SetfreexX

I think this was probably set up similar to college, ala ''passing game coordinator'' was Brady's roll at LSU, my understanding is he was not the ''play-caller''. So I imagine that was the goal, every person provides the feedback, and sets aside responsibility to culminate in the gameplan on Sunday where the OC calls things based off of the group's work during the week.

The OL is down to 3rd, and 4th string guys that are UDFA's in 3 spots, there were not many better OL to sign over Erving and Elflein. KC's OL looked like a dumpster fire in the SB for the SAME reasons...injury. Aside from Okung, on paper the OL was penciled in to better. The defense is going to look bad if the offense can't muster a TD, football is complementary, and right now guys are pressing and trying to do too much. The 3-0 start got everyone, staff, roster, and fans sipping the kool-aid. The defense should honestly be even better heading into next year. IMO Jackson is gone, and you have -- Gilmore, Horn, Abouye, Henderson as the rotation, the front seven could use a better off-ball LB'er to pair with Shaq, and I'd like to see a more cover safety added to allow Chinn to play down in the box / match TE's more often. So when you have a bad QB (Darnold), and a banged up, now starting UDFA's all over the OL, this is to be expected. My issue is why after Brady Christenen looked good at LT, why did we bench him for Daley, who is just IMO a better G, than T? Was it other depth concerns, or something else?

I can't back this take up, the only regression was Quarterback, the defense from his 1st season to now is night and day, if we attack legit OL in FA (as we have cap now) and Fitt can parlay our first into a late 1, and a 2nd, and a 3rd (we'd jump up to 9 total picks just like that) to offset the Sam trade and continue to address OL, we're on to something. There's enough Cam left for a 1-2 season stint while the rest of the offense is addressed, and set up for a future 2023 pick.

Has he done that at any level, I don't remember reading anything about him that refenced offense or even defense as an area of expertise. He seemed the ''organizer'' type based on all the information around the time of hire.

Felt like the MAJORITY of the board was not a Brady fan, team makes a move to move on and now you scoff at the replacement as though we can just go out on the street and hire an OC that runs an offense NO ONE in the building knows. Ya'll funny, hard enough having Cam learn on the fly, but we supposed to install a new offense in Week 13, the lack of common sense here is overwhelming at times. If there's to be a change it will be this off-season, IMO we need a proven play-caller if Rhule is retained, and if anything promote Nixon to Assistance OC if the plan is to groom him, I doubt he proves himself as the interim OC, and it also sounds like it's ''group effort'' among the offensive staff to some degree. Either way, this my team so I'll be dialed in.

Any rational fan KNEW Sam was a ''talent'' upgrade at the QB spot, not an actual ''upgrade'' at the QB position. Whether it was ego, arrogance, or pride someone or a group in this building thought they had the remedy, it's not just throw based on progressions in the NFL, it's not that simple, and I think they are starting to realize the QB can't just be ''one of the 53''. The QB needs to be able to stand at the forefront and lead the 53, that is modern football, you can't hide behind a good defense / run game, especially with a limited OL.

Some of the OL woes seem ''fixable'' in the sense of better than what we've been fielding. Christensen is the most athletic guy we have, yet we keep playing him inside, why? Daley, is 330 lbs, versus Brady at around 303 lbs, why not go... Christensen / Daley as the LT & LG combo, a 3rd rounder over a former 6th rounder?

Is it the Saints....then we have room to make fun of it.

If you think Cam is the issue after 3 weeks of practice playing behind: LT - Daley - 6th Round Pick // 3rd string LT LG - Mike Jordan - 4th Round Pick // Waiver signee // Penalty waiting to happen C - Pat Elflein - Former 2nd turned JAG // Journeyman // 2nd String C RG - John Miller to UDFA Trent Scott former 3rd string LT RT - Moton - Only solid to good O-Lineman we have Then you just can't see it, Mahomes looked PEDESTRIAN in the Superbowl when their OL was down to backups that were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string with Remmers. This is the NFL, you cannot ignore the OL, and they (KC) attacked it this past off-season. This staff went about things backwards by starting with an ALL DEFENSIVE DRAFT -- then selecting only ONE pre-day three OL pick (Christenesen). I can't fault FA acquisitions due to what was available. You can't run, or throw without sustained blocks, and this OL just can't do it.

See KC OL in the SB with all backups, that's how we operate for the season.

