What happened?

[Uwontdoit81]

14 minutes ago, Newbie said:

I understand our first three opponents were weak teams but so were the Giants and the Vikings and Eagles aren’t world beaters. How could we look so good to open the season and get progressively worse starting on week 4? The offense has gone from mildly competent to an unmitigated disaster and it appears we’re blind without a cane at this point. Is what Brady’s doing so basic and predictable that teams just needed a couple of weeks of tape to figure us out? Our offense is so bad it’s killing our defense. We would be better off doing the exact opposite of whatever cockamamie game plan these jimmies draw up. Is there any hope or should I turn off the tv and start looking forward to the draft?

Enjoy your Sundays from here on out.  Keep the game on as a background noise, check the score on your phone every now and then.

This team is going nowhere fast.  I take that back, this team is moving backwards very fast.

I’m done until the college boys are back where they belong.

[jayboogieman]

3 minutes ago, KillaCamNewton said:

Its easy to lose faith and think we need to blow everything up and start over and fire Rhule but I really think alot of you on here are letting the 3-0 start give you unreasonable expectations.

Yes, the 3-0 start gave a lot of fans unreasonable expectations. Those calling for Rhule to be fired may still have a point though since he does appear to be in over his head.

[Pimpdaddy]

awww wait till next year...

[Newbie]

2 minutes ago, KillaCamNewton said:

We have a terrible OLine and our all-world running back who masks all of the QB and OLines flaws is gone, making a QB who’s ceiling is decent game manager at this point have to carry the offense. The result is a QB trying to be more than he is and failing miserably. Our wonder boy OC hasnt adjusted anything and has been figured out since the middle of last season, but again having CMC on the field masked that as well

I think our defense was vastly overrated at the beginning of the season due to playing bad QBs with bad supporting casts. I do think we have a legitimate Top 10 defense, however we are not the 2013 Seahawks that people thought we were after 3 games. The losses of Horn and Shaq were significant and I dont think people realize what those 2 not being there does to our scheme. I think its forced us to play alot less press and more zone which means we can be carved up if our blitz doesnt get home. Getting Shaq back and getting Gilmore on the field will have us looking elite on defense again IMO

Its easy to lose faith and think we need to blow everything up and start over and fire Rhule but I really think alot of you on here are letting the 3-0 start give you unreasonable expectations. The Titans look like Super Bowl favorites right now but if they lost Derrick Henry imagine what their offense would look like

I hear you on us losing CMC, Thompson and Horn. I still think our defense is fine if our offense could give them a breather with an occasional first down. We have the worst offense in the league right now and I don’t understand why someone hasn’t been fired. Any Coach can look competent with CMC. 

[Monrowed]

26 minutes ago, Newbie said:

I understand our first three opponents were weak teams but so were the Giants and the Vikings and Eagles aren’t world beaters. How could we look so good to open the season and get progressively worse starting on week 4? The offense has gone from mildly competent to an unmitigated disaster and it appears we’re blind without a cane at this point. Is what Brady’s doing so basic and predictable that teams just needed a couple of weeks of tape to figure us out? Our offense is so bad it’s killing our defense. We would be better off doing the exact opposite of whatever cockamamie game plan these jimmies draw up. Is there any hope or should I turn off the tv and start looking forward to the draft?

CMC

Despite what Cam Erving said, we are the Carolina McCaffrey’s. 
 

He must be accounted for when he is on the field and because of that he makes up for many of the teams offensive deficiencies. He is also Sam’s safety blanket that produces results and allows him to have a safe outlet when a play breaks down. When the offense produces, that in effect allows the defense to rest more often and puts opposing teams in a position where there must pass the ball more. When that happens the defense can pin their ears back and attack like Phil Snow would like to.

Basically, most of what the Panthers would like to do was designed around getting the most out of Christian and when he is not on the field, then everything breaks down.

Edited October 25, 2021 by Monrowed

[frankw]

3 minutes ago, Monrowed said:

CMC

Despite what Cam Erving said, we are the Carolina McCaffrey’s. 
 

He must be accounted for when he is on the field and because of that he makes up for many of the teams offensive deficiencies. He is also Sam’s safety blanket that produces results and allows him to have a safe outlet when a play breaks down. When the offense produces, that in effect allows the defense to rest more often and puts opposing teams in a position where there must pass the ball more. When that happens the defense can pin their ears back and attack like Phil Snow would like to.

Basically, most of what the Panthers would like to do was designed around getting the most out of Christian and when he is not on the field, then everything breaks down.

Yes it sucks to lose him but he's a running back you guys have got to grow out of this mentality. Yesterday the Giants throttled us and gloated in the process. And they did so without their top 10 pick rb and they were missing three of their receivers. Daniel Jones caught a one handed pass for a first down yesterday and people are still crying about Christian McCaffrey. We cannot and will not win anything of significance with the highest paid rb. We need a real qb!

