TD alt

I doubt it. Who would hitch their wagon to Bryce? Bryce is pretty much a default excuse. Tepper may be a lot of things, but he isn't daft or oblivious to dynamics.

Saying he's better than Tua or Jacoby is a little bit of a stretch when you start looking at the numbers. Saying he's better than Ward or McCarthy at this point generally means nothing. Anyone who is being totally objective, in my opinion, I'm thinking will at least acknowledge that picking up Bryce's 5th year option is just as much (if not more) about what was invested to acquire him---and the Panthers' overall situation in regards to draft position, lack of draft capital, real capital or obvious options, and just the general QB market--and his, at best, middling play (and that's a marked stretch). Though we're giving Bryce another year, based upon his play, I don't think that most NFL types will have great expectations.

Putting McCarthy and Ward in there is a little disingenuous, but I guess we'll have to accept it considering the conversation (but not without context). You better start looking at stats that speak to efficiency (e.g. passer rating, yards, TD-INT ratio). Don't confuse making it to the playoffs or going from the bottom to staying in the bottom third of the league as something to praise without some context. Both Tagovailoa and Jacoby Brissett were arguably better than Bryce. They were more efficient QBs by most metrics that matter. The fact that we're discussing a third-year QB with the likes of busts, backups and virtual rookies should make you pipe down a bit in my estimation. I mean, I can accept the reality of the situation--the option is pretty much a no-brainer--but Bryce needs to improve greatly before I consider him a franchise-level starter.

I don't know what Howell is. If I do, it's only by assumption based upon his lack of opportunities.

Exactly!

I get your point, I just don't agree with it on its face. This wasn't the 2024 season. The defense was not on the field an inordinate amount of time. The fact is, is that though we drafted two pass rushers, we actually regressed a little bit in regards to total sacks and dropped significantly in pass rush win rate. We were 24th in 2025 (down from 10th in '24). We were ranked 28th in sacks in 2025 and 27th in '24. I bet you Jeff Ulbrich would've gotten more out of our guys in the pass rushing department, as I would bet that many DCs would have. Our pass rushing efficiency, or lack thereof, didn't really have anything to do with the offense in my mind--not in 2025. And let's not even talk about third-down efficiency. It was just as bad if not a little worse. But, this offseason, I would take away even more excuses by investing even more in the defense. If we can't get a pass rush going, then it's squarely an Evero issue. He has one of the best DTs in the league, as well as a pretty good pair of CBs, and one above average safety. Assuming that we upgrade safety and get a legit MLB, we should see a substantial improvement.

Evero's scheme is an impediment to excellence from where I'm sitting. It waters everything down from pass rushing to stopping the run.

I don't know that there is a huge difference, but that Scourton got way more opportunities. If you want to say that Umanmielen is more outspoken and brash, then fine. Perhaps a little humbling is in order, but they both need to improve their craft. Hopefully experience will help them to do it, but Evero's scheme doesn't look to be doing either one of them any favors.

Well he's not happy, and he doesn't want to piss off the boss. I hate Evero's scheme with a passion. To me, it's just too spread out, far and in between.

Not sure that age has anything to do with it, as much as the specific injury and situation. No, we shouldn't give up on Ickey, but due to the nature of the injury and statistics regarding the ability to return to football and be as effective, we can't count on him either. What we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

No to fill-ins. It doesn't work, and Bryce will struggle with turnstiles in front of him. We need to address this in the draft (unless we have some unforseen trade). Days one and two have to be on the table. It's life. It's business. It is what it is.

I said yesterday that I suspect that our pass rush would look a helluva lot better if we went back to a 4-3. The reason why I don't think Evero is some amazing defensive coordinator is because he doesn't put his players in the best position to succeed. He is slow to adapt, if he adapts at all (the same issue that I think Canales has on the offensive side of the ball). We just have to legitimately invest in the defense with some draft capital (like we did last year) and let this play out. Tepper will get tired of it eventually. I hate that we didn't just try to snatch Saleh when we had the chance. Some things are just too obvious.

Four years and 30 mil. No way! Maybe after another couple of seasons.

Hard to believe a Harbaugh-coached team could look so bad.

I mean, Herbert is either getting sacked, pressured, and/or running and over-throwing. This is easily the least satisfying game of the weekend. The Chargers' offense is a dead horse.

I don't know how the Chargers even made it to the dance.

The Chargers O-line is horrible.

Herbert getting pressured, looking rattled, and fumbled again. I understand that the O-line isn't having a good night, but you still have to protect the ball the best you can. When they come, sometimes you have to take the sack to live another day. This has been bad.

Hubbard isn't the problem, if anything it's a lack of a legit passing game. Jonathan Brooks fell way off when Danny Dimes got hurt. When teams just continually stack the box, or simply have stout lines, you can't expect RBs to go off. All that being said, I wouldn't paid Chuba like that either because I see him as more average than anything special. Just another Morgan contract that looked sketchy at the time that have turned out to be relatively bad.

They're big boys that fully understand the dynamics of the game. Just like us, they'll be alright. The worst thing about losing last night was not only losing the game, was losing Ickey. Many repercussions, some that may be long lasting, will happen as a result of his injury.

They were pretty much spot-on...except for that Jacob Coker dude...

We can't go into the season with an illegitimate LT and expect Bryce to actually improve. That's how I feel about any current roster options. BC is convalescing, and he was probably a stretch too. As much as we are talking about pass rush, LT may have just become out biggest need. SMDH.

As I don't think back-dooring exists for winning in the NFL, we don't agree unless you think that too.

Icky's injury changes the dynamics of the draft and/or free agency a lot.

You face the competition in front of you. The phrase "any given Sunday" hasn't endured because it's bullsh¡t. This is the NFL. Too many teams to count win multiple games every year via one score. Hell, the Chiefs made it all the way to the Super Bowl with a preponderance of one-score games. That doesn't move me. It is the NFL, and winning has less to do with logic than hard work and professionalism. Our roller coaster of a season, multiple times losing games we were projected to lose and winning games that we were projected to win speaks to the spirit behind "Any given Sunday." Come on, dude, I never said that we were going to have the dynamics of this season going forward. In fact, looking at all my comments today, I've pretty much said the opposite in so many words. I said that I took issue with that one phrase, not that we will be able to repeat what we did this year and expect to make the postseason. I will say this however, we won't be back-dooring into any wins next year either, regardless of whether we improve or not.