Positives From Last Night's Game

[GoobyPls]

The running game from a normal single back set works way better than the read option 

 

And Fozzy continues to be our best back. He actually runs harder than CAP

[Carolina Cajun]

24 minutes ago, NJPanthers12 said:

Biggest positive for me was that Cam Newton was able to take notice of Derek Anderson's quick release and can now possibly ascend into a below starting QB in this league.

Did he?  He wasn't at the game, so no guarantee that he even saw it.

[Carolina Cajun]

10 minutes ago, AppHeel said:

Good post OP. To echo some of your thoughts:

CAP had some nice moments, but he's not strong enough to covert those 3rd and short situations. He got stuffed on a few of those last night. I don't mind him though. Last night was arguably the best individual game of his career thus far.

Olsen is a beast plain and simple. Most people in the NFL may take Gronk, but give me Greg all day.

I thought the secondary was decent last night. Sure they couldn't get off the field at the end, but really, aside from the one Evans touchdown that Worley gave up, we didn't get burned. Sanchez was solid I thought for a debut game. Worley definitely is streaky, but I do think he will develop into a good corner for us in the next year or so.

KK is wishing he signed that 15 Million per year extension in August. He's still very important to this team though so we absolutely will work to retain him, but we should end up saving money.

I'm sure glad we're saving that money so we can not spend it elsewhere this offseason. 

[CatMan72]

Someone else mentioned Daryl Williams, he played well in his 2nd start.

[AppHeel]

2 minutes ago, Carolina Cajun said:

I'm sure glad we're saving that money so we can not spend it elsewhere this offseason. 

Well I'm hoping we save money so we have more to spend elsewhere this offseason. I believe that there were two reasons Dave got stingy with the finances this past offseason.

1. He wanted to lose more than he brought in so he could get a comp pick. Because this I think he justified to himself that the young talent on the roster was further along than it was and the fringe depth pieces were good enough to push us over the top. Neither of which are the case.

2. He wanted to make sure he had the funds for KK. Now, I'm hoping that because KK should come cheaper than the 17 million per that he wanted over the summer, then Dave may not feel as much of the need to hold on to the extra cap space. That's my hope at least. Remains to be seen if that will indeed happen.

[Steve_Smith_Sr.]

Positives?

Well - the team was humiliated in prime time.  Maybe this will spur some changes?  No, who am I kidding...

Our secondary didn't give up any NFL records last night which is a change over last week.  I guess we can pat ourselves on the back for that.

Olsen had a great game and is always solid.  CAP also had a good game.

The bullseye is officially OFF our backs.

The top cats looked fantastic.

That's all I have to say about that abortion...

[Mvp2014]

47 minutes ago, bdub515 said:

I liked Lavar Edwards last night, don't see why he shouldn't be starting over CJ at this point.

CJ played pretty well last night.  CJ sniffed out the same shuffle pass that burned Edwards on the other side.   I too liked Lavar Edwards, just stating the argument for CJ

[juliosantos]

My positive is big dwill . I called him a bust couple weeks ago but he looked pretty good last night

[imminent rogaine]

1 hour ago, gmonjimbo said:

I liked the sweeps we ran with Fozzy and CAP and seeing Norwell and Turner pull.

I thought Daryl Williams played well

I liked some of the rollouts we ran with DA

Greg Olsen was lights out 

I'm willing to bet #1 and 3 go out the window when cam comes back, unforturnately

[FuFuLamePoo]

I thought Shaq Thompson was everywhere. Maybe his best game yet 

[arbnranger]

Agree with the positives. Fozzy has been playing hard since game one. He seemed to pick up the blocking assignments that I saw too.  Toldozier whiffed on a couple that I could see.

[gakonline]

1 hour ago, NJPanthers12 said:

Biggest positive for me was that Cam Newton was able to take notice of Derek Anderson's quick release and can now possibly ascend into a below starting QB in this league.

i actually believe Shula called several plays with shorter routes to adapt to Anderson. Anderson does have a quicker release but noticed on a couple of plays there were players opened further down the field and he opted for the shorter route. Cam would have thrown down field. With the time the oline was giving last night cam would have easily tossed 4td last night. Oh well...

[KB_fan]

One positive:  A loss to Tampa screams VERY VERY loudly that there is urgent danger.  Perhaps a win last night to a BAD Bucs team would have allowed the coaches / FO and players to ignore and sugarcoat big weaknesses.  I'm hoping this awful outcome will show clearly that we're broken and fixes are needed.  Sometimes a win can camouflage the real issues.  I'm hoping our coaches and FO will see and face brutal facts about what is ugly and work to change it.

I'm not sure there are short-term solutions that will save this season, but hopefully they can make a start NOW rather than just saying :"it is what it is" and letting the cancer continue unabated.  We need momentum.  Football needs to become fun again for the Panthers.

Some commenters here have been berating Ron's record of late-season comebacks (as too little too late), but the end of 2014 rally DID set the team up somehow for an amazing 2015.  Maybe, just maybe, they can pull off that kind of team transformation again....

[OldNorthPowell]

One positive I take away from this game is that it brings us one step closer to getting rid of Shula.