LinvilleGorge

I half jokingly said yesterday that don't be surprised if Bryce is in a boot on the sidelines on Sunday just for appearance sake. If it happens, it's practically confirmation that this "injury" is just an excuse for pulling him after he was walking around looking fine at practice yesterday. Which listen, I'm not even against pulling him out of the fire right now. The way he's playing I don't think anyone is benefitting right now. You don't want this kid to start seeing ghosts and it feels like we're not far from it.

Yep. I'm honestly not nearly familiar enough with Reich's pre-Panthers coaching career to draw any personal conclusions but all the talk about Reich leading up to the draft was about how he preferred big QBs. But then again, I mean all other factors being equal, I think everyone prefers a guy with prototypical measurables. Prototypes exist for a reason. Lots of guys with playing experience prefer prospects who mirror them. Reich is 6'4". I'm sure he realizes full well how much more difficult the field would be to see for a guy without that prototypical stature. John Elway consistently swung and missed on QBs in Denver seemingly caring about nothing other than having a cannon of an arm because I'm sure he realizes full well how much more difficult many of the throws he made during his career would've been without that prototypical arm strength. Meanwhile, you have Fitts who experienced a lot of success in Seattle with a QB who was the same height as Bryce Young and had similar (in theory) plus mobility and ability to throw off platform. Then you have Tepper who was famous in his hedge fund days of preferring genius or near genius level intelligence and Ivy League education in his hiring process. Well? What was all the hype around Bryce about? Exactly that. He was supposed to be a super processing football savant who bailed from Alabama, THE blue chip program of college football. Now does that make any of this the truth? Absolutely not. But the puzzle pieces certainly got together to make a compelling narrative.

Who knows if he "signed off" on him or not? If he doesn't have roster control in his contract it ultimately doesn't matter. Hell, it wouldn't even matter then if Tepper wanted something else badly enough. After the fact, what is he to do if he maybe wasn't sold on Young. You gotta put up the front. If this thing all blows up we may or may not ultimately get the truth of the matter. All I know right now is that it sure feels like anything football related under David Tepper turns into dog poo. As we continue to look like a floundering clown show he's rapidly becoming the only constant.

We don't know what actually went on behind the scenes in settling on Bryce Young. If Reich went hard for him, then no it isn't. If Reich was more hesitant, then yeah it is.

Reich was adamant the play calling wasn't the issue. Just saying.

One game if Dalton looks like poo, 2+ if the offense looks competent with Dalton.

Yep. Great offensive system with a great roster. Purdy is a smart, but unspectacular QB but it works in that situation.

I think if you swapped Bryce and Purdy they'd look similarly. Bryce would be playing well but unspectacularly in SF. Purdy would look like poo here. Purdy isn't great but he's smart and surrounded by top tier talent. I just don't know how we're going to recreate that here given that Bryce trade. We're going to have to be wizards in FA and the mid-round in the draft.

Yeah it does. Leave it to the Panthers to look past the hometown kid projected to potentially go #1 overall who bafflingly falls to the 5th just to end up playing like a guy who should've gone #1 overall. Imagine the stories the Panthers could run with hometown kid Ickey protecting the blindside of hometown kid Sam, fierce rivals in college and best friends in the NFL. Oh well.

Pats sign Will Grier off the Bengals practice squad. He wasn't the answer to our QB problems but he seemed well liked by everyone while on the roster and the Cowboys obviously thought highly of him as a person too making sure to give him ample opportunity to show something in the third preseason game, an opportunity he took full advantage of. I hope the guy can carve out a nice career as a backup.

The "OC" who doesn't even call plays? Man if that wouldn't be a blatantly obvious scapegoating.

We all crucified Teddy Bridgewater for passing charts that looked like this.

Bryce Young's "injury"... Offensively, the Panthers have been as woeful as it gets. No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young is tied for the lowest yards-per-attempt average (4.2) in football, he has the second-lowest passer rating, and as a team, they're averaging 210 yards per game.

Dave's Malaise

You would honestly bench a guy putting up 275+ yards and 35 points to play your shiny rookie out of pride? That would be dumb.

They wouldn't. They'd ride this phantom ankle injury. If they put him in a boot for appearance sake after everyone saw him walking around looking fine at practice today then you know it's bullshit.

Get you a QB that can throw bombs.

There wouldn't be a QB controversy in that scenario. You'd ride Dalton as long as he kept playing that way.

If they're thinking that way that vibe sure changed fast. https://sports.yahoo.com/scott-fitterer-nfc-south-within-030012897.html?src=rss

Ah, didn't realize you were coming from LA. It'll feel familiar!

I'm most concerned that he hasn't looked like a passer either so far.

Prepare to be astonished by the tent cities if it's anything like it was three years ago.

Absolutely feels like it. Playing poorly, offense looking anemic, phantom injury out of the blue announced on Wednesday, ruled out on Thursday when he looked fine strolling around practice. What a disaster.

A little early to fret about losing him to a HC gig, but I'm happy with the job he has done so far and I'm ready for Reich to give his OC an opportunity to actually do the job.