panthers55

The purpose of preseason most years is to give starters a few reps but focus on developing the bottom part of your roster and the practice squad. With all the turnover we were more in need of not just that but playing time to gel all the players and staff and give Bryce significant reps as well as see what we had in Corral. If we were about scoring points we would have played Dalton like the Jets did Wilson for a whole half or the Giants did with Taylor. Executing and getting experience definitely needed. Looking good in August. Totally irrelevant if most of those guys won't be on your roster after next Tuesday.

To answer the only point you raise worth responding to, no I was a critic of Rhule and didn't want a college coach to begin with. Exactly how many of them do well their first time in the nfl. I am in favor of guys like Reich who are proven commodities. He had a winning record in 3 of his 4 full seasons at Indy and had back to back winning seasons in 2020 and 2021. Something we haven't done in our history

Really putting yourself all by yourself on an island with those takes. If we go by standard wisdom of waiting until year 3 to judge draft picks you are premature as well as overblown in your analysis.

So if he does get a carve out in the past now he doesn't. He is in charge and hired Reich so now we can judge him on his own merits. I would think as a Panther fan we would want our GM to be successful and give him the benefit of the doubt until it is proven to be the problem. We are seeing the fruits of his labor now. This is really a better conversation for after this season for when we have solid results to evaluate. I don't know why folks want to throw Fitterer under the bus given the upgrades we keep making to improve the team. And honestly I thought he did great in his first draft this year. Maybe it is just me......

I don't agree Fitz has done a bad job once he was in charge. He gave Wilks the reins and that worked out pretty well. Bringing in Reich and his staff was a major coup. Reich was clearly one of the best choices out there and his staff is widely regarded as one of the best before the season even starts. Clearly your beef is not trading Burns for a bunch of picks. Let's see how he does before deciding if keeping or trading him was a good idea. And let's see what the final impact he makes versus the cost before bitching about the contract especially the guaranteed amount which is all that matters. You are right though, players wanted to be here and guys like Shaq took a pay cut just to be a part of what we are building. Sorry to say it but with your take on things I am glad you are like me, just a fan and not the GM. Frankly I haven't been this hopeful in years.

But most times rebuilding teams have poor personnel and a new often inexperienced coach. Your first round draft pick is your best player with a poor surrounding staff. That is far from the case here and why teams can turn around quickly. We moved up to 1 but finished 7-10 so we aren't rebuilding. And if the hype is believed Bryce doesn't play like a rookie. I think we take some losses early but barring major injuries I expect us to finish the year strongly and contend for the division. As for winning the division we went 4-2 last year winning only 3 games out of division. If not for the debacle against Atlanta we would have gone 5-1. I see 9-8 this year finishing strong the last 8 after starting slow.

As for Fitterer being criticized for getting the players the coaches want, that is exactly what he is supposed to do. One of the criticisms of Gettleman was that he fell in love with a player and overuled his staff which caused drafting guys like Benjamin and Butler. The GM is supposed to hire his guy and then get the players his coach needs to achieve their shared vision. Of course Fitterer didn't pick Rhule nor did he have the power it seems to overrule Rhule's personnel choices. So anything he has done before this season is tempered by Rhules influence. Moving forward however, Fitterer did get his guy and the players Reich wants for his scheme. Criticisms after this season for picking Bryce and building the roster can rest on Fitterer's shoulders as he seems the major architect this time around.

It is on one level a reflection of how our fanbase has been traumatized throughout the late Rivera and Rhule years. But on another level is highly predictable. Complainers find things to complain about. Self proclaimed realists are usually pessimists who want a better title, and optimists always hope this will be the year things turn around or we actually have a winning record let alone two in a row. Should make the regular season quite lively...

Is it though? Did we gameplan against Wallen or even adjust after the first few catches? Did we try any double coverage or even change things up? Did we body anyone up at the line or give them free releases? This is working on general zone concepts and rallying to the ball. Basics when you are rotating folks in every few series. So no it isn't concerning.

What he does is run or pass out of the same formation. Since we will be passing out of the shotgun we are working in running out of it as well. Wilks just lined up and ran it smashmouth. Not much attempt to disguise it.

Reich is known to run the ball a lot. The preseason is the time to work on the passing game and various other timing elements. The running game usually doesn't require the amount of work that the passing game does. Corral won't be playing this year and Bryce is really just getting his feet wet. Apparently you have seen the new playbook Thomas put together. How many fancy Reich passing plays were in it?? And why would he deviate his pattern of heavily relying on his run game over the years? Inquiring minds want to know.

