stratocatter

He was impressive today. Not perfect but who is. Showed up big in a big game, showed everyone who he is. Props to him.

Eyeball test on Darnold says he is looking really good. Most of even the best QBs miss throws, it just happens. Top of my head I could remember about 4 throws that were off with the game still undecided. It was disappointing. When we went 2 scores down, its desperation mode. I stop questioning judgement then, so not talking about whatever good or bad was done. I'll spare the why argument mostly but I don't think they should let him leave. I think he does have a future. Wilkes or not I think that. 5th year at 24 looking like it might be slowing down for him, I am starting to think. Do people think he cant be good because Rhule liked him or because he was not ever locked in with a stable system to grow in? Okay the latter has happened to guys. But he is still barely older than a number of guys coming out of school, still has what I think are some positives to lean on.

That's a good way to look at it ha. I think you mean Tepper in that last sentence, but yep I feel similar apprehension. I see the flaws in Wilkes' performance today but these games are how you learn. Look at it like this: a young HC taking over a bad team is often going to take some time to get to his first true pressure type experience. And it will be the first of that type experience for most of the players too so that is a vessel facing rough water, I think is fair to say. Without going into all the details what I was afraid I would see happened with the secondary happened. With a cherry on top. Black cat showed up too. Naturally. Taking a more detached or maybe big picture view, I appreciate being there in January. After where they were the day Robbie Anderson was sent inside in SF, traded. All that. Would anyone really have thought they would be a couple of plays away from a total 180? I don't think things are nearly as bad as lots of people do. I never expected to win anything this year until this unlikely NFCS situation gave a reason to think about it. So I thought it was a great ride.

It isn’t as if Tepper was some bumpkin billionaire on his first day, he was a (Steelers) minority owner for some period of time and took two seasons as owner of the Panthers to learn and evaluate before he acted.

Monumental. Man, go on. That is true at a couple of positions or groups maybe but no. This is not a Super Bowl team or really a bona fide contender but they are a much better team than started the season. Which is the way you want it. The CB situation looks like a big setback to me but still because of that running game I bet you a lot of teams would just as soon not draw them at this point.

Trying to figure out if I see what I think I see in Wilkes. Which is while he is in the middle of an audition for his dream job he is not just thinking of this year. Or himself or something. I am trying to find the word I am looking for. What I think he has been doing with Sam is really big picture, it affects the future as much as today in a sense. He is baby stepping things with him trying to build him up. Or maybe it is all in the moment and he is just afraid Sam will lose the game but I think it is more to it. I think he is trying to get him built up and ready to match his outcome with his ability. Sam has the physical tools to make a 1st round draft pick wait his turn. For a while, if he puts it together. Whether he will is a valid question and I am not sure we had the final word. This game coming up will be a really good test.

It does appear as if this is the year to steal the conference ticket to the SB. I don’t have any realistic aspirations on the Panthers’ behalf but it is entertaining as hell afaic. The team is playing for a lot right now, good time to evaluate their performance with the chips down. As far as this thread subject, I think you have to act as if you missed the playoffs every year wherever you finish, every year. These are competitive people mostly, they tend to have that attitude. If you aren’t getting better you’re getting worse and all that. So I think NFL teams are there by default. Enough of them that if you want to win you better be too.

I think if you retain Wilkes you almost have to insist on prior OC experience. We’ll know very soon where that is headed. Which btw if I was sureI would hire Wilkes I’d use the Rooney interviews and the stated desire for an offensive minded coach as a cover for bringing in an OC candidate or two, knowing that I could beat about any counter offer he might get to stay. Gets ahead of that game and lets Wilkes hit the ground running because he is still the HC until he is relieved. Which might not have to happen until the new HC hire is made. But that’s unethical, right?

Okay someone is spinning something somewhere. I can’t remember the source. I listened to several podcasts and did some reading yesterday or whenever and it didn’t seem important that I document it at the time. I guess this is where I say if he quit like that, in a huff or pouting because he was benched, sure. Outta here. It’s just something tells me he isn’t that guy.

Maybe this was answered but a talking head somewhere or the other said he was barred from even calling his coaches so it doesn’t sound like quitting.

I think the Panthers are the better team in most places. It is an away division elimination game though. I think they are going to play our game and try to ride Fournette so we better be tackling and getting pressure when they need to throw. Barring a turnover fest by the offense I expect to get the win. I think we should be a 6 pt favorite but would take a 1pt win and smile.

Carr is better than any QB that (we know of) in the division next year. Atl, TB and NO all will be scrambling for help. I am tired of a new one every season, myself, but he could be a fit depending on the plan.

Yeah lol that is sort of like blaming the gun (Rhule) not the shooter (Tepper).

Yep. Except Wahle wasn’t here then. Jeff Mitchell was C on that team I think.

