In which I stay positive and the Panthers haters rage

[Jeremy Igo]

So, I woke up this morning and enjoyed some coffee while reading this joint and reflecting on the loss yesterday. 

And you know what, I'm not even mad. 

The Carolina Panthers sit at 0-2, just like last season. But instead of looking out atthe deep dark yawning chasm of missed opportunities and more of the same monotonous crap year after year after year, we have something quite new. 

We have one of the youngest teams in the league with brand new NFL coaches including the youngest offensive coordinator in the league going toe to toe with established NFL teams. And you know what? It has been pretty damn close each week.

A rocky start followed by effective adjustments (wtf are adjustments?) and comebacks making the games interesting well into the 4th quarter. The Panthers adjusted and went with primarily a three man rush while dropping OLBs in coverage and you know what? It worked. Tom Brady went just 6-of-12 in the second half for 19 yards. That in itself is pretty damn impressive. 

If not for Teddy's turnovers yesterday the Carolina Panthers would have won the game. If not for crucial 3rd down penalties that extended Bucs drives yesterday, the Carolina Panthers may have won the game. These things can all be fixed and are not intrinsic flaws within the team.

In conclusion, these are growing pains we all expected. The good news is the Panthers are not getting blown out. They are scrapping the entire game and making it competitive. Sure, it sucks now. But I still believe, as I have said all along, that the Panthers will start winning games as the season goes on. 

Now back to my coffee. 

 

Love you,

 

JI

 

 

[jfra78]

It's strange. It seems those who really want the team to play bad and even "tank for trevor", are the ones most upset with the way the team is playing.

[1of10Charnatives]

Pretty much my thoughts as well. Our roster is not scaring anybody, but we also are playing better than I might have expected. The things that are holding us back are fixable things. It will be interesting to see this team take shape.

[TrevorLaurenceTime22]

6 minutes ago, jfra78 said:

It's strange. It seems those who really want the team to play bad and even "tank for trevor", are the ones most upset with the way the team is playing.

Never having substained success can make you root for a long term goal and not get tunnel vision, Despite what you may think I am have no desire to "tank" I simply have no expectations of this team winning.

I'm sure we will pick up a few meaningless W's.

[BPF]

To me the biggest strength so far has been adjustments. After years of screaming at halftime to get it together its nice to see it actually happening. Also, most of the free agents (except Whitehead in coverage) have been good which I feel may be indicative of Rhule more than Hurney. Gimme a competent GM so we dont end back up in cap hell and I will bite my lip for the next 2 years while we get well.

[Jeremy Igo]

2 minutes ago, BPF said:

To me the biggest strength so far has been adjustments. After years of screaming at halftime to get it together its nice to see it actually happening. Also, most of the free agents (except Whitehead in coverage) have been good which I feel may be indicative of Rhule more than Hurney. Gimme a competent GM so we dont end back up in cap hell and I will bite my lip for the next 2 years while we get well.

To my eyes the coaching staff has been much improved over years past. The team at least looks like it belongs in the 21st century now. 

[uncfan888]

Those of us that want the first pick aren't hating. We don't enjoy watching the team lose every game. We just know that this team has a lot of holes and that first pick would be huge for the future success of the team

[Jeremy Igo]

3 minutes ago, uncfan888 said:

Those of us that want the first pick aren't hating.

 

Some are, some aren't. You can hope for the first pick without bashing this team in every single thread and contributing nothing positive whatsoever when there are obviously positive things worthy of attention. (Not saying you specifically, but those folks are plentiful.)

[ak18346]

I agree 100% with your post and I saw some good and a lot of area's to grow. Little things that with some coaching up can and should be corrected. I have pulled for this team from the beginning and so far this hasn't been as bad as the 1/15 season and with that we won our first game and went to hell after that. I will be here this season and every season.   

[mrcompletely11]

7 minutes ago, Jeremy Igo said:

 

Some are, some aren't. You can hope for the first pick without bashing this team in every single thread and contributing nothing positive whatsoever when there are obviously positive things worthy of attention. (Not saying you specifically, but those folks are plentiful.)

For the sake of argument and clarity what positives things are you noticing?  Me personally after this off season and how the roster is constructed, this season is going exactly as I thought.  Not hating just being realistic.  I see more losses and then the wheels will come off IMO.  Its really hard to turn the season around a la Miami 2019 when things are going south and people start getting hurt etc.

 

Neither Tampa or LV are particularly good so I think once we get into the meat of this schedule then we will truly see what we have in the coaching staff.

[LinvilleGorge]

I liked how the team kept fighting yesterday. I hate that personnel decisions are still our Achilles heel.

[Waldo]

Hurney being here is what makes me mad. I'm fine with a learning curve but if that asshat is still here we will not be moving forward sadly. More like treading water like a mediocer mess.

[OceanPanther]

The problem with " rebuilding "  is ,,  It isn't guaranteed that our current coach will be successful.  We've see many college coaches not be able to make the transition to the NFL.   

Those of us rooting for the Panthers and Rhule , try to keep the  glass half full  attitude.  Like its almost guaranteed that in 4 yrs we'll be back on top again.

It's so hard to watch a rebuilding year.  It's hard to be patient. 

[Khyber53]

We lost what, like 30 of last year's starters. We picked up young players by the boatload, plus seven defensive draft picks. We have basically an entire coaching staff on their rookie season in the league (just a season or two in the NFL for the HC and OC). There were really no organized team activities before training camp. The playbook we had been using went up to Washington. We lost Cam Newton AND Luke Kuechly at the same time. We had a training camp mandated by pandemic to be nothing like anyone had had before. We had no pre-season games and little full contact practice to make up for it.

And somehow we were not just competitive, but adjusted to our opponents and fought to the bitter end each time, narrowly missing victories. Heck, even against Tom Brady and a vicious Bucs defense, we still had a shot in the fourth quarter.

That's a tough, motivated team that will be learning and improving each week. They may be the Bad News Bears or Little Giants of the NFL, but I think this coach of ours might well be on to something.