Gapanthersfan

EXACTLY!

If you were handling business then players would not feel compelled to do so, Dave… but you’re just not good at this being a leader of men thing. With every game that you play Bryce, you’re taking money out of 52 other players’ bank accounts. They’re either trying to make incentives on their current deal or trying to ball out so they can cash in on contract #2 which hopefully sets them up for life. I don’t think he even sees it that way. BY holds the entire team back. Purposely not putting the team in the best place to win is a gigantic F you to the entire team (coaches included). Starting Bryce at this point is an atomic bomb on morale.

It’s the only sense I can make of it… or, they took BY’s ‘resurgence’ to finish last season as a sign that he had taken the next step and that Andy had played a big role in his maturation and keeping Andy would fit that narrative. The latter was my take when the season started, but I can’t help but come up with another possibility with the current state of affairs.

In the preseason games, 2nd string QB gets the majority of the snaps. Just imagine if this team had brought in Flacco or Jones. Imagine the stark contrast if they were allowed to play with the first stringers. Can’t hide your superior backup QB in preseason games like you can with a closed camp. It was never going to be allowed to happen.

Dalton was resigned since he is the least likely to threaten Bryce’s starting job. Any younger JAG would appear far superior in the preseason. BY is Tepper’s guy. Tepper has shown 0 apprehension cutting bait… so give one logical reason why T has allowed this debacle to continue this long with this incredible level of suck unless it is deeply personal. Is it for the sake of trying to not meddle? Please. If Dan had somehow convinced T that BY would be legit, both Dan and Bryce would be long gone by now, but Bryce is still starting games and NO legit backup was signed. Why is that. Dan has been given leeway to improve every other position group, and absolutely has, except QB. Is QB somehow his kryptonite? The guy who made a living out of terrorizing QBs thinks BY is a franchise QB and doesn’t need to go? I’m not believing that one. Just imagine preseason games where the backup is connecting with lasers and your starter can barely complete a 15 yard duck. Talk about a bad look and guaranteed QB controversy. That was never going to be allowed.

Canales is neither a tactician nor a franchise fixer so I fail to see his utility. He demonstrates 0 knowledge of the X and O game and making necessary adjustments. This ‘team’ wins when a couple players not named Bryce have player of the week type performances and the rest of the ‘team’ (collective) does just enough to not screw it all up. He has made NOTHING better from when he got here. Don’t get me wrong, there are better players, but it has nothing to do with his ‘coaching’ up. These dudes are running off of the same talent they had when they got here. He is coach speak and placations. This franchise needs an ass kicker. Had one, briefly, did real good too, and well, you know. Problem being is that successful certified ass kickers generally don’t take sh from anybody, so… yeah.

XL is a very raw talent with questionable desire to play the game of football. Everyone can now agree on this. He may be the smallest playing big man I’ve ever seen. He has 0 desire to sacrifice himself if it means making a play for the team. If he sees pain coming his way, he ain’t making the play and out comes the alligator arms, a flat out drop and/or a sloppy route. So he’s a dude who has very questionable understanding of the play book, seemingly little desire to play ball at the NFL level and hates contact (but is a beast run blocker, somehow). There is no turning that around. Package him and Bryce in a trade where the other team has to agree to take both. His cap hit is the next hurdle to overcome but at least he will be tradable when the time comes.

DC is way out of his league being a head coach. He’s shown no adaptability and therefore has no business calling plays. His ‘leadership’ style, I’m not quite sure what it is. I want to hire the Bobs so they can ask him “what would you say, ya do here?” He needs an alpha QB to mask his own innate deficiencies so he appears better than he truly is. He does not have that and everyone clearly sees that the emperor has no clothes. Bryce is siren that has led an already unmoored franchise in to the rocks. There’s a 3 stooges metaphor in there somewhere, but I’ll leave that for someone else. I’m tired. All I keep hearing in my brain is Steve Miller Band take the money and run. So yes, the trio of Evero, Bryce and Canales can all please just go. I’m tired of seeing wounded ducks flying and players who on most weeks look woefully unprepared and completely lost. I still hold firm in my feeling that talent does exist on this ‘team,’ but it is only by an individual effort that they have found any measure of success. VERY rarely does it feel cohesive in any way. It’s clunky and unpolished…. But it’s just how lost they look most of the time. What do they even do at practice?

