In which I stay positive and the Panthers haters rage

[hepcat]

Just now, raz said:

dude, you are so stuck on saying 20mil/yr is a huge contract.  that is so 2013.   20mil/yr ain't shite for a qb.   no matter how you fit that into every post you make its never gonna be true

Whatever man. It’s a huge contract for a guy who if you watched his tape from his 5 starts last season was propped up by elite play from Michael Thomas. Cam would have been paid LESS money on a one year deal but instead we have Bridgewater and his noodle arm for 3 years.

[Fox007]

Return game is good.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Whatever man. It’s a huge contract for a guy who if you watched his tape from his 5 starts last season was propped up by elite play from Michael Thomas. Cam would have been paid LESS money on a one year deal but instead we have Bridgewater and his noodle arm for 3 years.

Honestly, probably only two. Teddy will probably play wet nurse to our newly drafted first round QB next season and be cut after next season.

[bigdog10]

We are way better than I thought we’d be. We’re going to take lumps this year but nobody is looking at the schedule thinking we are just going to roll over. That is a credit to Rhule and his staff and players. 

[Sgt Schultz]

I did not see the game live.  Panther games are rarely on here.  But, when I saw the score was 21-0, the first thought was "this is going to be ugly."  Then it wasn't.  Then they were in a position to even it up.

Looking at the parts of the game I was able to pick up online or in highlight clips, one key to the loss looked like a familiar refrain: our OL could not establish and protect a pocket against a decent high school team.  Pockets break down, but usually the QB has an opening to step up or out and create some time to throw.  Ours REALLY break down.  For those obsessed with Trevor Lawrence, asking a young QB to come in and "oh, by the way, you will need to run for your life every time you drop back to throw" is not a ticket to success or development.  Since that has been a chronic problem on this team, it concerns me more than young players, especially on defense, making mistakes.

I still have to ask what people expected?  I've said this several times, but we treated four consecutive offseasons as if we were two or three players away from pay dirt.  A) we were farther away than that, and got farther away as long as we acted on that delusion, and B) what was not one of those two or three slots got older and faded away.  The offseason leading to last season was the final straw.  After that and the results, things had to change.  It hurts, but getting the pain of eating dead or comatose cap numbers that come with constantly chasing the "two or three players du jour" is better than continuing the failed attempts (especially with Hurney) and expecting different results.

The number one cause of disappointment is unrealistic expectations.  I had none coming into this season.  The fact that they were in both of these games in the fourth quarter is probably better than I would have hoped at this stage.  The fact that they didn't fold at 21-0 is a positive sign.  The fact that the coaching staff makes adjustments is something unseen in these parts for the last 20 years, maybe ever. 

Had our brain trust done that in a certain game after the 2015 season, maybe a lot of things would have been different.

And for those preaching "Tank for Trevor," there is a thread on a Falcons forum that is titled those very words.  After yesterday, any road to Lawrence goes through both Atlanta and the NY Jets headquarters, at a minimum.

[mrcompletely11]

22 minutes ago, hepcat said:

I hear you....but this is a really sad mentality. Would you tell Browns fans to embrace the suck? I want the team to win every game. This kind of thinking instills that losing is acceptable because of “reasons”. This is professional sports where guys making tens of millions of dollars to win a game. 

Like Jeremy said earlier, the fans "mentality" has zilch to do with what happens on the field.

[kungfoodude]

55 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

If you can't see the positive, you aren't looking. And if you don't like many of our new personnel changes you are letting your biases control your thinking. 

Chinn is everything we hoped he would be. Douglas has been a big surprise. Okung seems like the better trade given that Turner is hurt.  Anderson has been a great pickup.

The comebacks in both weeks are great indications that as soon as the defense improves we will have the capacity to not just compete but to win games. The adjustments are encouraging signs that we have good coaches who can develop effective strategies to keep up with the new NFL.

Sure we won't win many this year but if you just see the final score and not see what is going on behind the scenes you are missing out on the best parts of the season. 

