Clemson adjusts, this team doesn't got the blue chip prospects that Clemson does. But I don't know how much of this is necessarily an indictment on Clemson. With that being said their QB has looked very uninspiring so far and those DJU memories are probably still lingering among their fans.

Can't be overstated how important this game is for us which makes Johns' conservative ass playcalling even more frustrating than it usually is. This would be Duke's first top 10 win (at the time of play, Duke beat tech in 2014) since 1989, ironically also against Clemson. This could be a legitimately program-altering victory with our new AD showing interest in investing more into football and we've outplayed them the whole first half and are still down entirely thanks to our own mistakes. The self-inflicted errors have to be cleaned up if want any shot at winning . Absolutely NEED a good opening drive to start the 2nd half.

We get ball at half so points here are huge.

Duke just shooting itself in the foot man.

Could so easily be 14-0 and Duke football right now. This is what chickenshit playcalling and a stupid mental error gets ya, lol. We really need to look elsewhere at OC. Kevin Johns isn't horrific overall but it seems like he has piss running down his leg on every 3rd down.

this conservative playcalling is gonna be the death of me lol

This 3rd down is pivotal. Duke needs 7, not 3. Go up two scores early and make them play from behind. Have to punch them in the mouth early, can't keep getting chickenshit after big plays.

Need our offense to possess the ball. Elko's forte is his defense but we just don't have the bodies to hold up against Clemson all game. Got to capitalize on their new QB and OC and rattle them early if we want to win.

Huge stand by the defense and special teams