Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears - Winners and Losers

[jfra78]

49 minutes ago, Newtcase said:

Excellent point, as the chart he posted is team.  Grahams log def puts him in the middle of the pack, and worse considering the XP missed.  For the 3rd highest paid kicker it really was an average season.  And...Detroit....ugggg...that game really felt like a turning point.

http://www.nfl.com/player/grahamgano/71309/gamelogs?season=2018

Yeah the missed fg and xp sucked in that game.  The way I remember it Funchess dropped like 5 passes that day.  I always blamed him for that loss, in reality there's a lot of blame to go around in a loss

[Icege]

12 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Eerie--I made the same comment about Miller (comparing him to Haynes).  Miller showed me nothing.  Slowish, not aggressive---he was thinking too much?  Maybe that is it.  PS at best.

I think you hit the nail on the head there regarding Miller. With Haynes during his first preseason we saw him getting guided around the arc or stonewalled entirely. Miller isn't even showing that initial burst (granted it is nowhere near as quick as Haynes). I think we witnessed some paralysis through overanalysis while also seeing that he physically isn't ready to consistently contribute right away.

[MasterAwesome]

Yes, we all get it...Detroit Detroit Detroit lol. It was an objectively terrible performance but it was largely an outlier these past two seasons...otherwise, he has been one of the better and more consistent kickers in the league. That would be like if someone argued on the other side that Graham Gano is amazing because he made one 63-yard field goal.

The only other notable and significant blemish on his record is the missed FG against the Saints in 2017. However no one talks about the fact that he made 4 field goals in that game...he contributed at least as much to that game as he detracted from it. There’s such a double standard cause we don’t do that to anyone else...we don’t judge Cam’s incredible games by his one missed pass (at least rational people). We don’t judge Luke’s incredible games by his one missed tackle. We don’t judge CMC’s incredible games by his one fumble. If we judged everyone by their worst individual play or worst individual performance rather than looking at the whole statistical snapshot, then literally everyone sucks.

[TheRed]

54 minutes ago, MasterAwesome said:

Does daddy need to come in and spank you again? You need your bottle?

[hepcat]

15 minutes ago, stbugs said:

We aren’t paying for him to lose 4 games in 2016 or missing a couple kicks in the Detroit game and losing a game we never should have lost.

The VT kid hit a 55 yarder last night that had more than enough to be a 63 yarder and had touchbacks as well.

Gano isn’t a kicker we can count on at all and we are paying him like he’s a top K. Our head coach lost faith in him in 2016 and 2018. Unfortunately, our man had a career year in 2017 and he had 0 50+ yarders. I recall everyone wondering why Ron never tried him except 1 time (he missed). Thank goodness that career year ended in a blown chip shot that would have given us a chance at a 37 yarder to beat NO.

Gano also missed a chip shot FG at the beginning of the Saints playoff game in 2017. He booted a 50 something yarder later in the game to make up for it, but that really set the tone for the game

[hepcat]

4 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Yep, that was the miss against the Saints that hurt because we lost by 5 and got the ball to the NO 20 with plenty of time to kick a FG but we had to take shots at the end zone down 5 instead of 2. That’s the problem, you can’t count on him. Pro-bowler, misses chip shot to help lose the playoff game. 

He also missed a critical FG in the Superbowl. It's a tough decision. He's generally consistent. But the Panthers blew their chance to get a new kicker with Harrison Butker. If they were going to get a new kicker, he was the guy. 

[ImfromClayton]

I think Efe is in trouble. I thought he was fine last night but miller isn’t getting cut, and Haynes was ridiculous. In a numbers game, I don’t like Efe’s chances. 

[CRA]

15 minutes ago, stbugs said:

We aren’t paying for him to lose 4 games in 2016 or missing a couple kicks in the Detroit game and losing a game we never should have lost.

The VT kid hit a 55 yarder last night that had more than enough to be a 63 yarder and had touchbacks as well.

