Seltzer

The more I think about it, the more I can definitely say that is the greatest LB performance I've seen in person since Luke in the 2015 NFC Championship game. I don't know if everyone can truly appreciate what a special player you have to be to line up and beat an offensive lineman that has 60+ pounds on you for a sack on one play and still be able to effectively play coverage against a NFL caliber player on the next. I know we have been spoiled as a franchise by incredible LB play, but Frankie's performance on Sunday deserves recognition on its own. Luvu wasn't 100%, our defense was decimated, and he still came out and did everything he could on defense to help get the win. Definition of a champion!!

I was at the game. I'm not sure if television did justice to just how damn good a performance Frankie had. It's been years since we've seen a Panthers LB have a performance like that. He was everywhere. 12 Tackles (2 for Loss), 1 Sack, and 2 Passes Defended. He literally did it all. And got to do it as a professional in front of his mom for the 1st time. What a game to have with your mom there!! And finally, with what happened with Reddick, I will lead the riot on Mint St. if we don't resign Luvu.

During the "Moose" chants during the game Sunday for the Hall of Honor Ceremony, it got me thinking about Luvu. We had the "Moose" chant for Muhammed, the "Hoov" chant for Brad Hoover, "Luke" needs no explanation. I think Frankie has gotten to that level. Did my best in Section 540 to start the "Uce" chant every time he makes a play. Going to try to keep spreading it this weekend too. Would be awesome if we could start that as a fanbase. Anyway, I'll be screaming it with my boys every time #49 makes a play on Sunday. Hopefully, we'll hear some more people joining in.

IMHO we have McCown to feel the veteran role. We are in a good situation to recoup some much-needed draft capital with Dalton. I think it would be foolish not to pursue. If Bryce goes down, is it really going to matter for this season who the QB is? I'd rather have the draft capital b/c Bryce is the long-term guy and we're not making a run this year.

Bryce is our guy. If we can get a 5th for Andy, I think it should be a no-brainer. Better situation for Dalton, too.

Got to be something. It's absolutely atrocious. Bryce overcoming a non-existent run game, several inexcusable drops, and getting absolutely crushed quite a few times and still hung in there and threw some of the best passes we've seen from a Panthers QB in 6+ years.

To me, the only untouchable players to trade this year if I'm Fitterer: Bryce Young Taylor Moton Icky Ekwonu Adam Theilen (massive surprise but he's our only dependable receiver) Mingo (just b/c he's a rookie and I think he can develop with Bryce) Brian Burns (unless we get at least 2 1sts or the equivalent and even then, I probably wouldn't) Derrick Brown Jaycee Horn Frankie Luvu Trading Horn would be another failure. He's had bad luck with freak injuries. It can happen to anyone. I can't imagine how much worse this place would be had we taken AR and then him gotten hurt and out for the year. Horn's also the only CB on the roster who can play man against legit WR1. If you haven't noticed, the Panthers play way more zone than they did Week 1 before Horn got hurt. It does very much change the defense, and not in a good way. Our defense sucks b/c the pass rush is not consistently getting pressure (mostly b/c Burns & Brown are doubled and no one else can win). And b/c of this, QB's have the time to pick our zone apart, just like Tua did in an easy clinic. And we saw what happened when Evero got tired of watching Tua destroying our zone and decided to get more aggressive... he put 26 one-on-one with Hill and that was the easiest money all day... Just like Burns, other than a franchise QB, elite pass rushers and elite CB's are the most valuable positions on the roster. Trading Horn would be one of the stupidest moves this FO could make.

Overpaid? The man is putting up Pro Bowl numbers. He's the best FA investment Fitterer made this offseason and one of the best in franchise history. Fitterer deserves a lot of blame right now, but signing Theilen has kept this season from being more of a cluster. Theilen's earned every penny and more.

They also had picked & were dedicated to the Justin Fields project. I don't think this is the smoking gun point you think it is...

#1 Overall. I hate it here. Bryce is going to show you why in 2 weeks when he outplays Stroud. God we need to win so this place will be more worthwhile to spend some time here... The past is over... the ink is dry... and we have our QB. And yet the bitching must go on... I have been as pissed as any fan about how this season has went, but I am 1000000% ride or die with Bryce. IMHO, anyone who has watched him play and not been impressed with both his play and composure with this trainwreck of an offense around him, I just don't know. I'm honestly ready for the Bryce haters to leave so we can move on with the people that are left. Here's the thing... Hardly anyone here wanted Stroud during the draft. The people who didn't want Bryce wanted Anthony Richardson, and he's probably out for the year with a shoulder injury. The revisionist history in this place is like The Twilight Zone.

