shula is a symptom, not the disease

[Fiz]

alright im drinking by myself because im in asheville and i don't know anyone so here are some words

 

the panthers really don't have any talent on the offensive line, and their running backs are all dead. yet for the past two games they've tried ineffectively to establish the run. Their QB is no real threat to run the ball (RPG down from 7 to 2 this year) and defenses aren't even biting on the read option anymore. 

 

This doesn't mean they can't run the ball. There are other ways to to pick up yards on the ground, namely stretching out the defense and getting them out of the base alignments. For those that have no idea what that means, when you put more wide receivers on the field, defenses will likely take out fat dudes and put in more skinny fast dudes. Theoretically, the fewer fat dudes you have, the better your chances are of blocking successfully, especially since your fat dudes have the benefit of knowing what's going to happen. 

 

Obviously the Panthers haven't done this this year. Even down three scores against the ravens on sunday, the Panthers were running primarily out of base sets: 1-2 TE, 2 WR, FB, RB, etc. This is like 1970s football and its very easy to gameplan against. Take out the read option and this is the most simple offense in the world to guard against, especially when you physically don't have the players to run it. Run blocking is theoretically easier than pass blocking, since all your fat dudes are doing is running real hard and hitting someone. No one told our fat dudes this. 

 

so yeah i think the injuries and lack of talent are revealing the flaws in this playcalling, and I don't think shula or rivera are capable or willing to deviate from the script, which means, uh, not good things. 

 

but to my point, the blame has been far reaching. Shula is the obvious candidate and obviously he's an untalented hack who only has a job because of his last name. I've never been a fan of ron rivera, i thought last year was an anomaly, and i thought his "riverboat" nickname was misplaced. I argued this point extensively and boy howdy do i look correct right now. Gettleman's name gets dragged through the mud, but I don't really think that's fair. He's working with zero cap space, cleaning up hurney's mess, and you can't fix every problem at once. He's put a great set of WRs out there, more than made up for smith's departure IMO (even though it was handled terribly) and done what he can with his back against the wall. I would have preferred he drafted 7 pro bowlers too but what can you reasonably expect?

 

The real problem is jerry.

 

i've been following this team since sweating my chubby 9 year old ass off in clemson and every single year they've been the same. they're gonna run the ball, establish the run, and play suffocating defense. This is what you'd expect an owner to want who played football in the blood and guts era, or back when defenses could actually play defense. The problem with this constant striving for a very specific, antiquated form of football is it hasn't been very successful. The Panthers have had a whopping 5 winning seasons in their two decades of existence. With the exception of one year when the defense just couldn't stop anyone (glorious 1998) and arguably the 2003 playoff run when Jake Delhomme reached his final form, they've prided themselves on being a running team that tries to stop the run. It hasn't worked. 

 

4 former DC head coaches, 4 ish GMs, no sustained success, and no real hopes for the future. Even when Chud was brought in to run his ZANY OFFENSE, it was still predicated on running, just with a QB. Now Shula is running his dad's playbook. True, around this time last year, everything started coming together, but I just don't see it. The dline is a shambles, the plug in play safeties aren't nearly as good as last year's batch, and we don't have the coaching to overcome offensive line inadequacies. 

 

But hey, every five years or so it all comes together, right? 

 

Problem won't change until Jerry is dead. Sorry if that's morbid. 

 

But Jerry could see the error in his ways. There's a solution, and it's just like 6 hours down the road....

 

[chknwing]

nice knowing ya Fiz

[frash.exe]

This offense is giving me the shulas

[KillerKat]

I'm sort of starting to have the same view.

[Ruff]

I'd love to see us hire someone out of the Chip Kelly mold.

[MurkN]

With the exception of one year when the defense just couldn't stop anyone (glorious 1998) and arguably the 2003 playoff run when Jake Delhomme reached his final form,

[JJman]

Shula is ebola's patient zero

[Darth Biscuit]

Riddle me this Fizzy... What has changed with the D from games 1&2 to games 3&4?

It's not Hardy and it's not TD.

It's something on the D line but idk what?

[Fiz]

Riddle me this Fizzy... What has changed with the D from games 1&2 to games 3&4?

It's not Hardy and it's not TD.

It's something on the D kind but idk what?

Obviously the Bucs are terrible, and the Lions didn't have a good gameplan against the Panthers. 

 

Against the Steelers, the Panthers actually didn't play that bad on defense. The offense couldn't get going and eventually the the defense just wore down. There were two hideous mental errors (the offsides on the FG and the Punt Return) that started the snow ball rolling. Points beget points. And Ben made 1 or 2 just incredible throws. The quick flip to the back of the end zone? What can you do?

 

Davis was obviously out against the Ravens, and he can't be replaced. But the Ravens have a baller as fug offensive line, even without their LT. I know we like to scream doom and gloom, but the other guys practice too and they would have been up for it even if the Panthers DLine was at full strength. They were able to take Kuechly out, then it was just the random untalented assholes in the secondary to stop anyone, and they couldn't. Also, again, Flacco made every fuging throw. That corner endzone touchdown was unguardable. Sometimes you get beat. 

 

There was also some horseshit. Smith's first TD would have been an interception if he hadn't been there. Luke "dropped" a pick six.

 

Last year the Panthers had every bounce go there way, for the past two weeks they lost every bounce, and fuged up at some really inopportune times. 

 

We'll see. I don't expect a win against the bears though. They're the kings of horseshit. 

[imminent rogaine]

Riddle me this Fizzy... What has changed with the D from games 1&2 to games 3&4?

It's not Hardy and it's not TD.

It's something on the D line but idk what?

 

I think the answer to that riddle is Hardy. I know he wasn't there for week two but after the Lions game, teams had tape on what our line looked like and what we did without Hardy. They were able to adjust... at least that's my guess.

[SCP]

I am also drinking alone at a bar. In Dallas, TX. That was a good read.

[rodeo]

If the defense returns to form at all this season it'll come down to Short and Alexander, imo.

[Chaos]

All good points. Even when successful like last season, it seems this team is always on the razors edge of mediocrity just because the philosophy has never changed from the top.

[Darth Biscuit]

I think part of the answer is Hardy, but only like 15%. Fiz has a great point about Keek and most especially about "breaks". We did catch a LOT of breaks last season. We caught none the past two games.

If our Dline doesnt figure some shiz out and quick, Keek could literally be Superman and we'd still get killed.

As for the main point of the OP, the offense is just a clusterfug mainly bc of the line. Hurt RBs are part of the price of doing business. The WRs have def exceeded expectations. Cam is hurt and behind that Oline Barry fuging Sanders would struggle.

It's all on the D to hold opponents to like 10 points or we have serious issues.