Source: Panthers leaning to stick w/Clausen & pick Dareus

[chef17]

New Orleans, at New Orleans. Defense gives up a late field goal, we lose by two.

Browns, at Cleveland. Defense gives up a late field goal, we lose by one.

Over the second half of the season, in our losses we give up 34, 31, 37, 31, 31, 27, 31.

I'm wondering if you realized you were on a Panthers forum when you typed that.

Didn't Clausen throw an INT in the Browns game but the defense made a stand and gave the offense another chance?

[Peppers90 NC]

So you know how bad or how good all offensive players are in this draft? are you a mind reader? what about the who offensive class seems to be a fail in your mind?

Nope, and mind reading has nothing to do with anything. It is just obvious that the best players in this draft are on the defensive side of that ball. I'm sure plenty of mock drafts, for those of you who didnt watch much college football outside of your own team last season will concur where the strengths are in this draft.

It's very easy for us nimrods with nothing to lose to shout out "We need Cam", or "We are the Panthers who never take risks," or "how can we ever be good without ever taking a gamble on the first pick even tho if QB doesnt work out this year we will be bitching how bad another rookie sucked and lets just draft another one next year!!!"

I know guys with nothing going on will be pissed off in this draft if we dont take Cam, my advice: Either switch teams or do something with your life to make important decisions for a business and see how often you dont take the more safe, obvious decision.

[chef17]

Nope, not at all. I am just a brotha who has common sense. Every team in our division have a great qb;we have arguably the worst one in the league; Hurney said the qb position was the biggest priority; Cam Newton is the most gifted one in the draft; Ron Ron loves him;he fits Chud's style; again, we have arguably the worst qb in the league;defense wasn't the problem last year; the offense was, because, we had the worst qb in the league; multiple members of the organization was at his pro day; he has a meeting with the OWNER... I am just connecting the dots and reading the signs. Sometimes things aren't as difficult as you make it out to be. Sometimes it is as easy as 1 2 3.

That is your opinion, others disagree. We don't know who the FO thinks is the best QB in the draft. So knowing for a fact we will draft Cam is pretty difficult

[prowler2k8]

The extreme emotions in this thread are palpable...

None of our QBs are as bad as they showed last year. You can think that Moore turned into a turnover machine if you want, and that Clausen is as bad as he looked and will never get any better, and that Pike is incapable of gaining weight all you want, but it's not so. Last year we had a lot of organizational problems that went well beyond one position, and the wheels just fell off. QB is the most visible position on offense, and a lot of people act like we would have been just fine with an average guy back there.

Clausen will probably improve a lot in his second year. And he can play the Coryell (if you still insist he's a WCO, please please please do a 30 second search on Youtube and watch his deep balls first?). Moore has developed a fairly nice deep ball, and should be healed by the time Training Camp breaks. And Pike is probably still a little weak, but he was supposed to be this guy with all the intangibles you ever wanted coming out of college.

I'm not saying that all three of those guys are capable of being great, or even good. But we don't need them all to be--we just need one. And the chances are fair to good that an off-season of study, working out, and learning from what happened in 2010 will actually be good for one of them. Toss a veteran backup into the mix, and you'll probably be pretty happy with what comes out of camp at that position.

Even if we do take Newton or Gabbert or Mallett, they're still going to have to adjust to the speed of the game, and learn to play under center, and learn an entirely new playbook. Our current guys just have to do the latter, and each one is probably studying it now.

So if this latest rumor is true, step off the ledge. We've got a new OC, who has actually had some success at the position before (unlike Davidson). We have a new QB Coach, who's helped a couple of 'meh' prospects play pretty well (Fiedler and Garrard). We will hopefully have Geoff Otah back, who should combine with Schwartz to give us a monster right side to run behind. Williams will be back. LaFell and Gettis will have had a year. We have a Tight End who's a genuine receiving threat. And we have coaches who will be highly interested in molding the offense into a cohesive unit that's built to get better and better over time.

I don't think we're suddenly going to have an offense that's feared throughout the league. But I don't see another 32nd ranked unit, no matter which of our current QBs gets the start.

