Ron Fields and Reggie Wells?

[mj4life]

There is one major fallacy with this argument. Just ask yourself why they brought in Ron Edwards. If they felt it was a good idea to have a veteran presence while the DT's developed, why is that a bad idea now?

Some, including me, would rather have seen them make a concerted attempt to replace Ron Edwards when he went down with someone as good or better. That doesn't mean I think their approach is consistently wrong; overall I love it. Occasionally, though, I do disagree with individual moves. This is one of them.

not against the idea of bringing in veterans, i'm just not upset when we don't sign NAME players that people keep harping about.

[Jackofalltrades]

After rewatching the game today and paying close attention to the DL, it's obvious why we signed another nosetackle in Fields. Fua, our nose, played poorly. McClain did well.

Still think we could have done better.

Fua got pushed around in preseason a lot too, not something I was expecting to see from him.

[SCP]

We need somebody with Ngata size. 6'4"-ish and 330lbs.-ish. Maybe Fua will add another 20lbs. in the offseason. Vince Wilfork did it and he is about the same height as Fua. Actually, Wilfork added about another 80lbs. of pure gut.

[Jackofalltrades]

Whatever makes him harder to move.

[mj4life]

fua's size isn't the problem. there have been players who weigh 20 to 30 pounds less than he does who have been able to play the nose. he has to learn how to take on certain blocking schemes & that is something he can only do with more playing time. i thought he did a better job in the 2nd half but most observers felt he was the least ready to start of our rookie tackles

[Woodie]

Fua got pushed around in preseason a lot too, not something I was expecting to see from him.

I think Fua is struggling with NFL blocking schemes and his technique. Specifically, he is getting too high. Once he adjusts to what he'll see in the NFL and learns to lower his pad level, I believe we'll see him provide much more impact.

Much like the rest of the team, I think mid-season will be like night and day from what we are seeing now.

[Munch4455]

The weight to play DT isn't necessary, but in certain occasions it makes his job a little easier. Like if his job is to stay on a certain side of a lineman in order to make a bit of an alleyway for a blitzing LB or Safety, that extra weight sometimes will help him hold his ground a bit. Also makes him harder to position where the Oline wants him when they are run blocking. Keep in mind, while center's may be right at 300 lbs and below, guards usually tend to weigh in at the 315+ mark. If Fua put on the weight to get up to 340-350, it would take a much larger initial impact to move him off his spot(assuming his mechanics dont take a hit from the weight gain.)

[maddog]

Hurney has done a good job stocking the team with talent and finding replacements when there have been injuries. If there is one area I fail him on is listening to Fox and not bringing in a QB until last year with Dough boy and now Newton. He did bring in Carr but it was a disaster.

As for these signings since I wasn't in on the negotiations and neither were you, how would you possibly know if they talked to someone else or whether they are still negotiating with others. That is the point, you don't have a clue what is really going on but have plenty of opinions about how good a job he is doing with nothing to back it up. Maybe he is charting his own course or simply following orders, how would you know. You don't but don't let that bother you, it hasn't so far. LOL

Dude it's obvious you are just as opinionated as I am, just different points of view. However you got to put Jerry, the owner, in on the comebacks bc I'm not faulting just Hurney. It's been said they have talked to others but this is who they went with. As for my side of the argument on how both JERRY and HURNEY have done look at the history and how the team has been able to contend. You say good job on replacements and I say field-fillers for the most part. I love football and I love having a team here in Charlotte, overall I love the panthers, but don't half-ass something. You are right I don't know everything that goes on in that front office! Being our defense looks the same through week 1 as it did throughout preseason, I don't think they do either. Davis, CJ, and Hardy's improved play can't carry the whole defense all year!

[Sword]

sounds like we worked them out tuesday along with DT Tony Brown and some others(no one named Williams or Brown)..so they must of showed something that the Rivera focus caught.

[Dpantherman]

U mean we do homework before we sign guys?? We don't just randomly pick up scrubs first or look them up in madden?? Holy poo!!! ;)

[panthers55]

Dude it's obvious you are just as opinionated as I am, just different points of view. However you got to put Jerry, the owner, in on the comebacks bc I'm not faulting just Hurney. It's been said they have talked to others but this is who they went with. As for my side of the argument on how both JERRY and HURNEY have done look at the history and how the team has been able to contend. You say good job on replacements and I say field-fillers for the most part. I love football and I love having a team here in Charlotte, overall I love the panthers, but don't half-ass something. You are right I don't know everything that goes on in that front office! Being our defense looks the same through week 1 as it did throughout preseason, I don't think they do either. Davis, CJ, and Hardy's improved play can't carry the whole defense all year!

People here know I was one of Jerry's biggest critics last year. I was one of the first to talk about him being cheap in 2010 and that we would suffer by cutting all the vets, all in an attempt to line his pockets. I also correctly predicted that when the lockout ended by failing to lock up many of the players when he could without a cap, he would have to spend 100 million just to lockup his core group of players. Well the pigeons came home to roost.

As for things looking the same in the first game as it did in preseason, it was not that close. If you watch the game closely you find that there were a number of times when the difference between a big play for them and a big defensive play like a sack was less than a second. That is all timing and comes with repetition and practice. We also had 2 big blown coverages and a special teams disaster which cost us 21 of the 28 points. Otherwise we were decent fundamentally.

You can't expect to install a new defense that is substantially different from the one these guys played under in a matter of six weeks without mistakes. If they are still playing poorly after the bye week, then get back to me.

As for this year I think Richardson and Hurney are doing everything they can to rectify last year's disaster and bring us back into respectability. By the season's end we will be one of the non-playoff teams that people won't want to face. While it won't bring big dividends this year, it will set us up for a playoff run next year.

[panthers55]

The weight to play DT isn't necessary, but in certain occasions it makes his job a little easier. Like if his job is to stay on a certain side of a lineman in order to make a bit of an alleyway for a blitzing LB or Safety, that extra weight sometimes will help him hold his ground a bit. Also makes him harder to position where the Oline wants him when they are run blocking. Keep in mind, while center's may be right at 300 lbs and below, guards usually tend to weigh in at the 315+ mark. If Fua put on the weight to get up to 340-350, it would take a much larger initial impact to move him off his spot(assuming his mechanics dont take a hit from the weight gain.)

Size matters for sure but it is secondary to strength which is secondary to leverage and technique. Most every rookie not named Suh struggles at least the first half of theur rookie year. By midway through the year their technique improves to where they can establish appropriate leverage and do a credible job. He just needs time in the rotation to develop his skills.

[Mr. Scot]

It would have been generous to list Greg Kragen at 280, but he did pretty good playing nose tackle in Capers 3-4 the first few years of the Panthers.

[rodeo]

PFT:

Panthers tried out DT Tony Brown, NT Ronald Fields, T Renardo Foster, G Mike Gibson, NT Gabe Watson, and G Reggie Wells, per league source.

Glad they tried out Tony Brown, he was on the list of guys I wouldn't mind signing. If they felt Fields was better than him, then hopefully that means he's good.