I think we can wait to see what happens when Sanders plays as well as we open up the playbook before saying much about the play calling. We will run a lot and use lots of motion to help the line and Bryce. I am glad Thomas is getting the chance to call plays. He can develop that skill having never done it before. I hear that Reich is reportedly letting the coaches do their job. Should be a real test of that with playcalling. Something Reich really likes to do and thinks he is pretty good at. I found a good PFF article from 2021 analyzing a loss to Tampa. I thought the explanations by Reich and the commentary were interesting although not sure how much light it sheds on this discussion. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-indianapolis-colts-frank-reich-playcalling-jonathan-taylor-carson-wentz-tampa-bay-buccaneers-week-12

Until we start gameplanning against defenses you can't tell that much about our eventual success. What you can evaluate now is how guys are doing 1 on 1 in their matches. So far mixed results for sure. If we can solidify the right guard position I will not be terribly worried as long as Campen is around.

How did I feel going to the game? Hot, sweaty and disappointed because as a Panther fan there was little to cheer about. I know these games are meaningless but just one more time we lost another home game. Getting really old.

Given this was the Jets second game and our first game you can tell the difference. I have heard it said teams improve the most between their first and second game. Let's hope it rings true for us next week.

Agree. The defense will be vanilla to see how we do without blitzing, exotic looks, or game planning. But we will get to see some good 1 on 1 matches, see how well the secondary does and what our depth will be given injuries bite us there in a passing division. I want to see the offensive scheme even if it is vanilla. And hopefully if Reich simplified things the learning curve won't be too difficult.

This is great for us. The defense gets to operate against a great passer who is playing at a high level. Our secondary is really tested and our d line got to beat up on other folks. It was invaluable for the O line who got to work against a top one gap penetrating defensive scheme after going against our gap and a half scheme every day. Dalton showed he still has it and Yoing got to work against pressure calling protections and adjustments. With all the film being shot the meetings on Friday and next week should be great. Forget who supposedly win or lost and concentrate on how this really helps see what needs to be cleaned up. Will be at the stadium on Saturday to negate the Jets fans.

Everybody who is a Panther fan or a fan of Horn hopes he can stay healthy. I suspect the staff is doing everything they can to keep him on the field. Let's hope he does what he can to get his body ready for the long grind. He is too good to have his career diminished with injuries.

The supporter sections are great but since those seats are already taken you can't create a general admission section for football. But they could do something like Cleveland did with the dog pound.

And as I said Hurts rushed for 15 TDs compared to Sanders 11. That is 15 more than Bryce will run? Who gets those? No one? If we only scored 15 rushing TDs who else is going to get them? Do you think our offense won't be worlds better than last year with the carousel of QBs and changing offensive schemes mid season? If Sanders doesn't get 10 TDs as least I will be shocked. It is about how he will be used and in this run heavy offense Sanders will get the bulk of carries and rushing TDs. He won't have to share with so many other players.

Given he had 11 last year and had a QB who liked to run it in himself in the red zone, how does he only get 5. Bryce won't be running it in but he will be handing it off and dumping it to Sanders. Sanders will only not have big numbers if he is overshadowed by others on the team who would have to make huge leaps from where they are now.

If all we wanted was a guy who could run the ball we would have stuck with Foreman. But we wanted a receiver too. Sanders caught 20 passes albeit for only 78 yards but that was his lowest total. He had 500 yards receving his first year with the Eagles. He will be a bigger part of this offense than Foreman would have been and is being paid accordingly. For this scheme Sanders is a great fit.

How can you decide if we overpaid until you see the production on the field? All you can say is we paid more than some others teams did for their running back. We saw Sanders as both a running back and receiver out of the backfield. Is 7 million a lot to pay a great running back who is also a good receiver?? I think the answer will depend on how he plays this year especially as a receiver. From what Reich did in Indy would suggest Sanders will get a ton of carries and earn all 7 million.

Absolutely. First time at camp in years. Couldn't go during the Rhule years. Really looking forward to seeing Bryce and the rest of the team.

And Bryce can throw much better than Cam so they are both very different. But they were both number 1 picks and both had offenses built around them. And the fact that Marshall played so much better once Rhule was gone suggests he is going to have a break out season this year.