Bryce has thrown at least 4 passes that should have been caught as TD's. He's not perfect, but anyone who thinks he is even among the top 5-8 issues on this team is objectively wrong. Every single time Bryce starts to get any rhythm whatsoever, there has been a stupid procedural penalty on the offense or a dropped pass. That's the thing- there is no one culprit for why the offense sucks. Almost every offensive player has screwed up. This points inevitably to coaching being the biggest issue. I'm a coach. If you lead your league in penalties, your team lacks discipline. That's on the coaches first & foremost. I'm all-in on Bryce. Listen to Nick Saban, Bill O'Brien, Mike McDaniels, Aaron Rodgers... these aren't bullsh*tters, and they all know Bryce has what it takes. Not a single QB in the league, let alone a rookie, would look good as effed up as this offensive operation is. I'm not even remotely all-in on Frank Reich and the rest of this coaching staff thus far...

Good point. We are rapidly approaching objectively the worst period in franchise history in terms of winning/losing. To a level where in 2001 Richardson said all the energy had been sucked from the franchise when he fired Seifert... Think about that, we are beyond the point in 2001 in terms of how long we have sucked. 5 years of sucking in the NFL is remarkable... only the trifecta of bad coaching, bad drafting/free agency, and bad luck can get you there. And here we are... And I know all this baggage ain't fair to Reich and especially Bryce, but the baggage exists. Us fans should not have to feel bad... we have given our support to this team, and the return on our investment has been almost zero. Tepper wouldn't tolerate this in the financial world. It is on Tepper to fix it

This is just a group therapy session for me. I've been conditioned by years of disappointment... It's only Week 3, and I'm on past anger and denial and have already reached the acceptance phase.

And here's the worst part. No true Panther fan wants to get rid of Keep Pounding, but they also can't expect fans to muster the energy to give that chant its due when the team sucks this bad and has for the past 5 seasons and counting. I do like and would support a Next Year chant though, b/c that's really the only thing the present ownership and management is offering...

This actually made me laugh... thank you! I do appreciate the people on this board. As disappointed as I am about the start of this season, it just stings so much worse b/c I bought into the offseason bs and really got my boys hyped that this year would be different in a bad division. One of my best friends from college moved out to KC after graduation. You have fans out there upset when they don't win every game convincingly, and I just want to get to the point where I'm not embarrassed by the product on the field and the other teams' fans filling up our stadium and laughing at us...

This. Over 5 freaking years. We are and have been one of if not the worst team in the NFL. I just want a team I can be proud of, and that my boys can be proud of. We're a laughingstock. There's no reason to pretend otherwise. I keep waiting and thinking we're at rock bottom since 2018, and yet the bottom of the abyss continues to sink... it effing sucks man, and after 5+ years, there's no reason for us to sugarcoat it as fans.

I'm usually optimistic to the point of being annoying, but I'm struggling. It's truly hard to be this bad 6 years in a row in the NFL. Like, with NFL parity, this should not happen, but here we are... 0-2 for the 4th time in 5 years. Down 2 games to every other team in the division and Week 3 just started... I have tried for 5 years to get my sons (12 & 10) into the Panthers. My oldest has seen 5 Panthers wins and home in 4 years (not counting Covid). 5 games out of 22 he's been to. An effing 22% win rate. Less than 1 out of 4... My kids are apathetic towards the Panthers... how can I blame them? I haven't failed as a father or a Panthers fan... this team and franchise has failed us. It pains me that my kids can't get into the Panthers, but what has the team done to earn their trust or support? 5+ years is a long, long time to suck as a kid. Hell, it's been brutal for us adults.... It's certainly not fair to put this all on Bryce or Reich for that matter, but the bottom line is that there is no energy left in this fanbase. We've tried... I honestly just feel defeated. I truly wish I could give you something, but I can't. Like my kids said, if this product, especially on offense, is what we are getting with this all-star cast, WTF didn't we just keep Wilks... Last night on the drive home was the 1st time I've really considered pulling the plug on my PSL's I've held since 2006... If anyone wants my tickets (Section 540 Row 19) at cost the rest of the year, they're yours, just DM me. I've been a good fan, too, but BOA is well on its way to being taken over yet again this year. I cannot fathom the embarrassment and humiliation waiting on the poor bastards who show up to the Cowboys (home) game. I can't do that to my boys or for my mental health. Anyway, you've posed an important question without a clear answer, other than to focus on other parts of your life that aren't this detrimental to your mental health.

