Feeling Undeniably Optimistic

[Carolina Cajun]

So yea, we lost, but as many have said theres ways to lose that still provide hope and optimism.  THIS game was one of those.  At the end of the day, even though we're rocking a 36 year old QB, this is a very young team that has to learn how to win.  Think about the 2 XL drops, Mingo drop, the dropped fake punt.  Those are plays that veteran winning teams make, but we ARENT there...yet.  XL showed some explosion on the outside that is super exciting, chuba and dare I say Miles Sanders actually looked good.  On defense we are sorely missing Brown, and they were undeniably rough today, BUT, I remember thinking if there was a time they needed to show some "keep pounding" it was right after Shaq and Jewel went out, and the VERY next play the rush got to burrow and we got the turnover.  It was legitimately the first time in years I yelled "Keep pounding", that was an attitude play.  Also for all the bad on defense, Horn still looks like he does have that dawg in him. 

End of the day as we all know, winning in the NFL mostly comes down to a handful of plays, and it really depends on if you convert those opportunities, and right now with our youth we arent, BUT that will change with experience.

Keep Pounding.

[AggieLean]

We’ll be fine. 
 

I really like Legette. He had a bad drop, but he’s showing something. Hell, Mingo is showing he’s good depth. These dudes are just young. 
 

Just need to focus on the defense this draft, then get our QB of the future the next year. 

[kungfoodude]

6 minutes ago, AggieLean said:

We’ll be fine. 
 

I really like Legette. He had a bad drop, but he’s showing something. Hell, Mingo is showing he’s good depth. These dudes are just young. 
 

Just need to focus on the defense this draft, then get our QB of the future the next year. 

Bad drops by XL. He is a body catcher which is a big concern. He needs a LOT of polish.

Mingo....he is just another in a long line of Panthers WR busts. He might not even make the roster next season.

Edited 4 hours ago by kungfoodude

[TarHeel69]

Definitely on the optimism train.  Mingo needs to go sit on the bench.  Put Coker in for Mingo's snaps and see if he has any DAWG in him because Mingo doesn't. 

[ImfromClayton]

Agree totally. We aren’t winning the Super Bowl this year. 
 

the bengals are solid. We got dominated in the middle 8 minutes today. That happens. We gave up points on an INT that was batted at the line. Just unfortunate. 
 

Head coaching is learned. Canales made some mistakes. But man I was happy with both sides of the ball today. Feels optimistic for the first time in quite some time. 

[rayzor]

You know we're taking this loss better than I can remember us taking one in a long time.

There is no freak out. We're left still feeling good about the team.

I think things have changed.

[TD alt]

I'm not worried about receivers at the moment, but if we can't lock up DJ, I may start worrying. I think that we have some young guys to coach up. I'm more worried about the long term answer at QB. 

From what I've been watching, QB aside (depending upon how we want to approach the position), I think that our biggest problem is legitimate pass rushers. We need one. Clowney is OK as your secondary option (like Burns was in my opinion), but we need a guy who's going to get after the QB with legitimacy and consistency. Allowing QBs to play playground football in the offensive backfield is not going to lead to success. We need a pass rushers or two above all (especially if we can't get a top QB in our natural draft position). 

[tgrfan01]

been saying i can stomach these losses..we arent a great team..but if we are competitive in the loses im good with it. just hope dalton stays healthy. if he goes down its back to stinker games with young again

[TD alt]

2 minutes ago, rayzor said:

You know we're taking this loss better than I can remember us taking one in a long time.

There is no freak out. We're left still feeling good about the team.

I think things have changed.

Well, one just has to be realistic. We may get a few wins this year because we are actually competitive, but we aren't  legitimate contenders, as we have too many holes. But we can see incremental improvement despite the holes.

[PNW_PantherMan]

I’m optimistic that we have a coach.  I like his aggression and the offense is well designed.  I liked the call to fake the punt.

[rayzor]

9 minutes ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

I’m optimistic that we have a coach.  I like his aggression and the offense is well designed.  I liked the call to fake the punt.

He's bold. He's only going to get better. He's already the most aggressive coach we've had and he comes by it naturally, not forced like Rivera.

[catnip]

Burrow had just too much time to [ick off our defense .  Dalton is our QB for now. If he can get extended for next year and we get a good DE we could wait until 2026 for a QB .We need to extend Johnson and Hubbard .  We may lose Thielen but I think we can make up this loss .  I hope Brooks can play next week .   

[kungfoodude]

42 minutes ago, rayzor said:

You know we're taking this loss better than I can remember us taking one in a long time.

There is no freak out. We're left still feeling good about the team.

I think things have changed.

Well, there is some sense that we aren't utter chaos. We are bereft of talent and have a mismanaged roster but the coaching seems sound. That is a first in a long time.

[SOJA]

the more I think about it the more I feel like the Bengals really lucked out in this one. going to be gambling against them from here on out