:iagree:

Good post. The Clausen hate is very puzzling, when you consider all of the overall crappy circumstances he faced. The coaching and team play last season would've made any QB look bad IMO.

[SOJA]

You know what I just realized. Had we had the number one pick one year earlier or one year later we could have had an All-Pro DT in Suh, or the best quarterback prospect in years in Luck

god bless america

[Ricky Spanish]

I have to disagree with you on this, McNasty. Granted, I didn't watch too many ND games when Clausen was playing; however, the highlights of Clausen's games on youtube tell a different story. If you look some of the highlights during his last year or two before turning pro, Clausen actually showed a good arm for getting the ball downfield to his WRs and TEs. He also showed decent mobility in the pocket and made plays on the run. Of course, comparing college to pros is apples to oranges, but you get my point.

As was stated earlier, I'm willing to wait and see what a fresh start with a new coaching regime and offensive strategy will do for his game. IMO the kid has been given a fair chance by us fans. True, he looked terrible in his first year here, but so did the rest of our team. Fox utter failure to develop young players, a subpar OL, and inconsistent running/passing game can make even a vet QB look bad, let alone a rookie that was ill-prepared to handle the starting role. Clausen obviously has the tools and talent to be successful; let's see what he can do under a coaching staff motivated to win consistenly before we throw dirt on his career.

look at the numbers from when he was in college. 75% of all his throws were from behind the line of scrimmage to 10 yards. all yards he gained were from his receivers running after the catch or going up for jump balls on deep passes. people said he was good at scanning the field, but he wasn't, he was just overly cautious and refused to make a mistake. of the 25% of his throws beyond 10 yards, his completion percentage plummeted. he can't stretch a field worth a crap, his funky windup prevents him from getting the ball out quickly, and he showed 0 progression from his first start to his last. THAT is my biggest concern with him.

[micnificent28]

Nope, and mind reading has nothing to do with anything. It is just obvious that the best players in this draft are on the defensive side of that ball. I'm sure plenty of mock drafts, for those of you who didnt watch much college football outside of your own team last season will concur where the strengths are in this draft.

It's very easy for us nimrods with nothing to lose to shout out "We need Cam", or "We are the Panthers who never take risks," or "how can we ever be good without ever taking a gamble on the first pick even tho if QB doesnt work out this year we will be bitching how bad another rookie sucked and lets just draft another one next year!!!"

I know guys with nothing going on will be pissed off in this draft if we dont take Cam, my advice: Either switch teams or do something with your life to make important decisions for a business and see how often you dont take the more safe, obvious decision.

Yea the world of business is littered with "saftey" first walkers like you. Hell the panthers have been doing it for years and this is the product of playing it "safe". You remain safe with the dozen or so NFL franchises that are average year in and year out. But the ones who really take the risk, The bill Gates of the world,The ones who take chances on the arron rodgers,the Joe flacco's are the ones who contend.

Every season there is someone who says this player isn't as good or isn't ask bad as such and such,but who really knows. Whos to say Cam Newton or blaine Gabbert aren't as good as matt ryan or mark sanchez? All i know is sitting around building your defense in a league full of franchise quarterbacks isn't getting us anywhere.

We need our own and waiting on insert savior here isn't cutting it. The bucs didn't choose the year to find the perfect quarterback they worked with what they had and it worked out. When you have the chance to get a potential Franchise quarterback you take him. Even if he isn't the best player in the draft the position has much more impact on your team than a run stuffer.

[chef17]

look at the numbers from when he was in college. 75% of all his throws were from behind the line of scrimmage to 10 yards. all yards he gained were from his receivers running after the catch or going up for jump balls on deep passes. people said he was good at scanning the field, but he wasn't, he was just overly cautious and refused to make a mistake. of the 25% of his throws beyond 10 yards, his completion percentage plummeted. he can't stretch a field worth a crap, his funky windup prevents him from getting the ball out quickly, and he showed 0 progression from his first start to his last. THAT is my biggest concern with him.

If this is true then he truly does belong in a quick offense that relies on short passes.

[CRA]

New Orleans, at New Orleans. Defense gives up a late field goal, we lose by two.

Browns, at Cleveland. Defense gives up a late field goal, we lose by one.