Gano isn’t a kicker we can count on at all and we are paying him like he’s a top K. Our head coach lost faith in him in 2016 and 2018. Unfortunately, our man had a career year in 2017 and he had 0 50+ yarders. I recall everyone wondering why Ron never tried him except 1 time (he missed). Thank goodness that career year ended in a blown chip shot that would have given us a chance at a 37 yarder to beat NO.

Kickers miss kicks.  There is like one elite kicker every decade.  

We pay him like an above average kicker.  Because that is what he is. 

Gano’s 63 yarder had enough to be pushing 70.  And Gano’s average TB% is still higher than what the new guy did last night. 

I’m not against moving on from Gano.  1 preseason game doesn’t sell me yet is all 

[Newtcase]

5 minutes ago, hepcat said:

He also missed a critical FG in the Superbowl. It's a tough decision. He's generally consistent. But the Panthers blew their chance to get a new kicker with Harrison Butker. If they were going to get a new kicker, he was the guy. 

Well I think that's the point being discussed here.  Slye looks like he could be that guy.  Calmly boots a 55 yarder with hella room to spare in his first NFL appearance.  Kicking everything through the end zone.  Considering he'd be cheap as hell to likely perform as good, perhaps better than Gano...could be Butker 2.0 here.  I know experience matters in the NFL, that can be flipped on its head as well, Gano has demons that Slye doesn't.

Considering Gano just got a shiny new contract last season though and he would be 2.5mil in dead money this year, and 1.5mil for the next two years to cut him, it's not likely.  However, we would realize nearly 8mil in cap savings over the next three years.  Who knows, I def like what I saw from Slye last night and Gano is meh IMO.

[hepcat]

Just now, Newtcase said:

Well I think that's the point being discussed here.  Slye looks like he could be that guy.  Calmly boots a 55 yarder with hella room to spare in his first NFL appearance.  Kicking everything through the end zone.  Considering he'd be cheap as hell to likely perform as good, perhaps better than Gano...could be Butker 2.0 here.  I know experience matters in the NFL, that can be flipped on its head as well, Gano has demons that Slye doesn't.

Considering Gano just got a shiny new contract last season though and he would be 2.5mil in dead money this year, and 1.5mil for the next two years to cut him, it's not likely.  However, we would realize nearly 8mil in cap savings over the next three years.  Who knows, I def like what I saw from Slye last night and Gano is meh IMO.

Not disagreeing with you but the Yips are a real thing with kickers and Gano seems to be able to shake them off pretty easily. He misses an easy kick then goes and boots a tough one right afterward. Also I don't think the Panthers would want to turn over a playoff ready roster to a rookie kicker but that's just me.

[Newtcase]

Just now, hepcat said:

Not disagreeing with you but the Yips are a real thing with kickers and Gano seems to be able to shake them off pretty easily. He misses an easy kick then goes and boots a tough one right afterward. Also I don't think the Panthers would want to turn over a playoff ready roster to a rookie kicker but that's just me.

That's the same logic that lost Butker.  Who here wouldn't want that move back?  You're probably right though.

[mc52beast]

4 hours ago, joemac said:

2 field goals.....and 4 extra points.

How many games did we lose by 2 points or less

[Moose Hoover]

3 hours ago, bull123 said:

loved it when he went head first into the pile 

TWSS

[mc52beast]

Losers;

Butler- dude got knocked so far out of one play I thought he got hit by a tsunami... definitely won’t make the cut

Little- I know it’s tough being a rookie LT but everyone has high expectations for him. From what I saw he was struggling quite a bit

 

Winners;

Burns- a no brainer. He wasn’t always dominant but he got 2 sacks that you can’t credit the coverage with. Give him time and we won’t miss Peppers.

Haynes- dude is fast as lightning, will give tackles fits all season

Gaulden- only saw the first half but from what I saw he played well. Had a nice PBU in the endzone and caused a fumble.

heres a name that had almost an identical first game as Grier... Jimmy Clausen