[Luciu5]

I think the defense is top 10 with the ability to be top 5.  It's hard to be a top 5 defense though without an offense whatsoever.  Who gives up more yards - an average defense that's on the field for 10 drives, or an elite defense that's on the field for 20 drives.  I think we are closer to the second scenario than the first. 

The offense is just atrocious without CMC.  I don't know what else to say.  Last year was the same thing.  CMC goes out and the entire offense falls apart.

[BIGH2001]

9 minutes ago, Luciu5 said:

I think the defense is top 10 with the ability to be top 5.  It's hard to be a top 5 defense though without an offense whatsoever.  Who gives up more yards - an average defense that's on the field for 10 drives, or an elite defense that's on the field for 20 drives.  I think we are closer to the second scenario than the first. 

The offense is just atrocious without CMC.  I don't know what else to say.  Last year was the same thing.  CMC goes out and the entire offense falls apart.

Last year's offense still looked much better without CMC. We were still scoring points, just couldn't close out in the 4th. It's worse this year, that's why people are upset.

[CRA]

14 minutes ago, Luciu5 said:

I think the defense is top 10 with the ability to be top 5.  It's hard to be a top 5 defense though without an offense whatsoever.  Who gives up more yards - an average defense that's on the field for 10 drives, or an elite defense that's on the field for 20 drives.  I think we are closer to the second scenario than the first. 

The offense is just atrocious without CMC.  I don't know what else to say.  Last year was the same thing.  CMC goes out and the entire offense falls apart.

we at least could consistently move the ball around the field last season with Teddy.   We might not of made a lot of big plays and we struggled in the redzone.  But have regressed pretty badly because of the QB downgrade. 

and now, we won't play anymore rookie QBs making their first NFL starts to feast on.  I guess our only hope is a COVID depleted team. 

 

[holderoftruth]

1. CMC- Losing one of the most dynamic offensive players in the NFL hurts. Running game, receiving abilities/safety value, & pass protection pick up.

2. O-Line- injuries and reshuffling to one of the worst O-Lines in the NFL coming into the season. CMC and a more balanced attack masked some of these issues in the first three games. 

3. Play-calling/adjustments- After CMC was injured, Brady seemed to put the ball in Darnold’s hands, ie more passing. With injuries to CMC/Oline, coupled with his questionable decision making throughout his career, has led to bad QB play. Darnold was playing with less pressure with CMC and a balanced offense. Play-calling/design should’ve been tailored to accommodate the first two items, focus on running game, more rollouts etc. 

All three phases of the game impact each other as well. Offensive regressing/turnovers/drops puts more pressure on the defensive, ie more plays. In addition, injuries on the defensive side has led to defensive regression. Special teams has been very weak. Then you sprinkle in comments from the coaching staff around not knowing how to adjust or being “caught off guard” by opposing teams game-plans…

Basically we’re in a poo show in all phases

[Luciu5]

12 minutes ago, BIGH2001 said:

Last year's offense still looked much better without CMC. We were still scoring points, just couldn't close out in the 4th. It's worse this year, that's why people are upset.

 

9 minutes ago, CRA said:

we at least could consistently move the ball around the field last season with Teddy.   We might not of made a lot of big plays and we struggled in the redzone.  But have regressed pretty badly because of the QB downgrade. 

and now, we won't play anymore rookie QBs making their first NFL starts to feast on.  I guess our only hope is a COVID depleted team. 

 

Oh I agree.  Last year, we were in every game.  Lost how many by a score or less last year?  Teddy wasn't it, but this is regression for sure and it's on Darnold and the coaches for thinking Darnold could be more than what he's shown.  I think they knew in the preseason and I'm a bit surprised at the playoff talk from this team early on.

I thought our defense was good enough to carry Sam.  But I was wrong.  Our defense I think is still very good, but not THAT good.  (I don't think there is a defense in the league that could carry Sam Darnold to the playoffs.)

[CanadianCat]

Man this has been a roller coaster of a season. Most people came into the season with low expectations. Some had hopes of sneaking into the playoffs but that was based on Sam Darnold playing like a top 3 pick with 4 years experience. 

What we got was reality. We got the NYJ version of Sam Darnold. BUT we beat terrible teams. Now we just got beat by a terrible team.

It sucks. 

I think our defense will be fine. But we still need an oline and a QB... same concerns we came into the year with. 

Missing that 2nd rounder sucks

[Proudiddy]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

We got cocky. Started talking playoffs. Thought we had arrived. Then reality smacked us in the face and the blow was stunning and derailing. We're a bad team that had early success due to fortunate circumstances that got cocky and then got their confidence shattered when we found out that we aren't nearly as good as we thought we were. Why we got cocky after beating two of the very worst teams in the league and an N.O. team missing half their roster and coaching staff is what baffles me.

Sounds like a leadership problem, and I ain't talking about the players.

[hepcat]

It's really as simple as Sam Darnold started playing poorly and it snowballed from there. The offense lost faith in him and the defense got gassed from being on the field all the time because they couldn't move the ball on offense. The team finally quit all together on Sunday against one of the worst teams in the NFL. 

It's going to get really ugly unless something miraculous happens.