Over the second half of the season, in our losses we give up 34, 31, 37, 31, 31, 27, 31.

I'm wondering if you realized you were on a Panthers forum when you typed that.

I don't believe I said the D put us in position to win EVERY game. Over the course of the season the D played more and more and got less and less from the offense.

also, posting random game totals late doesn't mean anything......when you get NOTHING from your offense you can't continue to stop people all year and put your offense in position to win.

When a defense gets stops, get turnovers, and puts an offense in position to win.....and the offense does nothing put implodes over and over again......and the D eventually gives up points then that doesn't mean the D sucks.

week 1 - D created 4 turnovers AND put us in position to of destroyed NY in NY

week 3 -D generated 2 turnovers and put us in position early - got NOTHING from the O. Twice in the first half giving the offense the ball in Cincy terr.

week 4 - D generated 2 turnovers and held the Superbowl champs to 16 at NO. NO average 24 pts a game.

week 5 - D generated 4 turnovers and dominated the Bears - offense did squat every time they were handed the ball.

-to start of the season, the Panthers D easily played good enough for the team to win 4 of those first 5. They got nothing back from the offense every time they put them in position. Every turnover generated they gave the ball right back to the other team. Defense wore down as it literally didn't matter what they did....the offense was going to put them literally right back out there and there good play was for nothing.

Passing game was so bad it made the entire team look worse and suffer. D despite holes played good enough to win plenty of games......that is if they got some middle of the road production from the offense but w/ Clausen that never occured.

[micnificent28]

:iagree:

I don't believe I said the D put us in position to win EVERY game. Over the course of the season the D played more and more and got less and less from the offense.

also, posting random game totals late doesn't mean anything......when you get NOTHING from your offense you can't continue to stop people all year and put your offense in position to win.

When a defense gets stops, get turnovers, and puts an offense in position to win.....and the offense does nothing put implodes over and over again......and the D eventually gives up points then that doesn't mean the D sucks.

week 1 - D created 4 turnovers AND put us in position to of destroyed NY in NY

week 3 -D generated 2 turnovers and put us in position early - got NOTHING from the O.

week 4 - D generated 2 turnovers and held the Superbowl champs to 16 at NO. They averaged 8 more pts a game than that.

week 5 - D generated 4 turnovers and dominated the Bears - offense did squat every time they were handed the ball.

-to start of the season, the Panthers D easily played good enough for the team to win 4 of those first 5. They got nothing back from the offense every time they put them in position. Every turnover generated they gave the ball right back to the other team. Defense wore down as it literally didn't matter what they did....the offense was going to put them literally right back out there and there good play was for nothing.

:iagree:

[Cyberjag]

Didn't Clausen throw an INT in the Browns game but the defense made a stand and gave the offense another chance?

Clausen threw an interception with a minute left in the first half. The Browns were up 21-13 at the half. In the third quarter, Munnerlyn ran back an INT for a TD, and then we punted to each other a few times. In the fourth, we had a good running streak that ended in a field goal, putting us up 23-21.

The next drive, Jake Delhomme gets the ball with 7 minutes left, drives into FG range, and the Browns score. We've got two and a half minutes left, and Clausen throws an interception. The defense gets the ball back on a three and out, and this time Clausen hooks up with Goodson twice and LaFell to get us back into FG territory. Kasay misses a 42 yarder with 4 seconds left.

So yeah, it's all Clausen's fault. Never mind the Peyton Hillis train that ran through our defense for three first half touchdowns, or the late field goal that they surrendered... :)

[chknwing]

umm Clausen may not be Riveras QB, but he is Hurneys QB. And believe or not, Hurney calls the shots. If Rivera sticks with Clausen, and he performs terribly, then its all on Hurney, not Rivera. And then Rivera gets to draft luck next year and Hurney gets a well deserved boot to the arse.

[KillerKat]

Highly doubt this is true. But if so, then 4-12 here we come!

[Pox 08]

If they see as much or more potential in Clausen than they do in this drafts qb class, then they should definitely stick with Clausen and just select at another position of need.

It's a new era for the Panthers, no reason for me to question their choices until they've a chance to prove on the field, that they either know or don't know what they're doing.