Rhule was here and had spent on Mayfield. Nothing good would have happened for him, I don’t believe. There is a saying “Fraud vitiates everything”. This is a similar situation. The entire environment they put Darnold into was rampant with fraud. Guys LARPing were coaching him. I don’t know the right term but I wouldn’t judge him off of that time it is all tainted. Same as the Jets. Supposedly they were taking Darnold out of a bad situation and giving him a good one but it was just another JETS scenario, Carolina style. This is finally the type of environment right now, that he was supposedly being put into last year. He has the prototypical toolset. Stuff you can’t coach people into. And some issues he needs to be coached out of too, but he has those attributes. The size, good mobility, good arm. He is on your team. You need a quarterback. You Have to see what he can do. If he does it right you better think hard before letting him leave. So PJ was always gonna have to step back to let that play out.

Yep jury is still out. Fat lady hasn’t sung. All of that happens when season ends and all kicks have been made or missed. so far he has rewarded Wilkes’ faith. I would have sent him packing or at the least had kickers in for tryouts Monday morning.

Steelers was a 3-4 D scheme which we don’t typically deal with and over the decades has given the OL problems nearly every time they had to block it. So a little bit different than the Bucs and Saints. But those are division cell mates, those games are almost always closer than people expect even if one team is 2-8 and the other is 8-2 coming in.

My hope and expectation for this year was that the team be competitive in most games and see it as a learning to win year (just about every crap team ever has one of those years the year before they start winning). Expected the OL to fuel a more powerful offensive attack that would be trending up by seasons end. A team that the teams playing for the playoffs or seeding, do Not want to face in December. Maybe win 7 or 8. That would have been enough for me. In spite of all the detours and potholes we are about there. I think things could be setup for a real nice draft and a more enjoyable season next year.

We have Dallas’ number, so I will allow myself to fantasize and enjoy thinking of that scenario. If we actually did come back from 1-4 and everything else to be in a position to send Dallas home (again)? It would be third best Panther season all time for me ha ha.

I think Wilkes is doing a freaking great job. I am with Dungy, he won me over with the no bs handling of Robbie Anderson. Gone. Problem solved. Anybody else want some? If he is handling Darnold like I think he is, it is next level. He is trying to rebuild his confidence. You don’t put him on the line until he is likely to be successful. Even if that means holding him back which I think is the pattern he is following. Didn’t rush him back. Held him out of Cinci where he probably was physically ready but Wilkes saw he could get beaten down and avoided it. When the time came, he training wheeled him hard, and gradually is loosening things up. Wilkes knows his stuff better than most people give him credit for.

I would want to downplay the matter of a mediocre team with a losing record playing for a division title and playoff spot. So maybe I don’t put them front and center. But I am not a network exec and probably don’t think like they do.

I had no big reaction with the pick either way. I looked at his college tape and he looked good enough to me, knowing I am not a talent evaluator I don’t expect to know more than the pros do. 4th rounder which suits me for a running back (as opposed to a 1st rounder). What this really shows here, is that you do not need to spend the top picks or the money on fancy running backs. You need a stout OL and a hungry mid round rb to go with them. The two first rounders that held the team record for rushing yards in a game were dethroned by a couple of afterthoughts.

I see a lot of people who seemed to shift from we are the worst team ever to being disappointed that if we make the playoffs and don’t go to the SB someone isn’t good enough to start on the team. Like, there is no middle ground. I don’t see a lot of realistic assessments of the situation here. It spills over into the attitude towards the draft, where only the top pick is good enough. And it has to be a qb because, well that is where you get a SB winning qb. Or so they must think. I don’t know if this is realistic but my view is they have built the team into something that can support a developing or underdeveloped QB, or a guy with only a game manager ceiling, enough to win some games and become respectable. That is a much better situation than they were in last year or the year before. I see things approaching what I expected to see this year which I thought was the ‘learn how to win’ year where you have the talent but not the experience. Not making the playoffs but being a team those teams do not want to face. Being spoilers. Being good enough to spoil the season of a good team by screwing their seeding or just knocking them out of the race. We are there. It didn’t go in a straight line like I expected with the head coaching change and the trading of CMC and the starting QB mess but they are progressing. I did want Sam get a shot with the improved OL and all, because he has the prototypical size and skill set, and because some people figure things out later or slower than others but when they are done figuring they know the info just as good as the guy that got there quicker. You have to verify that Sam is Not one of those. But it looks like he might be. In my scenario of building the team up before you plug your QB into it, the time is about here. Time to start seriously looking at which QB can top off the team and if somehow this guy learns to function efficiently in the offense you can yell Bingo!. If you have acquired someone you want to supplant him, then you have the good problem of finding a trade partner for one of them. Or if Sam fails, well you hopefully have his replacement and a strong cast for the new QB to work with. I think we are in a good place.

Corral looked like complete crap the little we saw him play in preseason. Check. Does that mean he is gonna be crap the next time we see him? Not definitively. It will play out how it plays out and no one really knows for sure what that will look like. People claiming he is a starting or franchise NFL qb are doing that off of their hopeful imagination and not much else.

I know Fox wished we could have drafted him when he came out. He was a fine player for a good decade.