The bright spots through two games are:

Chinn, Douglas, Weatherly(another good game from him), Anderson, Cooper

 

The low spots through two games are:

Shaq, Short, Burns, YGM

 

Most are somewhere in between. I fully expect the OL to struggle more and more as attrition sets in. I expect we may see a franchise record setting low for DL sacks, QB pressures and QB Hits/Knockdowns. I think Brown will continue to not produce and the fans will start shouting that he was a bad pick, ignoring the fact that because there is so little edge threat that he will see double teams all season long. I also think we will keep being competitive in games and eventually the bounces will work in our favor to actually win a couple of these close games. I also now expect to see a career high in passing yardage by Teddy and potentially in passing TD's(less likely). 

[mrcompletely11]

15 minutes ago, bigdog10 said:

We are way better than I thought we’d be. We’re going to take lumps this year but nobody is looking at the schedule thinking we are just going to roll over. That is a credit to Rhule and his staff and players. 

Its that way now, but I have been watching the NFL for a long long time and more times than not when a team is 0-5, 1-6 or whatever its tough to not lose the team and the train goes completely off the rails.  Sure miami last year pulled it around but thats not the norm.  See Panthers 2019.  We stopped totally trying to win.

[mrcompletely11]

13 minutes ago, Sgt Schultz said:

And for those preaching "Tank for Trevor," there is a thread on a Falcons forum that is titled those very words.  After yesterday, any road to Lawrence goes through both Atlanta and the NY Jets headquarters, at a minimum.

The Jets are concerning but since we play ATL 2x and there is no way we can contain their passing attack I feel we will have the higher draft pick.

[kungfoodude]

1 minute ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Its that way now, but I have been watching the NFL for a long long time and more times than not when a team is 0-5, 1-6 or whatever its tough to not lose the team and the train goes completely off the rails.  Sure miami last year pulled it around but thats not the norm.  See Panthers 2019.  We stopped totally trying to win.

That will come down to veteran leadership(which appears to be pretty weak) and the buy in from the young guys for this new coaching staff. In fairness to Rhule, he does have a track record of not letting things go completely off the rails otherwise those dramatic improvements in year three would have never happened. 

That is going to be the biggest critical moment of this season. If we end up on a long 0-fer streak, will we be able to hold it together and keep fighting in these close games. I hope so, because the last thing we need is a young team that is demoralized. 

[Mr. Scot]

I wasn't expecting a good season as far as wins and losses, so I'm not shocked.

And yes, there are issues (including some big ones) that need fixing, but there are some bright spots.

One important one: Adjustments. Lord have mercy, actual adjustments.

[MasterAwesome]

1 hour ago, nctarheelreincarnated said:

My thing that makes me shake my head. Is on paper, did people really think this team would be competitive? The offensive line is atrocious, the defensive line is starting two Rookies (one was out yesterday). They signed Teddy Bridgewater, and for some odd reason he got hype in the offseason. Why? I don't know. Then, we put a guy that wasn't "fast enough" for OLB at MLB. Straight from the HC's mouth, and our secondary is better with a Undrafted Rookie FA, than the actual people we drafted. Did people really think this type of roster was going to compete? Because the Panthers fans that I text and know, all said we were going to "suck." On here, is the only place I saw where people thought we would be competitive. 

And sure there are positives, especially with Chinn, and that undrafted Rookie CB playing well. Those are what we need to find in our games, those positives. 

What undrafted rookie CB are you talking about?

[Fox007]

10 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

The bright spots through two games are:

Chinn, Douglas, Weatherly(another good game from him), Anderson, Cooper

 

The low spots through two games are:

Shaq, Short, Burns, YGM

 

I can't imagine you don't have Boston and Whitehead as low spots.

Douglas was a good out of nowhere positive that could end up with a job going forward and Chinn is what everyone hoped so that's good it just sucks that we can't field 2 S's without one being a catastrophe. 

[Sgt Schultz]

8 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

The Jets are concerning but since we play ATL 2x and there is no way we can contain their passing attack I feel we will have the higher draft pick.

The Jets seem to always be in this type of discussion.  The Lions look bad, too. 

As for Atlanta, the secret to beating them is apparently to let them get ahead to the point where people turn the game off, concluding there is no way even they can blow the lead they have built up.  Then cap it off with an onside kick that struggles to go ten yards, so their hands team will stand around like government employees watching the ball in amazement.  I don't blame the Falcons fans who are asking "what the he11 did they talk about during the timeout leading up to the kick?"