top dawg

Plus, it's officially my last Friday off until the holiday season. I'm feeling good. I had to work Wednesday and yeaterday after being off since June 7th. Back to the grind! I thought I'd spend my last Friday off being good to myself.

Don't be a Croc hater. There's nothing better than to start the day knowing that Crocs will embrace your feet with comfort.

Double post. I hit the button only once. It's a Huddle hiccup. Please delete one of these.

Yeah, I love my Crocs. I tried not to, but they do my aging feet well. I'm a Croc convert, and proud of it. The only that comes almost as close are Joybees. They are comfortable too. But I love my Crocs. And to the dismay of some some of you youngins, I wear them with socks too! Look at how that morning sunlight is kissing my feet. I'm trying to figure out how well the Bright Cobalt colored Crocs fits in with the two shades of blue that constitute Panthers gear before I slide the Buy It Now slider at Amazon.

Reminds me of the time I was in Sears and Roebuck and had to "go." I walked with purpose to the restroom, trying to appear as cool as possible, swung open the door, and spied the stalls. Lo and behold, nary a stall had a door. Well, I "skipped" down to the last one by the far wall--neither early or late--and conducted my business right on time. As fate would have it, some bozo walked in. I heard his footsteps coming closer. He stretched his head and our eyes met for a half a second as he instantly pivoted in the other direction. Without a word, he knew what I said: "You're too late, bud." Take from that what you will.

Yay? I just can't get too excited over 7-v-7s, without pads no less, on day 2 to boot.

How were the rankings before the season with dates of 2022?

I'll take top 10 any day of the week. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-final-2021-offensive-line-rankings https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/basic-offensive-line https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/analysis/2021-nfl-offensive-line-rankings-by-positional-unit/ https://www.olinestats.com/articles/2021-regular-season-offensive-line-rankings I could go on. They are ranked very highly by...everybody

Good points that I didn't even consider.

I believe he'll be here until at least some time during the 2023 season (if not all of it). I'm not gonna be fooled by media narratives again, especially The 33rd Team. Now maybe The 34th Team can change my mind...

People say that, but is it true? We were ranked in the low 20s for rushing and passing from what I found. I began checking different stats (like 3rd down efficiency), and I was surprised quite frankly. I mean sure, we could have more INTs (we were like 6th from the bottom). And Red zone efficiency (TDs only) was near the bottom (29th), but you can't look at all of this stuff in a vacuum.

He probably did elevate the guys around him to be honest (LOL). They were just that bad. I'm not saying it was this specific article that I read many months ago, but it will give you some perspective. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/01/06/with-great-stats-and-a-4-12-record-deshaun-watson-had-an-unprecedented-season/ Might have been this one (I can't remember). https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/houston-texans-quarterback-deshaun-watson-was-the-nfls-best-quarterback-in-2020-pff-argues Here's another one: https://www.espn.com/blog/houston-texans/post/_/id/25469/texans-cant-afford-any-more-wasted-seasons-for-deshaun-watson Not gonna lie, I was skeptical of his play back then...until I began reading stuff like this.

Top 10? Honestly, more like top five (top three being the highpoint). That's why he commanded the money that he did. Houston was pretty bad for a couple of seasons, especially his last in 2020, and yet his numbers were off the charts. Drop him in that position, and in theory he'll stay top five at worst.

I'm still skeptical that this will be a real competition.

It matters. The shorter the field and the longer the defense is on the field matters in football. Turnovers and turnover differential are perhaps the most telling stats of all, and we were terrible. I've already said that I didn't think we had a good defense, but there are reasons to think that we can turn into one.

I studied Corral maybe more than anyone here. There may have been some Ole Miss alums who knew more, but I know the reasons why Corral dropped (if he in fact dropped). It wasn't really talent related per se. Other than some off-the-field b.s., people questioned his size (overblown IMO), his running style (maybe not as overblown, but still a bit much), and the offense in which he played (fair, but that's purely a judgement call that spoke to his perceived value amid 2022 draft dynamics). Moreover, perhaps the biggest reason why he "slid" is the injury that he suffered in the Sugar Bowl. Huddlers just seem to gloss over the fact that he wasn't available during the lion's share of the draft season with a high ankle sprain. Malik didn't even really drop. He was hyped up from the get-go. Corral may have been considered a project, but Willis was always destined to be the biggest project of the draft due to him being extremely raw at the position. I never bought into Willis. All these things I have said, I didn't say after the fact, I said them well before the draft. Sure, I didn't think Corral would last until late in the third, but I'm glad that he did. For my money the fact that he did provided us to get him at a helluva value at the end of the day. There were more than a few people that considered him the best QB in the draft. He was a legit Heisman candidate (even the top at one time). Injuries to him and his teammates kinda derailed that dream, but Huddlers shouldn't be so quick to dismiss that fact in my opinion, or dismiss Corral as just some third round pick. But, to each his own. I think there's a whole lot to like about MC9.

