CPcavedweller

Because we are resetting our entire team with a new coaching staff, new players, and an entirely new defensive scheme. We also didn't see many reasons to be excited in Fall Camp or the preseason games. Aaron Rodgers ate our defenses lunch in joint practices. It may be close this week, but NFL games can be close and still be domination.

David Tepper is the problem. We've sucked since 2015. We went o-fer in preseason with a fairly pedestrian showing after the team hyped up the fanbase all summer long. Brian Burns may or may not be playing. We are likely a long way off from playoff contention and we don't have a first round pick next year. My biggest gripe isn't Bryce but what we gave up for him. We may have handed our conference rivals DJ Moore and a Top 10 pick next year, meaning we will likely be in Year 3 or 4 of Bryce before we have enough to really challenge for a conference championship. This is a reset, which is fine. But we were here in 2020 and now we are back at the bottom of another reset which in the NFL takes years. So pardon some of us for just not caring at the moment. If we contend for 2nd in the South, I'll be pleasantly surprised. My guess is that it's a race to the bottom between us and Tampa though. We just don't have the horses on offense nor do we have the quality depth on defense.

You think our running game will be better than the Falcons who not only have Bijan and Patterson but who are returning a 1,000 yard rusher from 2022? Not to mention Pitts and Drake London. If the Falcons only score 10 points then we are in for a whale of a season and you better put money on the over for our win total in Vegas. I think we score between 14 and 24 points but there is no way we hold them to 10, especially if Burns is out.

I came to that conclusion through everything I saw in Fall Camp, in preseason games, and the fact that Burns isn't playing. Sure, we were running a lot of base defense with little game planning but our 1's were thrashed in every game they played in preseason and in the joint practice. Nevermind the fact that Arthur Smith is a great offensive minded coach with Bijan, Pitts, and London to work with, as well as Patterson. NFL games are rarely blowouts but our defense is going to experience some growing pains this year. Our 1's are okay but quality depth will be an issue. If Ron Rivera can't switch to a 3-4 in one year and make it work, I highly doubt Evero can. Ron switched in 2019 and when we struggled, predictably thanks to not having the personnel, he was fired. This is Year 1 of a switch again and our best, and pretty much only, pass rushing OLB is not going to play. So, yeah. It's not what people want to hear and it's not what most are expecting but we have a lot of holes on this team and will probably be fighting for 3rd place with the Bucs in the South.

I didn't say Nebraska would win. Nebraska doesn't have a QB. I just don't think it will be some outrageous score. Something like 17-13 is most likely.

Our defense? Will frustrate someone? Other than Panthers fans? People are going to be shocked out how unprepared we really are.

Fail-Cons - 32 Panthers - 16 Our defense is going to be putrid. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. We don't have the depth to run for 60 minutes and the Falcons offense should be pretty good. Ironically, all they are missing is a QB.

A great offense beats a great defense every time? You must have missed Super Bowl 50.

Colorado had all off-season to prep for TCU. We will see how the quick turnaround time, as well as having an entirely new staff in Nebraska, will affect them. I don't think tha Nebraska has the QB to win the game but I think it will be very low scoring again. Nebraska's defense is for real and seems to have one or two NFL worthy defensive ends who are really good players. Matt Rhule is made for college ball. It was Tepper's fault that he was hired here. I don't particularly like Rhule but this obsession from grown men with another grown man is weird.

He'll be fine at Nebraska.

A party lasts one night, trading future 1sts affects you for years.

We've been saying this for 10 years and it's not been true yet. The salary cap is a farce for them and it's time people give their GM some credit for manipulating low cap space into a decent team, year in and year out. Carr is also a lot better than Panthers fans give him credit for.

I don't like Rhule but man oh man, being a Nebraska fan must be the worst. I've watched a bit of them the past three years and they always find ways to lose. It is utterly incredible the poo that happens in games they hold leads in late in games.

Which tells us that Mac Jones "AINT him".

You don't trade future 1sts and plan on losing. What a poo show.

How do they know he was that good through the season? There is only one way to know in the NFL how good someone truly is and that's in the game. Practices are glorified walk throughs now. This is like Shanahan saying "we didn't know how good Purdy was until he came in that game" and people being upset about it. If Shanahan got the QB evaluation of his own roster wrong, why not say something about him?

Should have been. Everyone here wanted an offensive coach and that's what they got, including Tepper. Still not sold on Reich being the guy.

No. He could've earned a protected spot as an emergency QB but he was bad. I'd like to see what he could do on San Francisco's Practice Squad for a year. He's got the Shanahan skillset.

He earned it!

You clearly haven't been around the 49er's facility or their practices. What you got from Purdy is a 40-50+ game college starter who elevated Iowa State from irrelevancy. What you got from Lance is a guy who started something like 13 games at North Dakota State. Purdy is head and shoulders the better quarterback and if he doesn't get the UCL injury, who knows how that Eagles game turns out. Darnold isn't a bad QB. His two head coaches prior to now were Adam Gase and Matt Rhule. Tom Brady would've flamed out of the league with those two as his first two head coaches.

Yeah, this isn't going to fly in the regular season with 1's v 1's and game planning involved. Need Chark back in a bad way.

It's still our 1's playing their 2's and 3's on defense. So, like you said, it's preseason. Don't get too excited.

I suppose we should with ours 1's facing their 2's and 3's. But I digress.

So our receivers are Theilen and then a huge gap?

I typed that as it happened and it wasn't obvious at first. Regardless, my point about AR stands. My point about receivers also stands.