CPcavedweller

So what is a fake starter? He was brought in to contribute to the team and was a miss. Now Ickey is playing like dog poo, Chark is injured, we missed on McCall, Miles Sanders is also injured. Now the team comes out and say that it's going to be a three year process, meanwhile we don't have a stockpile of picks like you'd hope a team who just drafted a franchise QB would have. So no, this isn't "getting a look at him". This is a whiff. This has been the Panthers since Tepper took over. Get used to it.

I don't think we should've traded the farm to get him. It was a bad deal and I'll tell you the number one reason why. If we aren't going to win this year, and make the goal a playoff push, we just traded our number one pick next year to a conference rival who already has a Franchise QB and now has a number one receiver to go along with their defensive pieces. So they get another high pick next year, a likely middle to low pick, both in the first round to continue to build while we are stuck with building through Free Agency which is not a winning strategy without a great core of talent. So it wasn't about Bryce, it was about the trade. With this offensive staff, we could've re-signed Darnold and he would've had the best coaching staff he's ever had, we could've traded down in the first, taken multiple players who were Top 3 at their position for the draft, and got a core of talent. Anyway, I'm not the owner and I'm not a GM, but I am of the opinion that we gave up too much to move up. I get the drooling over Bryce, he's probably going to be a good QB, but if the goal isn't to win now, when will it be time? You don't go trading away 1st round picks to win tomorrow.

Yeah, that was the worst take I've heard in a while, other than the guys who thought we would be a playoff team. Or perhaps that Ickey had proven he is a franchise left tackle. Lot of fanboys here who are just hot take after hot take.

What? He was our number one receiver for crying out loud. What has been separated as fiction from fact is that we are not nearly as talented as we thought that we were. At this point in the season, you are who you are. You're not going to find much production off of the waiver wire and you're not going to find much production on someone elses practice squad. We all need to accept that we aren't going to be very good this year and we won't have a first round pick next year to get better.

If the Cowboys go 0-3 in preseason, history tends to show that they would be pioneers in blazing a trail to the playoffs. It just doesn't happen.

Very strong correlation between losing in preseason and regular season.

At this point Luton looks about as good as Bryce. But ya know, that's blasphemy around here.

Really? You think the Bucs aren't thinking "tank for Williams or Maye"?

This is very dismissive of how bad ALL of our depth chart looked. Starters looked bad, 2nd looked bad, 3rd looked bad. They all looked bad. That isn't scheming. That's just being the less talented team.

They almost certainly have. It was repeated on the broadcast probably 6 times. It's been said here since last year. Ickey was good when we were running well and were able to mix up the run and pass. When obvious passing downs come, he's toast. That should improve as he ages but for now, it's just not good, at all. As I'd said before, it's to be expected that he'd struggle and there is nothing wrong with that going into Year 2. However, he wasn't just beat against the Jets, he was run around with ease on a speed rush that left Bryce plastered. It should've been Roughing the Passer twice, by the rulebook, but they didn't call it for some reason, but it doesn't matter because the end result is the same.

Teams rarely, and by rarely I mean maybe once or twice, have gone 0-fer in the preseason and made the playoffs. So no, you can't go 0-3 and be a 12-5 football team in the regular season. It's not that it can't happen, it just doesn't. The preseason is not only a representation of your players but your depth against depth, your coaching and development, and your ability to find guys down the depth chart who can play. If the Panthers lose 27-0 or anything close to that again, and lose a 3rd game, you can bet the under on our win total for the year.

I saw him get beat like a drum on Saturday and numerous times at pivotal moments. There is a difference in allowing a sack and allowing pressure. He got Bryce toasted on a damn bagel twice in three plays. You can argue what your eyes show you all day but I know what I saw and it was ugly.

Ickey Ekwonu is one of the best left tackles in the NFL.

Good, because the Chiefs 3rd and 4th string offense looks better than all of ours. Each of their QB's has thoroughly outplayed all of our guys as well. Context matters but Buschel and Oladakpo (whatever his name is) have both made some wow throws and off schedule plays. Whether it's 2011 or not is up for debate but I've veen flamed since April for saying the defense would be a work in progress, that Ickey is the most overrated player on this squad, and that Bryce would need to adjust. I was even fuging banned for a week for suggesting Bryce may struggle a bit. And I was right, as long as the offensive line play continues the way it has in pass protection going back to the beginning of last year, and now into Week 1 of the preseason, he will struggle. What is different from 2011 is that we had a 255 lb QB who could withstand some breakdowns in protection. Bryce can't take too many shots like he took on Saturday before he ends up injured.

Do you know what happened the last time we didn't score a touchdown all preseason? We had one of, if not the worst, offenses in the league. Despite what people think, preseason play does correlate loosely to regular season play. 27-0 even in preseason is not a good omen. Then you can add the fact that Ickey was beat two or three times in as few snaps as he got and if that continues, we will see some Andy Dalton at some point this year.

Dude, a reasonable person. Can we be friends? Any time I say anything remotely realistic about Ickey I get flamed here. He gets beat far, far too often to get the praise that he does as a blindside tackle. I get that the ability is there, and it shows up sometimes, but man did he look rough yesterday. I'm also beginning to think that bryce's success in camp is as related to the Panthers defense being Swiss cheese as it is him being as good as advertised. I think he has a shot to be great, even this year, but if Ickey doesn't get his poo together Bryce will get hurt.

Ickey got beat twice. For all the love he gets, he gets beat, a lot.

I see Bryce isn't getting the Drew Brees treatment. Two times they could've called Roughing the Passer but didn't.

Chances are slim to none that you make the playoffs if you don't win a preseason game. Chances are very bad that you'll have a good offense if you can't score in preseason. Chances are very bad that you'll have a good defense if you can't stop anyone in preseason. Now going 3-0 in preseason doesn't mean Super Bowl, but going 0-3 almost certainly means you won't be sniffing the playoffs. So I'd say it's important. Source: I don't remember nor do I have the time but only a handful, if that, of teams have gone on to make the playoffs after losing every game in preseason

There is going to be a lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking going on around these parts soon. One thing that struck me with Cam was the number of people who questioned his accuracy, and to some degree I did as well. That was until I sat in endzone seats on the first row of the second level and could see what he was seeing. So many times I could see him throwing around and over people that you just can't see on TV or on sideline seats. You hear TV announcers say "off-target" or "questionable" but then you see it how they see it and you get it. I'd really like to get a solid seat right between the goal posts for a pre-season game to see how Bryce sees the game. A lot of judgments could be made seeing how he has to work the pocket and manipulate throws and arm angles to get the ball out. And, as long as the Panthers offensive line is better than the Texans, it's probably going to be a race to OROY between Bijan Robinson and Bryce.

Kind of hard to know quite yet. The Texans didn't exactly give Stroud an All-Star coaching staff on offense.

Boobie Miles? You don't remember that movie?

Depends on if the secondary can stay healthy or not.

Dude, Holton Ahlers is playing for the Seahawk's. Greenville kid. Some stuff to watch all around, even as boring as preseason ball tends to be.

The point is that among the silly plays one could discuss during training camp, I'm not sure a pick 6 qualifies. I understand you're drooling, I get it. The excitement is palpable. But it's camp, where we discuss things, including plays that occur. For all the positive we read here, there is bound to be some negative, and this was one that was worth discussing more than others.