While everybody seems negative, here's some positives...

[kungfoodude]

2 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Change is good. I’d rather try something new and fail than keep this current start out a little hot with some hope and then get blown out to realize how bad we are. You don’t want to suck for years but being 6-10, 7-9 and probably 7-9 again isn’t fun.

2015 was a great ride until the end, but that was clearly an outlier and we aren’t close to that team anymore. Ron and Marty aren’t going to get us back there. 

Yeah it is definitely time but until I see the changes that have been made, we are just left with an overwhelming level of uncertainty at a time when we are stacked with critical roster decisions. I can't be positive about that, I'm too nervous about seeing the direction.

But, unless it is just an obviously terrible hire at HC or GM, I will be back to my generally hopeful and positive outlook.

[philit99]

I have been pretty high on Cockrell. He is not afraid to tackle, and has decent coverage skills. We are fugging killing our secondary by expecting them to make almost all the tackles against running backs. If that doesn’t change I expect all of our CB’s to be injured by seasons end.

[thefuzz]

37 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

There is too much uncertainty regarding the future for me to be positive. The roster may be completely different, the coaching staff may be completely different and the front office may be completely different. 

Once all that is sorted out, I will probably be cautiously optimistic to very optimistic. 

Agreed.  Not much to get excited about to be honest.

Major crossroads for the franchise, top to bottom.

[mc52beast]

Unless there are changes to the staff and FO we will keep seeing the same thing over and over again...

I think Tepper called it mediocrity 

[therealmjl]

All this assumes a new coach right

[top dawg]

Yep, I think the original thought was to have Samuel in the slot, and that actually sets him up for success.

I'd play around with it a little this year---Moore & Crief on the outside and Samuel in the slot---but I don't know if Allen's arm strength is really credible enough to pull it off. 

[Khyber53]

Amazingly good take, OP. I'm starting to lose some faith in the coaching staff, but you've persuaded me to stay the course a bit longer and see what can be made of this. I'd said before our coaches were repairing a car as it hurtled down the freeway and they really are doing that. Some weeks are going to go better than others. Either way, we only get so many Panthers games in our lives, we've got to enjoy them however they come.

[Khyber53]

50 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Change is good. I’d rather try something new and fail than keep this current start out a little hot with some hope and then get blown out to realize how bad we are. You don’t want to suck for years but being 6-10, 7-9 and probably 7-9 again isn’t fun.

2015 was a great ride until the end, but that was clearly an outlier and we aren’t close to that team anymore. Ron and Marty aren’t going to get us back there. 

Honestly for the past 20 years, if you aren't the Patriots, any appearance in the Super Bowl is an outlier.

[Captain Morgan]

 

4 hours ago, musicman said:

 

 Shaq has a lot of talent but I don't know if he was the answer they hoped (gap coverage, getting off blacks, etc.)

 

 

[xav8tor]

37 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

Honestly for the past 20 years, if you aren't the Patriots, any appearance in the Super Bowl is an outlier.

Since 2000, nine teams have made it to the SB at least two times: Ravens, Panthers, Broncos, Rams, Giants, Eagles, Steelers, Seahawks, and of course, the Pats. Out of those nine teams with two or more appearances, all but one won at least one of their SB games, so that one team would be the outlier. Guess who?

[kungfoodude]

26 minutes ago, Captain Morgan said:

 

I am still laughing at this. Talk about your misspelling completely changing a sentence! 

[GoPanthers123]

There is some hope as we are .500 after playing not an easy schedule.  If we take one step forward in every position we would turn the close lossses into close wins.

[Icege]

Read up until the Shaq analysis, which completely called into question the integrity of the rest of the assessment. That's like saying Cam is the reason Kyle Allen threw four interceptions in a game.

[Captain Morgan]

Here's something I've been waiting to post.  This thread seems like a good place.

After we got blown out by the 49ers, I was reading a post on another forum about a fan who had the misfortune of working with some Cowboys fans, and they were all on Twitter.

After the game, one of the Cowboys fans tweeted "Keep pounding my ass."

Friends, this is a wonderful opportunity to learn the value of punctuation. 

The Panthers fans were letting him have, and then even the other Cowboys fans were getting in on it.  He refused to take it down for some reason, until it started going viral and he deleted it on Monday.

Pretty funny.  Hope you get a smile out of it.  We may suck this year, but at least we're not Cowboys fans.