Does Everyone Really Believe We Are Good At Dt?

[panthersphan]

We desperately need an upgrade...desperately...

[SIGCHI222]

Has he been wrong yet?

[FirstRoundPick]

Rivera only really activated McClain and fua at the beginning of the year...the third DT barely played whether it was fields or neblett. Late in the year there was more of an active rotation

Had nothing to do with playing the Bucs twice and the Colts, and getting buried against NO,

[nickzz]

it's a process. you can only address so many needs at once. i don't think his credibility will be tarnished for not fixing everything in the 2 years following our 2-14 season.

[jtnc]

No, I am very worried about our interior gap control/pass rush.

[FirstRoundPick]

it's a process. you can only address so many needs at once. i don't think his credibility will be tarnished for not fixing everything in the 2 years following our 2-14 season.

Yeah but what we did is ignore a gaping hole and say those crappy guys last year are good enough because this year Rivera will make them better. What? Why didn't he wave his magic stick and do it last year. The four game improvement is not just Rivera, it is going from Clausen to Newton, Chud, and playing Jagaurs, Redskins, Bucs, Colts, and TJ Yates. Plenty of 6-10 teams in the past that fans have thought were close. Seriously the best team we beat that didn't have a 3rd string QB playing was the Redskins, and people think we are going to be good this year with a top 10 D.

Imagine the Panthers as an old clunker car. What we did was get some new shiny rims in place of a critical/crucial part or system. When our clunker breaks down in week six at least we will have a LBers making tackles in 6-8 yard range because that is so the reason we lost so many games last year.

[nickzz]

Yeah but what we did is ignore a gaping hole and say those crappy guys last year are good enough because this year Rivera will make them better. What? Why didn't he wave his magic stick and do it last year. The four game improvement is not just Rivera, it is going from Clausen to Newton, Chud, and playing Jagaurs, Redskins, Bucs, Colts, and TJ Yates. Plenty of 6-10 teams in the past that fans have thought were close. Seriously the best team we beat that didn't have a 3rd string QB playing was the Redskins, and people think we are going to be good this year with a top 10 D.

Imagine the Panthers as an old clunker car. What we did was get some new shiny rims in place of a critical/crucial part or system. When our clunker breaks down in weak six at least we will have a LBers making tackles in 6-8 yard range because that is so the reason we lost so many games last year.

i know. i agree, DT is a place of need and it was largely ignored over the offseason. but you have to think there must be a reason for it. rivera had to have seen some sort of improvement in our DTs to deem the position as not our top priority. i was just saying rivera's credibility won't be tarnished for not instantly fixing all of our problems.

in response to the bolded part, we had 2 rookie DTs that were thrown into the fray because of injury (edwards). you expect 2 rookies to come in and play like seasoned vets? especially at DT? without an offseason? that's incredibly unrealistic. the hope here (keyword: hope) is that rivera was able to do it this time around because they have a full year of experience and an actual offseason under their belts, you can only coach up a player so much during the regular season. not to mention some sort of veteran presence with the return of edwards.

about the wins against shitty teams: it's not as cut and dry as you may think. yes, we were 6-10 with most if not all of them coming against teams in less than stellar situations. out of those 10 losses, how many of them were close? some were incredibly close. those shiny new rims we added (i assume you're referring to kuechly?) will just make the defense that much better. close the gap a little more in those close losses. add in the return of beason/davis/edwards and it's just that much closer. this is where all the hope/hype is coming from. believe it or not, we were close last season.

[FirstRoundPick]

I expected them to have a physical presence. Have a flash or two. Which they did not. Kearse did have flashes, but if I were a GM I'd be dumb to bank on that. After like six games of Clausen, you knew it wasn't inexperience he did not have what it takes physically. A phone book or two for him to stand on would have helped. After a whole season of McClain and Fua nobody can think of one moment when they beat their man and made a physical tackle. People want to say ahh but Fua was doubled the whole game. Yeah whatever, he is going to be doubled next year too when we get our asses ran over on.

[panthers55]

He must know something we don't or he surely wouldn't have gotten rid of Shirley for another WR unless he felt really good about who we have. If Shirley was going to be odd man out, then we have 7 guys who he likes better. We ought to be able to find 2 guys that can start and 3 others to contribute. He might still be counting on picking up another guy dropped from another team, who knows. But I am not going to second guess him until there is a reason to do so. Right now, I am on board enjoying the ride. Hoping for big things.........

[nickzz]

I expected them to have a physical presence. Have a flash or two. Which they did not. Kearse did have flashes, but if I were a GM I'd be dumb to bank on that. After like six games of Clausen, you knew it wasn't inexperience he did not have what it takes physically. A phone book or two for him to stand on would have helped. After a whole season of McClain and Fua nobody can think of one moment when they beat their man and made a physical tackle. People want to say ahh but Fua was doubled the whole game. Yeah whatever, he is going to be doubled next year too when we get our asses ran over on.

well there's no way they could get worse, only better. you're either lying to yourself or being very pessimistic if you think mcclain or fua (we have other DTs too, most of whom are young) had zero flashes of potential throughout the ENTIRE season. they were confident enough to get rid of shirley so they've had to see some sort of improvement in at least one of them, right?

[FirstRoundPick]

well there's no way they could get worse, only better. you're either lying to yourself or being very pessimistic if you think mcclain or fua (we have other DTs too, most of whom are young) had zero flashes of potential throughout the ENTIRE season. they were confident enough to get rid of shirley so they've had to see some sort of improvement in at least one of them, right?

We got rid of a crappy DT in Shirley, but all the means is someone else is a little less crappy. We have one of the worse if not the worse set of DT's in the league. There wouldn't have been another fanbase in the league to cry about Shirley 4 tackles of production being gone like we did.

Its not just me, I've been and still am waiting for someone to tell me give me an example or reason to be excited about them other than "it was their first year they will get better" or "lol they were good they just got doubled go look at the tape". Nick Hayden got "better" ever year, but there wasn't a single year I wanted him in the rotation. Another thing I've been waiting to hear since everyone is saying "we are good" there is for someone to tell me a worse DT rotation in the league.

[AceMan]

He must know something we don't or he surely wouldn't have gotten rid of Shirley for another WR unless he felt really good about who we have. If Shirley was going to be odd man out, then we have 7 guys who he likes better. We ought to be able to find 2 guys that can start and 3 others to contribute. He might still be counting on picking up another guy dropped from another team, who knows. But I am not going to second guess him until there is a reason to do so. Right now, I am on board enjoying the ride. Hoping for big things.........

^This

Also, if our DTs suck, no one will be really surprised.

[CRA]

It wasn't a DT by commitee last year? With the same people?

Not really....it was mental Fua and McCain until they went to IR

[stirs]

There is a fine line in football between winning and losing. With a very small amount of improvement in any area, we could have been 10-6.

Here is what you need to know as far as the D

DLine will be better

2 rookies will certainly improve, Edward will help that immensely

CB's will be better

The addition of Hogan will give us options

LB's will be better

From our first round pick who is gonna be great in pass coverage, to the guys coming back from injury, this will again be a strength.

Safety will be better

With the FA's brought in, the competition will elevate their play

S Teams will be better

From punt coverage, to punt returns, we will get better.

Again, the fine line between a bad team and a good team, in my opinion, will be crossed. As long as our offense is as dynamic as they were last season, our D's improvement should have us enjoying a lot more Sunday afternoons