Honest Observations

[L-TownCat]

One team was suffering from a Super Bowl hangover and the other was the Rams.

[Seltzer]

9 minutes ago, rippadonn said:

Aside from officials, totally agree, the two teams are evenly matched.

That should bode well going forward.

Nobody's going to want to hear this after a loss, but the team yesterday looked significantly better IMO than any time last year except against the Ravens and Bucs.  We blew both those teams out to get to 6-2 after winning 4 games early on that could have went either way before our 2nd half collapse.

The Rams capitalized on our mistakes, and they got lucky (honestly) on theirs.  To recover 3 fumbles while recovering your opponents 2 fumbles certainly isn't always going happen.  Statistically, it should rarely ever happen.

Our secondary looked absolutely lost last year most of the time.  That was not the case yesterday against one the very best passing attacks in the league.

The team's fundamentals are sound.  I have watched a lot of football, and a lot of Panthers football.  We're going to be alright

 

[thefuzz]

1 hour ago, Moorgan said:

Great post OP. Agreed.

For those blaming Ron for not going up-tempo (no huddle)...remember the Offense is 100% controlled and called by Norv. Your problem is with Norv not Ron. Sure, Ron, as HC, can dictate that but we all know he wouldn't do that and seriously, we wouldn't want him to. I'm not saying the criticism isn't valid. I'm saying you're directing your ire at the wrong coach...for this specific complaint.

There is a game plan in place, and Ron has a lot to do with that game plan.

I'd be shocked if Ron was being honest if he didn't think long methodical drives hence keeping that offense on the sidelines was the best way for us to win yesterday.

We all want to score points, quickly, that ain't really Ron's MO.

[steveSmokin_D]

2 hours ago, KillaCamNewton said:

im excited for the year man. thankfully my family has had PSLs since Year 1 and when we moved to Arizona when I was a kid we didnt sell them. now that Im here I can go to every game instead of going to a home game once every year or two or waiting for us to play the Cardinals or a Cali team

I'mm in that boat now of having to wait till they come out to Arizona to go to the game. Can't wait to move back home.

[KaseKlosed]

2 hours ago, KillaCamNewton said:

Went to my first home opener since 2001 (moved to CLT in February after 17 years in Arizona) so the anticipation was wild. got home and was super drunk and passed out around 5pm then woke up at 2am and couldnt go back to sleep so i watched the replay on gamepass

 

Honest assessments of the team and game

-the atmosphere around the stadium and around South End/Uptown was great. im used to just flying in then flying out for games so have never really had a chance to experience it, but now that i live here i really got a chance to appreciate how much the city embraces the team/gameday - especially for a city that is filled with transplants

-it was hot as hell at the game. i'm from Arizona and have never been so hot. i respect anyone who sat through it because it was rough

-the stadium was about full at gametime - not sure what people were talking about the stadium being half empty. i think alot of people were just going to the concourse to cool off. 

-the rams dont really have a fanbase so kinda hard to assess but it looked to me like no one was selling tickets to opposing fans

 

onto the game

-Cam is fine. had some shitty overthrows (like literally every QB does in a game) and on the INT the defender bailed off CMC at the last moment and made a great play. His mechanics and motion looked good and he was getting the ball out in a hurry and on the mark. wish he threw downfield more but in all honesty we moved the ball fine nickel and diming down the field. ill take that all day over the long developing Shula routes. the best way to score points is to not get behind the sticks and when you try to push the ball downfield it inevitably leads to sacks - especially with our OLine. i had zero issues with the gameplan other than wanting an occasional deep ball and more runs designed for Cam. We need to be more than just riding McCaffrey. Cam is the most dominate QB in the league when running and throwing, taking away his running is stupid and quite frankly makes him expendable. 

-really not sure what we were doing on defense, I thought the pass defense was good, but there were way too many times that we rushed 3 and sat in soft zone. Goff is significantly worse when he's getting pressured and we didnt seem to blitz at all. we have the personnel and the speed to be more of a press coverage and blitz team than weve ever had in the Ron era

-Shaq had a monster game. not sure if he simply is just better or if he has been playing out of position his whole career but he looked like prime TD out there yesterday

-Bradberry and Jackson had great games as well. need to keep both of them around, this is the best corner duo since Gamble and Lucas a decade ago.