I hope, no I PRAY, Dave plays that clip to the team before every game going forward. Talk about something to rally around. It’s one thing to say the team is bad, it’s a whole nother thing to try to take a grown man’s dignity.

I’m an optimist by nature, and try to find a good time in anything, well, almost anything. For most of the Tepper era, this team has been completely unwatchable. It was beyond embarrassing. Not just bad, UN-F’IN-WATCHABLE. Complete utter darkness. The get right game for everyone. Only a few players would have even made the rosters on other teams. PTSD is real, and we all have it, and yes, to a large degree what we are seeing now is fools gold… ish. Yes, Rico is carrying the offense and yes, without him we lose to Miami, Dallas and GB… but the talent turnaround in just 2 seasons has been incredible. Not just food (I seriously hope they show the team that segment before every game). This is the best o line depth this team has ever had. Our RB looks like AP. We have a blue chip WR who looks the part of a top 10 in the making. The TE room is now upgraded to… average. In one offseason the defense went from the worst ever in the history of the NFL to now stopping the run (sort of, mostly) and playing very solid pass coverage. Our DT ragdolls grown ass men and draws at least 2 holding calls a game. We have a bonafide shut down corner. both are signed long term. Our LBs aren’t as bad as we all thought they would be (yes, still need better). For this team to be where it currently stands with the utter gross negligence in management from 3 off seasons ago (decline the Burns offer, dump Darnold, trade the world for Bryce, jettison Moore, completely blow 2 crucial picks on XL and Brooks)…. admit it or not, to be where they are right now is a minor miracle. They by all rights SHOULD be getting SMOKED by EVERYONE. If nothing else, this proves to me that people who actually understand the NFL are now calling the personnel shots (with Tepp’s blessing of course). This team now has a true franchise LT, finally (yes, I know it’s before Dan took the reins). Rico is setting franchise records. Game wrecker WR in the making, who is looking like the best round 1 pick this team has had since Cam (and Cam was the ultimate layup). 2025 is looking like the best draft since, when? Legit o line depth. Best special teams we’ve had in a very long time. Clutch kicker (for now). Major defensive turnaround in just 1 season. There is identity. There are vet leaders. There is bonafide talent. There are some dawgs and the trajectory is very positive. I NEVER thought I’d ever see that again, much less in just a couple off seasons. 2003 doesn’t happen without the foundation that was being built in 2001 and 2002. I have no doubt that they will take another step forward next season, despite what the ptsd tries to tell me. Games are now entertaining, at least to me. I watch each game knowing there is a good chance they will lose the game because of Bryce, but that’s just what it is. If I watched with the sole intention of validating my pre-conceived bias, I would be affirmed, but I would also miss what is otherwise a lot of good football coming from everyone else. The future IS promising. Football people are obviously running the show. Dan and co know what NFL football players look like, they all know Bryce ain’t it, and never will be. I think they’ll ride it out this season with him, while taking their time in evaluating his replacement, and putting trade feelers out across the league. They probably already have been. The concern I once had about them signing BY long term has been partially quelled when thinking about where the team was and where it should be had recruitment not changed drastically. It may be giving undue credit, but for where this team now stands, they’ve earned it.

Mac attack incoming.

And took the Rams offer for Burns and kept DJ Moore and not traded away the world for Bryce?

Not a spec of dirt on either jersey

I’d take Mac Jones all day. Trade BY and a 4th for Jones. He has overall played solid football this year but thrown more picks than I’d like to see. Mac would be a gigantic upgrade over what we have now.

And it’s not even close to being close.

89 is in very rare air and I have him in the top 3 best players this franchise has ever seen. Smitty wrestled every ounce of potential out of his body, but I see Tet with having a higher ceiling when it comes to physical traits. I agree, he has a LONG way to go before comparing his impact to Steve’s. Nobody will EVER top 89 when it comes to dawg mentality, however.

T Mac has what other DUDES have… his game just looks different than everyone else. You see it immediately. They make incredible ish look easy and routine. His ceiling is higher than any WR this team has ever had. Sorry Smitty.

