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Looking at each Position Group

Saca312

By Saca312,
in Carolina Panthers

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Saca312 Experienced

Saca312

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So, being 1-4 isn't something anyone desired, and I honestly never expected. I expected at least 4-1 at this point, and honestly we could be there. Only real game I think we got beat in every aspect was against Atlanta. But, we're at this point. The Chiefs of last year went 1-5, and came out with a playoff appearance, so not everything is grim and doom at this point. But honestly, is the talent of our team the problem? Have our losses been due to the fact we've lost every scrap of talent left on our team? Here's a breakdown of the Panthers team and their position groups, and my thoughts:

Offense:

QB- Honestly, we have a pretty solid group of QB's. Cam Newton's the league MVP, Derek Anderson is a good BACKUP QB, and shows flashes of greatness, even amid poor decision making, and Joe Webb is your "do it all" tool. If there's any criticism, it's really how Cam is used on the offense. There's an obvious show of regression on Cam this year, with evidence of poor footwork and staying in the pocket far too long at times, leading to sacks and hits. He's not one to easily take the pass rush. If he can start doing 3 step drop-backs like in Denver, and start playing some short passes when the defense is primed for the pass rush, I believe we can get a rhythm going. Cam needs to honestly start being used as a QB, and start doing less and less of his hard hit runs. He won't be lasting long with all the hits he's taking, and I believe the playbook needs to change to accompany that.

RB/FB/HB- Behind J-Stew, we have CAP and Whittaker taking the reins as we've seen lately, and Tolbert being dead-weight on the offense. Honestly, CAP and Whit aren't too bad, they're just not impressive enough for me to consider them starter material at the moment. J-Stew has TREMENDOUS importance on this offense. His blocking ability, and his hard running, sets up the dangerous run game that we need. With his injury-prone self, we desperately need someone to step up and take his role. So far, CAP has shown poor blocking ability, even though he's decent at the run. With Tolbert being absolutely worthless, we need as much blockers as we can get. I think we're solid with a healthy J-Stew, but I'd be looking to 2017's RB heavy draft for some good names, and I won't mind picking up one in the first. We need to set up our offense here.

WR- Honestly, I don't have much criticism with this WR group. Would love to start seeing Funchess start panning out, and our WRs to stop making bone-headed penalties (KB specifically.) We have talent here, and honestly don't see much ways to improve. Just need to start getting in sync and in rhythm.

TE- Behind Olsen, we got jack-poo. Ed Dickson just ain't gonna cut it for me, and Olsen ain't gonna stay young forever. I've wanted to see a two TE set for a while, but looks like we'll be sticking to Olsen for a bit. I think we honestly need to look for a second decent TE that can block to pair Olsen, but honestly we just need better depth than just Ed Dickson. I think with time Sandland and other prospects may start panning out. We'll just have to wait and see.

OG- No problems here. Turner and Norwell are beasts. Maybe depth, but really you can't expect to have all-pro backups all the time.

OT- Here we go. The starting duo of Remmers and Oher isn't working out well for me. Honestly, I think our biggest problem is LT at the moment. As decent as Oher is, he just isn't great. He's slightly above average at best, but what our offense needs to get going is someone great. Maybe we go out there and find a decent LT that a team's willing to trade, and I honestly wouldn't be upset if we take one. I think we'll be set if we shore up the LT position. Notice how I mentioned nothing about RT. Honest to goodness, the answer is right on the roster. I've rewatched the Atlanta game, and Daryl Williams has been really really good. Sure, he's not perfect, but he's performed better than the turnstile we call a RT by the name of Remmers. Now, Remmers is a good player. He honestly is. He's just not starter caliber. Sure, he put up a decent fight against Von in the season opener, but still he's honestly held Von quite a bit, and he's just not good enough imo as starter, even with as much praise as I gave him during the opener. I feel once we shore this position up, we'll be set for a good amount of time.

Defense:

LB: Nothing much to say here, except maybe that Thomas Davis has sorta regressed. Man I was being picky there, we're stacked.