-Burns is as advertised. nothing in the stat sheet but he was getting constant pressure and hurrying and bothering throws. he has problems when the tackle can engage him but man he gets around the corner quickly

-McCaffrey is a legitimate OPOY candidate. if there wasnt a stigma about white running backs people would talk about him the same way they talk about Zeke and Saquon. Trying to figure out what exactly those guys do better than McCaffrey

-time management is still annoying and pathetic. its so frustrating that every college team can effectively run a hurry up offense but we cant get out of the huddle until 15 seconds left on the playclock. we should be doing whatever we can to keep defenses off balance and we seem to do everything we can to make things easier. it allows them to sub, lineup correctly, change plays, and most importantly time the snap. what's even more annoying is the few times we go hurry up we always seem to skip right down the field. it's 2019 Ron/Norv, stop making your offense easier for the defense to defend

-we got hosed on 3 major calls. the backwards pass would have been ruled incomplete if it was called that on the field. same goes for the Kuechly forced fumble. the reasoning for not giving us the ball on that one was total BS as well. those were both game changing calls in my opinion. the PI they called on Jackson was BS as well. not sure if that drive ended up with points or not but that was a terrible drive extending call that was on 3rd down if I remember. Cooks had no chance of catching that ball

-all in all, I'm pissed that we lost, we did enough to win that game and I don't believe in moral victories at home. especially after losing 7 games in a row to end the season that being said, that is probably the hardest or second hardest game on the schedule and reality is we went toe to toe with an elite team and showed we are good enough to beat them. it would be way more demoralizing if we were manhandled or outclassed and looked like we didnt belong on the same field. you could watch that game and clearly tell the talent level was even, the Rams just made one or 2 less mistakes and their fumbles happened to bounce their way and ours didnt. You can clean up mistakes, you can't magically make your team better from a talent standpoint overnight

 

Keep Pounding and let's right the ship on Thursday against Tampa 

Thank you 

[CarolinaBip]

Gearld Mckoy was very quiet.. had 1 tackle and 1 combined tackle.. Was hoping for more.. and I'm especially hoping for some more come Thursday against the Bucs..

[ImaginaryKev]

41 minutes ago, carolina-chucky said:

Samuel is so overhyped by panthers nation. Ive seen nothing from him yet as a wr to make me believe anything good. Samuel is a rb trying to play wr. A tavon austin type of player. 

 Bro just stop

[ImaginaryKev]

My main observation from yesterday is Ron Rivera is a good defensive coordinator bc the defense has looked good overall (despite the offense not giving them points and keeping them on the field too long) since he took over calling it. 

The criticism he gets as a head coach is still all perfectly justifiable. He has to do better. 

[ImaginaryKev]

It helps us immensely that Tampa doesn't have a QB and Atlanta is utterly in danger

NO is NO but we have the roster talent to at least match up with them

[GEM]

I don't post often.  I think we are all disappointed on a fumble on the opening drive of a season. TODAY it has to be a coach saying, it is my fault that I did not go over the basics of football. AND let's go have a great game next week. Love you guy!!

[ncsfinest21]

2 hours ago, carolina-chucky said:

We really need to make a trade for a true #1 wide receiver if there is one available. Seeing a rookie Marquise Brown (my #1 wr in 19’ draft) having a huge day even though it was vs a bad miami team makes me think how much better Cam can be. I cant really think of any wr that could be on the trading block by deadline. But i would love to see what Indy would want for TY Hilton if they start losing some games.  People talk about how fast Moore and Samuel are but i just dont see that one game day. Moore can get open but he’s a yac guy, not someone who will beat u deep consistently. And samuel is “overhyped”. He really is. Just overhyped.  If we cant make a trade for a wr this season then we better draft one in the 1st round next if we plan on keeping Cam. 

We dont need a #1 receiver. We went 15-1 without a #1 receiver. We have what we need right now. If Moore secures the ball or gets out or gets down he wouldve ended up with maybe 100 yards. Samuel was good. Wright was good and Olsen was good. Just the turnovers were the difference between 1-0 and 0-1. Mark my word. Thursday at 11pm will look totally different on the forum.

[ncsfinest21]

Also Cam has his heat back on the ball. Some of those passes had some zing on them. I have no doubts that Cam has his power back but Its the mental hurdle to look deep again and his timing that is his biggest roadblock. I expect that to be gone against the bucs or the game after.

[cookinbrak]

2 hours ago, carolina-chucky said:

We really need to make a trade for a true #1 wide receiver if there is one available. Seeing a rookie Marquise Brown (my #1 wr in 19’ draft) having a huge day even though it was vs a bad miami team makes me think how much better Cam can be. I cant really think of any wr that could be on the trading block by deadline. But i would love to see what Indy would want for TY Hilton if they start losing some games.  People talk about how fast Moore and Samuel are but i just dont see that one game day. Moore can get open but he’s a yac guy, not someone who will beat u deep consistently. And samuel is “overhyped”. He really is. Just overhyped.  If we cant make a trade for a wr this season then we better draft one in the 1st round next if we plan on keeping Cam. 

If your QB consistantly overthrows his receivers, it doesn't matter who is out there. We drafted taller receivers to try and help, remember?

[GEM]

I don't post much. Have not read what everyone is saying here. But honest thoughts. Turnovers on opening day, just really hurt. If I was a coach and we have good ones. Today it's my fault for not talking about the basics of football. That's all. Let's put the pedal down for next week! Love you!!