CPcavedweller

Long-term for what? We aren't a playoff team. Not like we are going to beat the Saints, Bucs, or Falcons for the South and we certainly won't win enough for a Wild Card. Throw him out there so he can get his money on a decent contract elsewhere next year.

You have it backwards. The hype we need, but not the hype we deserve, which is no hype at all. We. Are. Bad.

He overthrew DEEP BALLS? So he doesn't have a noodle arm? I think you're misunderstanding what gives an NFL QB the moniker of "noodle arm". It's not the ability to throw the deep ball but rather the ability to nail in the short and intermediate throws into tight windows.

I was banned for saying this over the summer; be careful. "BUT HIS BRAINS. HE'S GOT HUGE, MASSIVE, STRONGGGGG, BRAINS." Of course it's just one game. But physically, he is underwhelming to say the least, which we all knew. He had deep ball opportunities and missed those as well which is another concern considering that was supposed to be a strength of his. It took Drew Brees what, six years? So maybe after another two coaches we will get there. Or maybe we can get a GM who can work a trade for or find the next Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle in the draft? Going to be tough going against the Bears when they have DJ Moore, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Drake Maye or Caleb Williams. They could be great for a decade or more if they play their cards right.

Everyone knows this. Everyone knows all of this. What you see is a reaction equal and opposite to the infinite optimism that existed over the summer. I was banned for saying Bryce would probably struggle and that I didn't like the pick, mostly due to the team building aspect. I was called "negative" and that it wasn't needed. I was chided for saying that our 3-4 defense would take time since we lacked depth and the appropriate personnel. We just lost to a divisional opponent by two touchdowns and they threw for 95 yards. They threw for less than 100 yards and we lost. This after this forum decided that Wilks and his offensive preference was too old school because you have to pass to win now. What most of you all don't get is that we ran a power run game last year because we had to in order to win. We couldn't throw 40 times a game and win. We couldn't line up in shotgun 65% of the time and win. We needed to run a traditional offensive look and pass off of play-action to protect the offensive line, the quarterback, and to help the receivers. We would be wise to go back to that approach because what I saw today isn't going to win many games. It may hjave been one game, but there was enough there to see that we are a 2 to 5 win team. I don't see a world in which our offense is good enough to win more than that, as it exists today. Even without Bryce's interceptions, we were not winning that game today.

And guess what? If we suck bad enough, the Bears can double up by drafting Williams or Maye, AND they can take Marvin Harrison Jr. while off-loading Fields for another pick. We should've just sucked it up for another year and gone hard for Maye or Williams next year. Those two would've forced Young and Stroud down the board if they were in the same draft class. Tepper has been desperate for the excitement of a top draft pick and the money that drives and he got it. It was a dumb, short-sighted decision. You don't trade 1st round picks away when you have more holes in your roster than the swissest of swiss cheese.

Did you read my post? I wasn't making excuses for anything. I just said we suck. I said it in the score prediction thread and by my count, I was probably one of the closest in guessing the margin of the game. It's fine that we suck. This is the NFL where you can't build a team in a single off-season and despite most fans hopes, and the teams propaganda, we were never going to compete for anything but last place this year. I actually said this, and said that I didn't love the trade up for Bryce because we have so many holes on the roster, and I was banned for a week because of it. I was told I was "being too negative" and that people were tired of it. Well, how about now? This game was a throw back to Master Rhule instead of a step forward from where we were in the last six weeks of last year. I stand by my feelings that we should've gone with Wilk's, traded down to get more picks, re-signed Darnold and Foreman, and gone from there. We aren't going to win anything throwing the ball 40 times a game with this receiver group and the offensive line. It is what it is.

We were told we were morons after drawing some season long conclusions after preseason as well. Then we were called morons for saying Young will struggle. Man, this garbage of calling people morons for saying we still suck needs to end. We suck. It's obvious. We don't have speed at receiver, the QB is a rookie, and the defense is in Year 0 of a change to a 3-4 scheme. It's fine to say that we will suck. It's a fact. Panthers might win 5 to 7 games this season but that would be quite a surprise. You can bookmark that prediction if you'd like as well. Falcons beat us without throwing for 100 yards. That's very, very telling. Now we get to suck for the whole world to see against the Saints, which is also fine. It may drive down ticket prices enough for me to take my kids to a game.

Well, seems to have played out about the same as we saw in preseason, didn't it? This is why people were concerned. Same poo, different game, different coaching staff, different QB.

How about now?

Did not realize that the Falcons have Calais Campbell, Grady Jarrett, and Bud Dupree. While we are starting a rookie on the offensive interior line? May God save his soul. This first game might be rough.

0-3 teams in preseason generally don't go on to have good regular seasons.

The last time I had a Falcons player on my fantasy team who played the Panthers, he went for 300 some receiving yards.

Texas has only ever been worth a poo under two coaches. They were good under Brown for 8 years or so and then one other coach. Another coach from the 70's or 80's did well also. Outside of that, most head coaches going back to the 60's have been around .500 or worse.

For all of you Tar Hole and USC fans out there, App State is about to serve up some humble pie to you both and will be submitting for their trophy after they win this week, as well as next week against ECU.

Why is anyone surprised? The Panthers have a better receiving Corp than the Chiefs and that's saying something.

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.