"Big Men Allow You To Compete"

[hepcat]

The mantra our former GM, Dave Gettleman, used to live by was "Big Men Allow You To Compete."

Well, as we saw on Sunday, the Panthers defense is lacking big men. 

In the middle of the defense, Tahir Whitehead looked small and slow in comparison to Luke Kuechly's menacing presence. Shaq Thompson is also a smaller player for his position. All the DE's are all tall with slight frames. Most of the DE's are holdovers from the failed Ron Rivera 3-4 experiment (Burns, Haynes, Obada). Weatherly is also mirror image of these guys height/weight wise.

Adding Derrick Brown was a good start to fix this problem. But without bigger LB's or DE's to set the edges on run plays, teams are going to run all over the Panthers this season. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Anyone was going to measure up well short of Luke.

But Whitehead just isn't very good. No way around it. 

[Moo Daeng]

 Whitehead is a little shorter and a little heavier but that has nothing to do with why Luke was a better linebacker. 

[Jeremy Igo]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Anyone was going to measure up well short of Luke.

But Whitehead just isn't very good. No way around it. 

AJ Klein is light years ahead of him. 

[hepcat]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Anyone was going to measure up well short of Luke.

But Whitehead just isn't very good. No way around it. 

What hurt more was that Raiders fans were dogging on him all week. They were genuinely happy to be playing against him. And for good reasons.

[hepcat]

2 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

 Whiteheads is a little shorter and a little heavier but that has nothing to di with why Luke was a better linebacker. 

Whitehead is listed at 6'1 240. Kuechly was listed at 6'3 238, but I have a feeling he played heavier than that at many points in his career. He played bigger too.

Kuechly looks way bigger on the field just by the eye test too.

[NAS]

2 minutes ago, Jeremy Igo said:

AJ Klein is light years ahead of him. 

Even at the time I knew we would regret not keeping AJ Klein

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, hepcat said:

What hurt more was that Raiders fans were dogging on him all week. They were genuinely happy to be playing against him. And for good reasons.

Yeah, it was quite telling.

[Panthercougar68]

*Incoming 4corners with a Chazz Surratt gif*

[hepcat]

Just now, NAS said:

Even at the time I knew we would regret not keeping AJ Klein

Klein was a free agent this offseason and signed with the Bills. Panthers had a chance to re-sign him. Panthers even have his old LB coach Al Holcomb. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, Panthercougar68 said:

*Incoming 4corners with a Chazz Surratt gif*

I mean... I wouldn't be at all opposed to it.

[NAS]

3 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Klein was a free agent this offseason and signed with the Bills. Panthers had a chance to re-sign him. Panthers even have his old LB coach Al Holcomb. 

Wow I am speechless. Thanks Hurney

[Jeremy Igo]

48 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Klein was a free agent this offseason and signed with the Bills. Panthers had a chance to re-sign him. Panthers even have his old LB coach Al Holcomb. 

Forgot about that. 

 

Ugh. 

[4Corners]

Honestly, they should just cut Whitehead. He is awful and the PI was inexcusable and cost us the game. Whitehead has to be worst starting MLB in the NFL.