Besides Rhule what are your concerns for the season?

[Tr3ach]

I will start.  A couple of the regular spots I feel better about this season.  Qb play I think will be average at worst which is a good step up and I feel good about our rb depth if/when CMC goes down. 

1.  The oline geling and their pass blocking specifically.  On paper its much improved but it's a question mark for now.

2.  Our dline in general.  Can they get pressure besides Burns?   We have the secondary to cover but how long will they be covering for?

 

3.  How will our interior D line and lbs be stopping the run? 

 

4.  Our schedule is pretty brutal.   Not many easy games on there at all outside of division games.

 

[Dave Gettleman's Shorts]

1. CMC health and ability to play entire season

2. O-Line and D-Line Depth

3. Half-time adjustments

[ladypanther]

Injuries.  Need to get lucky.

[tarheelpride]

LB group

offensive play calling 

[year of the snitch]

D-line / run stopping.

nothing worse than watching your team get abused in the run game, clock getting chewed, helplessly losing the TOP battle.

[45catfan]

IOL, DE and LB depth.  Obviously CMC staying healthy as well as other key players. Our coaching staff being able to make in-game adjustments.

[mrcompletely11]

Depth on defense 

[LinvilleGorge]

OL, DL

[Puresteel55]

1a. Oline consistency

1b. Rhule

2a. Run D

2b. Rhule

3a. Pass Rush

3b. In game management (Rhule)

[JawnyBlaze]

OL health/depth

Run stopping

 CMC health

Other than Rhule those are the only impediments to a successful season imo. 

[The Lobo]

Pass rush and run d 

[Sgt Schultz]

I agree with everything listed.  To sum it up, we have a lot of unknowns right now.  That is not all that unusual with a young team.  The people who looked promising in year one looked less so in year two, and they need to regain their stride.  Some of that is related to how they are used and what they are asked to do vs. their strengths (coaching and game planning).

Both lines need to come together.  On paper, our OL looks much improved but paper doesn't do much in the NFL.

• CMC needs to stay healthy
• The LBs need to be "refreshingly good"
• Mayfield needs to shake off last year's injuries and build on 2020
• The WR corps needs to not disappear
• The TEs need to be noticeable, especially in goal line and short-yardage situations
• The secondary needs to be as good as we think they are
• The defense in general needs to create turnovers
• The offense needs to stop giving the ball away

The rest is coaching.  Game planning, adjustments, putting players in positions to succeed, etc.

If they can get to where they should have been last year, which is probably around .500 and be in the playoff hunt, I'll be content.  Chalk 2021 up as a loss and move ahead.

If not...

Or, at least, they should.

[The Natural]

I honestly feel our run defense is going to make or break this season.

[hepcat]

Aside from Rhule the entire coaching staff is a question mark for me. 

On defense, it's clear to me Phil Snow is not an NFL caliber coordinator. His main NFL experience prior to becoming an NFL defensive coordinator was being the LB coach on the 2008 Detroit Lions who went 0-16. Many other coaches the Panthers have played have lambasted his "college stuff" scheme. The defense was far worse than it appeared on paper (that #2 overall yardage statistic was an anomaly), in particular the run defense. I've never seen his defense just beat their opponents 1 on 1, it's all stunts and misdirection. Then a team with a quality O-Line comes in, bodies them up, and mauls them. I think the only coach Phil Snow has figured out is Kliff Kingsbury.

On offense, Ben McAdoo was out of football for several years and had a hard time breaking back in. Seems like there were some solid reasons for that. We'll see if he has anything left. McAdoo absolutely deserves a head coaching job if he's able to coax a playoff caliber season out of Baker Mayfield or (gulp) Sam Darnold. I'm also not a fan of Sean Ryan from what I've seen. I'm not really sure how much coaching he is actually doing. He was a holdover from the previous offensive coordinator so who knows if McAdoo even has work for him to do. 

So we'll see how that all pans out.