DT: "Bu-bu-bu-but KK and Star are getting no sacks this time around wtf Gettledouche why our DTs so bad." Honestly, I'm still a firm believer we're pretty good here. Like really good. But the problem is, the rest of the NFL knows that. Now I'm not paying as much attention as I should be, but I believe our poor DT play comes from the fact teams know we good there, so they make sure both KK and Star are accounted for. They haven't shown to be really breaking up double teams when they're both stuck. I think if we can form some one on one matchups at the DLine for KK and Star they'd be able to beat those and produce. But for now I think KK and Star will have to worry about figuring out how to apply pressure in these situations. Our depth is honestly pretty solid on paper. Just would like to see more performance from these groups. Especially in the dang run like holy poo.

DE: Oh lawd have mercy. How the times have changed since the Hardy and Prime CJ era. We've really regressed since then, and even in 2015 it was evident DE was an issue. Ealy is playing out of his Superbowl position, probably why lack of production was shown. CJ has come off and shown something against Tampa, but he's not too consistent enough for my taste. What we need is a true pass rushing DE. We need someone that can impact the QB and alleviate the DT's from doing the workload. I think Jared Allen brought a sort of mojo to the table, even with how poor he was in pass situations. We just need a good DE that can impact and create chaos. I'd look to the FA market and draft next year for a good starting DE that can help us out in that area. 

CB: Well, what did you expect. We lost Norman since his agent is a poo-head, and Bene recently since he isn't conditioned enough. The retirement of Tillman,  and everything else just isn't going right for the Panthers at the moment. Sure, there's a lot of young talent, with GREAT potential. I'm liking what I see from Bradberry so far, and the flashes Worley gives. It's just expected we won't get that now. Would we be in a better position if we kept Norman? Sure, for this year, but future years we'd probably regress unable to sign any players with all the contracts coming up. I'd say we just have to play the waiting game to see this position shore up, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it as a strength in a few years. I just feel we need a veteran presence mainly to help guide the CBs, and we need it badly. Seeing Teddy Williams play for a non special teams play scared the poo out of me. We need help back there.

S: We just need to be consistent here. Coleman needs to keep at his natural position for now, but we honestly need a true other safety back there. Tre Boston and whoever the heck the other guy was just won't cut it as starter material. I think we need a veteran presence or someone decent back there, so miscues don't occur. I think the biggest issue in ATL was the miscues and misdirections the secondary had, mainly due to poor safety decisions. We need to be able to communicate back there and make sure everyone is on track for what we need. We haven't had many turnovers by our defense in a long time, and we need that mojo back.

Special Teams:

P: Andy Lee is the best offseason deal we've made. And that's saying a lot. He's been quite a threat, and I like it.

K: Graham Gano. He flashes, and he dashes. As he's a Fort Mill native, I'm biased and hopes he sticks around, but he needs to start being consistent. Man, some of those FGs he missed were crucial, and if we paying him good, he needs to perform. But he's got the leg, but definitely a crutch.

Every other position: Our long snapper is good. Everyone else is mediocre. Nothing flashy here, been that way for ages.

 

All in all, most of it is issues we've had last year. OT, DE are the two popping to mind, since on this team we need great people at that position to stay near the top in the league. RB depth is a concern, and other areas, but all in all, we're a lot better off than a lot of teams considering the circumstances. We could easily be 4-1 right now. EASILY. Only game we've honestly lost since the start is ATL. Every other game had penalties, FGs, and everything going against the Panthers, causing us to lose. Poor coaching decisions, discipline issues, and mistakes cost us those wins mainly. I think we have the talent. Most of my critiques up there were just really nit-picky to some extent, and we honestly have a good team. If we can get coaching to click, and get in a rhythm, I can see us climbing that mountain to SuperBowl 51. But that has to start Sunday, and we have to win against the Saints to be decent. 

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Camp Fodder Mentor

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1 hour ago, GoobyPls said:

Our receivers are trash. We need a legit number 2 and 3 receiver. I still can't believe we didn't sign Crabtree or Mike Wallace 

I agree we have Benjamin and a bunch of number 4 and 5 guys.  Phiily brown is actually the best of that bunch and should be starting with KB but that has to be addressed

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