The QB room is buttcheeks, but… The team is in a weird spot. They’re somehow in contention for a playoff spot, they’re being seriously held back by their QB… but they’re winning games in spite of him. So what the hell to do? It’s a tight spot. I’ve wanted this season to be an audition for other QBs but the Panthers are having a winning season, thus far. I just don’t see Dave getting squirrelly right now.

That is correct, and we all know it, but as long as the team is winning, however that may be, Dave would be insane to pull Bryce unless Bryce goes full meltdown. This isn’t really Fox ball. People forget that Jake was the prototype gun slinger and had one of the stronger arms in the league pre injury. He was never a dink and dunk guy. FWIW, Fox ball was good ball, and it won us a lot of games before Tommy Jon took Jake out for good. It was a good era that ended way too soon.

For Bryce’s obvious shortcomings (bad pun), there is upside to his game. This isn’t being a homer or apologists, but I like to consider myself fair in criticism. He’s far tougher than I ever thought he’d be. I really thought homie would have been broken in half by now. I don’t know how he’s not, but he’s not. He is prone to turning the ball over early in games which digs a huge hole the team is not built to come back from, but dude DOES come up with crucial first down in crucial situations. It’s NEVER pretty, but he just kind of has the shining. He gets bailed out LOTS, and the team still loses games because of him, but he’s a bit of an enigma. He’s a turnover machine that is clutch in big moments. He’s a smart/elusive cat. He kind of has to be with his limitations. His audibles are almost always correct and he understands coverages. I don’t see him getting fooled too frequently. His turnovers are almost never the ‘damnit Jake/Cam!’ brand we have been accustomed to. They are ALWAYS due to his size/strength limitations. Strip sacks that shouldn’t be. Picks that happened because he just don’t got that NFL arm. He is still prone to panicking and the wheels can and do fall off at a much higher rate than his peers. The team is winning on the backs of the defense, running game and special teams… but they’re winning, and unbelievably 1 game behind Tampa. As long as this is happening and Bryce doesn’t go full meltdown, Dave is going to keep him in. He is not getting pulled.

It was hard to imagine beating Dallas and GB, so at this point I put nothing past this team. There are no asterisks in the record books. Yes, Kraft got knocked out, but our piece meal line blanked one of the premier pass rushers in the league and our RB is playing like prime AP. DB is our best DT in 23 years, shuts down the run and draws at least 2 holding calls every game. This is one of the better secondaries this team has ever fielded. O line depth may be the best this team has ever had and I am now comfortable in saying we have FINALLY found a true franchise LT. We have a stud #1 wr whose potential is just waiting to be unlocked and we also have an all world RB (for now). This is neither a bad nor a good team, but they’ve showed identity and that they CAN hang with the better teams in the league. They 100% look the part of a Panthers team. Physical team that runs the ball and plays fundamentally sound defense, usually. They’ll lose close games, get boat raced at least twice a season but then out of nowhere win a few they aren’t supposed to. They’ve gone from the easiest to the hardest team to handicap. They are undeniably headed in the right direction, and are a QB, head coach and a few defensive pieces away from being serious contenders. Besides QB, the offense is set. WTF? To conclude my mindless rambling, this is the PERFECT team for Mike Tomlin to come next. He and Morgan would mesh very well. I have no expectations going forward but nothing will surprise me at this point.

The Defense, O line,Dowdle and kicker won the game for us yesterday. Everyone else was a spectator. The way Dowdle is playing, ANY play call would have worked. Play calling wouldn’t have mattered.

I’d put Jackson as a solid B player. As a whole, Panthers have one of the best secondaries in the league. He gets burned, but rarely roasted. He’s almost never completely out of position but just lacks the elite physical traits of JC. Panthers still struggle getting to the QB. Receivers will eventually get open, it’s just going to happen, and QBs know better than to throw at JC on a scramble drill. From where the D was last season, the level of play right now is a minor miracle.

Best offseason since 2003, and it’s not even close… but it’s still not close to 2003.

Run Rico, run. As completely nuts as it is, this team is not out of playoff contention. Do I think they make it? I give them no better than a 10% chance. Rico is a warrior and has the heart of a lion. Locker room chemistry is a big deal and this team is staring 6 wins in the face with 7 games to go.