S Fowler take on Young and echoes of Newton

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On 1/8/2025 at 2:05 PM, TLGPanthersFan said:

The team ending the ball giveaway after Cam left was sad. 

It doesn’t have the same impact when you’re now walking over and handing it to some millionaire sitting in the new on field suites…

what a horrible decision to put those in from a fan perspective. 

[Navy_football]

36 minutes ago, frankw said:

To be clear even though they had some rough spots the 2024 Carolina Panthers oline was one of the best units we've had in a long time. For all the talk of Icky's struggles he's by no means Byron Bell let's not get it twisted here.

Everyone knows Cam was never known for his accuracy. Newton's career completion % was 59.9 and Bryce Young currently sits at 60.3. Surely we are looking to bring that number up a great deal.

Eye test is significant because Bryce is clearly playing with confidence and comfortable but it still matters when and where you see this. Unfortunately for Bryce Young and the rest of our offense our upcoming opponents this year will not be as bad as the 2024 Falcons passing defense which was #2 to us at #1 in touchdowns allowed.

There's much work to do and prove before making determinations about who is a better passer than who in Panthers lore at this point in time.

Not sure why you brought up the oline. But since you did, last year's oline had OGs that were 4 or 5 deep on the depth chart. Those guys are purely practice team scout players that should NEVER see the field in a real game. Ever. And they started. For most of the season. In my opinion, that was the biggest factor in the Panthers and Bryce Young's horrible year last season. Next are the receivers. Other than Thielen, who else is doing anything in the NFL on their new teams? That was a bad unit. A really bad one. 

And if we're being completely honest, Bryce passed for more yards against Tampa and the Chiefs than he did against the Falcons part 2. Both are playoff teams.

But do agree about that 2014 oline. Cam drug them kicking and screaming into the playoffs. That oline was truly dangerous for a QB. Thankfully that wasn't his rookie year oline. 

Look, Cam Newton is the best QB and arguably the best player this team has ever had. Nobody in their right mind would argue that Bryce Young holds a friggin candle to him right now. He's not even in the same discussion as Cam the football player. But Bryce has shown areas in his passing game that are better than Cam. Almost everything other than arm strength and football IQ. But the latter takes time to develop. Cam had the it factor and an extraordinary will to win. That was one of his super powers. Being a pure passer was not. 

[frankw]

7 minutes ago, Navy_football said:

Not sure why you brought up the oline. But since you did, last year's oline had OGs that were 4 or 5 deep on the depth chart. Those guys are purely practice team scout players that should NEVER see the field in a real game. Ever. And they started. For most of the season. In my opinion, that was the biggest factor in the Panthers and Bryce Young's horrible year last season. Next are the receivers. Other than Thielen, who else is doing anything in the NFL on their new teams? That was a bad unit. A really bad one. 

And if we're being completely honest, Bryce passed for more yards against Tampa and the Chiefs than he did against the Falcons part 2. Both are playoff teams.

But do agree about that 2014 oline. Cam drug them kicking and screaming into the playoffs. That oline was truly dangerous for a QB. Thankfully that wasn't his rookie year oline. 

Look, Cam Newton is the best QB and arguably the best player this team has ever had. Nobody in their right mind would argue that Bryce Young holds a friggin candle to him right now. He's not even in the same discussion as Cam the football player. But Bryce has shown areas in his passing game that are better than Cam. Almost everything other than arm strength and football IQ. But the latter takes time to develop. Cam had the it factor and an extraordinary will to win. That was one of his super powers. Being a pure passer was not. 

There was blame to go around in 2023. Oline was very bad receivers weren't getting it done we were getting outcoached and unfortunately Bryce Young also played very poorly at times. It was a culmination of bad circumstances that was precisely why many people here myself included cautioned the at times overly lofty expectations and unearned conclusions being placed on Bryce by Panthers fans before and immediately following the draft. All the bluster of Patrick Mahomes comparisons gave way to shrieking about how we must surround him with weapons across the board for him to be successful. Well the Panthers have made very significant investments and will continue to do so in the upcoming offseason on both sides of the ball of that there is no doubt.

Cam never realized his full potential as a passer most people have acknowledged that. There are different reasons for this but ultimately it's on him and I'm sure it's something he's reflected on.

All I can do is hope Bryce Young will be putting in extra work in the offseason because it would be a real nice change of pace to start the 2025 season actually looking like a competent NFL team for a change. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Navy_football]

3 minutes ago, frankw said:

There was blame to go around in 2023. Oline was very bad receivers weren't getting it done we were getting outcoached and unfortunately Bryce Young also played very poorly at times. It was a culmination of bad circumstances that was precisely why many people here myself included cautioned the at times overly lofty expectations and unearned conclusions being placed on Bryce by Panthers fans before and immediately following the draft. All the bluster of Patrick Mahomes comparisons gave way to shrieking about how we must surround him with weapons across the board for him to be successful. Well the Panthers have made very significant investments and will continue to do so in the upcoming offseason on both sides of the ball of that there is no doubt.

Cam never realized his full potential as a passer most people have acknowledged that. There are different reasons for this but ultimately it's on him and I'm sure it's something he's reflected on.

All I can do is hope Bryce Young will be putting in extra work in the offseason because it would be a real nice change of pace to start the 2025 season actually looking like a competent NFL team for a change. We'll just have to wait and see.

Man. Injured Cam's arm was almost as strong as Bryce's now. That's just the truth. He probably couldn't get as much distance, but he could still zip the short to medium passes just as well as Bryce. Actually better. He just never mastered the mechanics, anticipation and accuracy part. Kind of like Delhomme (to a much lesser degree), when the arm went, he couldn't rely on the other intangibles. 

[frankw]

7 minutes ago, Navy_football said:

Man. Injured Cam's arm was almost as strong as Bryce's now. That's just the truth. He probably couldn't get as much distance, but he could still zip the short to medium passes just as well as Bryce. Actually better. He just never mastered the mechanics, anticipation and accuracy part. Kind of like Delhomme (to a much lesser degree), when the arm went, he couldn't rely on the other intangibles. 

Arm strength Cam was at times other worldly. I don't remember what game it was off the top of my head but that heater he rifled within centimeters of the helmet of a defensive lineman into the hands of a Panthers receiver in the end zone always sticks out in my mind. They even showed it in slomo and it was insane.

Anywho I've been a Bryce skeptic at times and have expressed concerns but as of right now I'm genuinely much less concerned about his arm going forward. I think that's largely adequate and I've seen some really nice passes from him that you expect from a #1 pick but defenses will be looking to put it to the test early and often next season. If he continues to play with the confidence and swagger he finished the 2024 season with we should be fine. That being said I still would really like to see the team and him see what they can do on some work for him in the weight room as he heads into his third year of development. We should be leaving no stone unturned in our goal of assuring we do not have a repeat of the beginning of the 2024 season.