Are the 2021 Carolina Panthers worse than the 2020 Carolina Panthers?

[Mage]

The offenses are about the same.  

Defense is miles ahead of 2020.

I don't know how anyone can argue the 2020 team is better.  

[pantherj]

Sam = Teddy

2021 Defense > 2020 Defense

2021 Offense < 2020 Offense

Both teams are/were not playoff worthy barring major injuries to key opponents.

[weyco2000]

15 hours ago, CRA said:

QB is the most important position on the field.  And Sam Darnold is worse than Teddy.  So for that reason, we are worse.  

Clone the teams and pit a Darnold lead version vs a Teddy one.  I'm taking Teddy in a 2 out of 3 series.  

 

The only advantage Teddy has over Sam is pocket presence, other than that, it’s not even close. 

[glenwo2]

18 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

About the same IMO. Both looked decent until CMC went down and then... oh wee mayne.

The inability to play without CMC is alarming.

[glenwo2]

18 hours ago, Shocker said:

Yes, this team is definitely more talented IMO.  Sam is much better than Teddy but gotta cut out the fuggin turnovers.

That's fair.

That first INT almost had me break my computer screen.

At least that was the only INT he threw (much better than the 3 INTs last week, so that's...something, I guess? 

[Smittymoose]

15 hours ago, CRA said:

We got to 3-3 last year too.  And CMC played more this year. 

Yep, and the improvement will show if Carolina keeps pace rather than fading. So far, we are mathematically on track to win 8 or 9 games, so unless you were expecting more pre-season, the sky is not falling. I am honestly still encouraged by the direction of the team. Even in losses against good Dallas and Minnesota teams, they fought hard late instead of folding. Philly is the one that stings because a good team closes that game out. 

[kungfoodude]

5 hours ago, weyco2000 said:

The only advantage Teddy has over Sam is pocket presence, other than that, it’s not even close. 

Teddy actually has some pretty obvious advantages over Sam. Pocket presence is definitely a big one. He also takes much better care of the ball, as well. He's actually putting up a better year than he had last year in Carolina(and far, far, far, far, far better than Darnold's 2021) over in Denver. 

We'd probably be in a better situation had we stuck with Teddy, simply because he isn't going to turn the ball over at the insane rate Darnold has. Now, we wouldn't see him march down the field to tie the game up like Darnold did yesterday. That isn't something Teddy is capable of.

In either scenario, Darnold or Teddy, we'd be looking for a new QB because neither are quality NFL starters. Hell, Darnold might not even be a quality backup in the end.

[Icege]

Is the offense worse? Most definitely. OL, TE, and QB are all downgrades.

The defense though? Substantially better.

[raleigh-panther]

Rhule is very very concerning 

I honestly do not believe he has a clue as to what he is doing …not in controlling his assistants with the game plan or in talking to them about in game adjustments or feeling the flow of the game and positively altering it 

he will look exponentially better when Christian returns 

he really needed and still needs  a couple of seasoned NFL coaching Vets around him   I wondered about the large part of the offensive turn over last year to this one  it was a turn for the worse 

unlike the Rams young head coach, Rhule wasn’t smart enough to know what he doesn’t know   He thinks he and his ‘process’ is enough  it takes a helluva lot more than that to win a game in the NFL 

one day, probably in year 4, he will wake up and go, ‘Damn, should have made QB and OT a priority over having 16 cornerbacks on the roster ‘

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by raleigh-panther

[amcoolio]

Just now, raleigh-panther said:

Rhule is very very concerning 

I honestly do not believe he has a clue as to what he is doing …not in controlling his assistants with the game plan or in talking to them about in game adjustments or feeling the flow of the game and positively altering it 

he will look exponentially better when Christian returns 

he really needed and still needs  a couple of seasoned NFL Vets around him   I wondered about the large part of the offensive turn over last year to this one  it was a turn for the worse 

unlike the Rams young head coach, Rhule wasn’t smart enough to know what he doesn’t know   He thinks he and his ‘process’ is enough  it takes a helluva lot more than that to win a game in the NFL 

one day, probably in year 4, he will wake up and go, ‘Damn, should have made QB and OT a priority over having 16 cornerbacks on the roster ‘

 

Again any coach is going to look bad with a bottom 5 QB, it is ridiculously difficult to win with one. Do you think McVay, Belichick, or Reid would be better with this team?

[raleigh-panther]

6 minutes ago, amcoolio said:

Again any coach is going to look bad with a bottom 5 QB, it is ridiculously difficult to win with one. Do you think McVay, Belichick, or Reid would be better with this team?

Yes because they never would have brought a bottom 5 QB here 

they know better.  They know QB is the most important position on the field 

this HC thinks he can being in a jag and ‘coach them up…,how has that worked ?

[amcoolio]

4 minutes ago, raleigh-panther said:

Yes because they never would have brought a bottom 5 QB here 

they know better.  They know QB is the most important position on the field 

this HC thinks he can being in a jag and ‘coach them up…,how has that worked ?

So they publicly went after Watson and Stafford, and correctly passed on Fields and Jones.. who were they supposed to bring in?

[CRA]

7 hours ago, weyco2000 said:

The only advantage Teddy has over Sam is pocket presence, other than that, it’s not even close. 

well, that's not true.   Teddy processes things quicker.  It's why he can get the ball out so quick and efficiently.   He also throws a better ball in terms of placement for a receiver. 

Most importantly, Teddy has better ball security and doesn't make as many bonehead throws ( the two primary knocks of Sam that have existed everywhere he has been). 

Teddy is simply risk adverse to a fault.   

 

 

 

[Moo Daeng]

I'll wait until the end of the year to decide. There's 11 games left.