I'm not trying to be mean, but I don't think you know what you're talking about here. This wasn't Cam throwing to Steve Smith or Greg Olsen or hell even Brandon LaFell out there. Guys were not getting open, plain and simple. If you're going to make statements like this, you need film to back it up. Bryce tried to fit a couple of balls in extremely tight coverage and paid for it. But you know why he was even attempting that throw- b/c literally no one was getting separation. You have the right to say whatever nonsensical things you want to say. But expect some push back b/c this is sheer ignorance. If you want to dump Bryce after one game (and especially a game where his receivers probably got the least separation of any group in the league), go ahead, but I can't take anything you write on here serious going forward.

Bryce is near the bottom of the list of concerns. He made a couple of bad decisions, but when you're a rookie making your first start on the road and dealing with a receiving group that absolutely could not separate, how could you not trying to make something happen. His arm is fine. And his decision making for the most part. Lack of full speed reps showed big time yesterday with timing. No worries about offensive line, either. No line is going to look perfect down 2 TD's in the 4th in obvious passing situations. Anyway, yesterday was obviously disappointing, but most of it can be attributed to turnovers. The 2 things that concern me: 1) Passing game has to make substantial improvements to have any chance 2) Secondary depth is yet again a concern. That being said, our defense and the offensive line looked too good to just write the season off. Receivers have to be better, and they have to be schemed better. Bottom line. If guys get open, Bryce will find them. I know he missed Mingo on the go route, but it was the right read and it goes back to timing. Bryce certainly did not look lost out there at all.

I'm as big of a Panthers homer as there is, but even I am taking a wait & see attitude this season. Since 2017 (and our last playoff appearance): Julius Peppers retired. Jerry Richardson was caught in a sex scandal and had to sell the team. Chronic mismanagement of Cam's shoulder and blowing a 6-2 start in 2018 ruined the season. An 0-2 start and Cam foot injury ruined 2019 from the start In 2020, Cam is unceremoniously let go and Matt Rhule was hired to start an even worse time period. Luke Kuechly sees where this trainwreck is going and retires. The 2020 Season brought early hope, but then we started to realize just how far out of his depth Rhule was in the NFL. In 2021, we ran Teddy off after signing him to significant money to replace Cam and gave up 3 draft picks to the Jets for the failed Sam Darnold reclamation project, only to sign Cam back in a desperate attempt to save the season and keep fans even remotely engaged. In 2022, Rhule's nonsensical QB carousal and undeniable incompetence led to another wasted season and his dismissal. Wilks brought some stability, but the season was too far gone. Obviously, there has been a lot of general positivity with the Reich hire and drafting BY, but there is just so much negative that has happened over the past 5 seasons of gloom. Given the WR injuries and Burns' contract, it is just mentally tough to get in the right space given how badly the last 5 seasons have shattered us as Panthers Nation. I'm almost annoyingly optimistic, but this has been a lot for even me as a fan. Objectively, it's hard to make a case that this franchise hasn't been the worst run in the entire NFL over the past 5 years. That's hard to accept, but there is a lot of truth to it. Only winning will cure this franchise of the cancer that has metastasized throughout this organization and fanbase since 2017.

Didn't you read that Darin Gantt article about Juston Burris transitioning to being a coach after he was cut last year. That was a direct message and job offer to Cam Erving. Everyone wins... it's obvious Erving is well-liked, but his playing days are over.

I was surprised he made the initial 53 man roster but like you said, he honestly looked pretty good from what I saw in the preseason. Regardless of whether he remains on the 53, it was the right move to cut Erving. Bring him back as a coaching intern.

I don't know what more there is to add. Chark is electric when he's healthy and has the ability to put up WR1 numbers. The health has been and is the issue. You're not getting a WR with Chark's playmaking ability for $5M who doesn't have risk. That's the reason they also signed Theilen and drafted Mingo. You can't make everything perfect after trading away a WR1 like DJ Moore in one offseason, but long-term Bryce was definitely worth it. And all we can do is hope Chark can stay mostly healthy. He's fun to watch when he is, and if he can stay healthy (which is obviously a massive question mark), he's an incredible addition to this team. It certainly wasn't a mistake from a risk/reward standpoint

If we do win a SB, I'm going to wear this to the parade

If they want him that bad, trade YGM bc that's the guy he would be replacing. Otherwise, see if he's cut. Certainly do not give up a draft pick