To be fair, Fitterer has mentioned shoring up the D-line several times now. I think they see it as perhaps not an Achilles heel, but a real area of concern.

I'm not gonna lie, I did raise an eyebrow and grin amusingly when I heard Matt Rhule refer to the Panthers defense as "good." Apparently it's a thing now--a belief turning into a mantra of sorts this offseason. I can live with that. You don't get to be the #2 in yards allowed, what some might refer to as "total defense," by totally sucking. It means there must be some promise--talent, somewhere (if not everywhere). But in scoring defense we were 21st in 2021 after being 18th in 2020. All that being said, I believe we're moving in the right direction. I think so, and so does Augusta Stone for Panthers.com. "Defensive coordinator Phil Snow has the Panthers moving in a positive direction, as Carolina's total defense has jumped from 18th in 2020 to 2nd in 2021, Snow's first and second years." But for me the goal is to be #1 in yards allowed and #1 in scoring. Two ways that we can get there is by focusing on the red zone and creating turnovers. That's what Matt Rhule is focusing on. "We're not good enough in the red zone or scoring defense, which is obviously what matters. That would be the number one thing," Rhule said. Number two is we have to create more turnovers. We want to lead the league in takeaways, and we have the guys to do it." So if this is what matters, then how can the defense be considered "good?" I would consider our defenses the last couple of years to be mediocre with good potential, and as such I'd be happy with going from average--nothing to write home about--to good. Moreover, my advice to Rhule would be to not only focus on the red zone and scoring, but to focus on getting off the field on third downs, where we were surprisingly 8th according to teamrankings.com (https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-third-down-conversion-pct). That's another indicator that Snow has us moving in the right direction, but, even still, we need to be better. All that being said, we're not exactly dog sh¡t as some have intimated, we're a young team with talent that will hopefully turn the corner this year. With another season under their belts, additional and better coaching, and hopefully avoiding the injury bugaboo that frankly caused havoc last year, we may just be able to move up legitimately in the ranks. I would be remiss not to mention the fact that in Rhule's interview today, he said that our 2021 defense had the worst defensive starting position of any team in the last five years. He said that of course the play of special teams had something to do with that, but he also mentioned that the offense played a part in that as well. He expressly hopes that Andre Roberts will help with field position, as Roberts still played at a high level in 2021. And of course it should go without saying that with the addition of Ben McAdoo, the acquisitions of Baker Mayfield, Matt Corral, and D'Onta Foreman, the revamping and seasoning of our O-line with Ickey Ekwonu and company, along with the evolution of Sam Darnold, Chuba Hubbard, and Tommy Tremble, that this should help the defense greatly. And I didn't even mention defensive additions like Xavier Woods and Damien Wilson, the seasoning and evolution of young and legitimately talented players like Brian Burns, Derrick Brown, Frankie Luvu, C.J. Henderson and Yetur Gross-Matos. Sure, we can stand to add more line depth and perhaps another veteran corner, but there are reasons why many analysts and people outside of the Huddle, and outside of Panthers.com, feel that the defense has the potential to be good (if not great). We'll find out relatively soon. https://www.panthers.com/news/brian-burns-working-to-lead-defense-from-good-to-great

But for the injuries, I'd take Ford in a minute. That's a huge "but" though. Until he's healthy, he's a waste of a spot.

It's just the first day. Gantt didn't say too much, but the article will still let you know what's going on. I zeroed in on some of Baker's thoughts: "There's a time to be aggressive and try to push the ball downfield without being stupid and being careless," Mayfield said. "There's aggressiveness, and then there's carelessness. It's a fine line between those and knowing when to take your shots and when to not get too greedy and play in the flow of the game." I like hearing Mayfield say this. Ball security should be at a premium. There was a little debate about ball security and gun-slinging in a thread last week. My thing is is that in my estimation even purported gunslingers can take their shots and be responsible with the football. It doesn't always work, but turnovers must be kept to a minimum, even as you push the ball down field. Baker continued,"If you take care of the ball, most likely you're going to win games." And the converse is very much true as well: If you don't take of the ball, most likely you're going to lose games. We gotta take care of the football, bottom line. There are more ways to get down the field than the expressway. https://www.panthers.com/news/camp-observations-baker-mayfield-makes-his-debut

Not hating on Mayfield, but this should be here.

To say "3rd round pick. 3rd round talent," makes no sense at all. It's not even troll-level worthy. All you have to do is look at all the 3rd rounders who have turned into pro-bowlers to show how asinine of a thought process that is. It's not untrue just in regards to QBs, but any position. Come on, dude.

LOL. I'm not gonna hate on Rip though. But everyone knows who was the first on the bandwagon.

If there are overreactions, it has been to a now fallen first overall pick. I know all the purported reasons that Corral was a third rounder, but like I've said for months, half of it was pure bullshit. But I'll bet on his skill set, ability to learn and ability to improve, regardless of his third round draft status, on any day.