Not at fugging all, Reddick talking about the defense, he don't have enough clout to call out anyone on offense. You should have already seen his remarks when asked about Darnold. The offense overall did what t was supposed to, that HEAVILY INVESTED IN DEFENSE POOED THE BED AT HOME, AGAIN. See MIN in OT.

Can't even be mad at this post.

I'm a accept this as ignorance, anyone watch could see it was 2 deep damn near all game. You judge the arm by velocity, and accuracy, and it was ALL there.

Just one of those days right now.

Burns and Reddick are OLBs, its when we play the run from nickel personnel that is the issue. Same thing vs Dallas, that's what you're seeing unfold.

Gotta love that LB'er selection in the 1st round (Jamin Davis) -- signed Fitzpatrick, and rolled with Heinecke, and Allen. Like they were really trying to play with that for 2021, they could've traded up for Fields (11) or Jones (15) -- instead they stand pat at 19 and take a LB'er. Whether Hurney was the GM or not, the influence alongside Rivera was there.

To be fair, Rhule tried that the ''QB is just apart of this'' approach as well, and this is where it led us. All off-season he was selling that ''Sam just needs to focus on his job, and be one of the guys''. This isn't college (Rhule) and it's not 1985 (Ron), on any good to great NFL team, the QB is NOT just one of the 53, and in MOST cases the QB usurps the coach from a fan / business perspective because coaches outside a handful (Belichek, Tomlin, Carroll) are more replaceable than a franchise QB. No one came to Patriots games to see Bill, they came to see Tom, in the NFL, the QB is the franchise, it's why they're called franchise QB's and make the money that they do. They allow you to win, and they allow the owners and the NFL to make money consistently. When Cam has to come back and call out the fan base you know what it was becoming, because I'll tell you right now, I wasn't going to go to any games this season, and this off-season the Darnold move did nothing for me as I knew that poo was not going to be sustained because he sucks. Good >> Great QBs can still show what they have in less than ideal environments, there's nothing about Sam that suggested anything other than ''he has arm talent''.

Let's recap the last QB's to win superbowls... Mahomes Brady Russell And the one off of ''Foles'' who's team isn't in that position without Wentz who was set to be MVP that year I don't want to here that crap about a ''QB not being the offense'' you need a star + caliber talent at that position to have sustained success, any franchise with sustained success has a star + QB and competent, modern coaching. From 2011 - 2019 we had the star + QB.

Two things, incompetence in understanding that you can't rely on one guy, and incompetence in offensive team building. It's common sense that you need to do a few things when you have a franchise caliber QB, surround him with talent / OL. And draft / sign a back up with a similar skill set. In all of Cam's time here we never really had a physical comp as a back up (Jimmy Clausen / Derek Anderson / Kyle Allen / Will Grier / Taylor Heinecke) -- You could argue Joe Webb, but he was 3rd on the DC and used as ST'er / emergency WR & QB; he was never a direct back up. We could have taken late fliers on guys like Tyree Jackson, Logan Thomas and even Terrell Pryor -- all of these guys were late round picks, and Pryor was a 3rd. If you look at what BAL has done, they added weapons, and had an OL, and Huntley / RGIII (though older) was a physical comp to Lamar this way you can run he same offense, versus it being VASTLY different if an injury to the starter occurs.

Sam Darnold...

He's been ''quiet'' because he has not been aske to play a primary box roll where he has to make tackles left and right. Considering he is playing a primary roll and it seems ''quiet'' it's because he's played good coverage and has not been giving up big plays, we also have a really good front 7 and that is limiting guys from getting to the 3rd level of the defense where he's been more this year. I have seen him fly in and make tackles, and also prevent bigger gains when guys have gotten past the 2nd level. You'd find me hard pressed to say he's not having a good season, he just doesn't have to do as much as last season since we are improved at the LB position.

Donte' was coming up in run support as a rookie, go back and look, his issue was consistency.

If it's a one off thing due to pint up energy, and a desire to ''BE BACK'' I'm all for it for that ONE instance, I don't think I've ever seen Cam get a penalty on a TD aside from when he dropped to the knee to do the guitar back in 2011, and at the time there was a celebration rule that did not allow your knee to touch the ground.

After the world wind that was -- Cam Signing, the social media blitz, and a convincing win versus Arizona, ''here we are'' at .500 with seven games left in the season. It was reported that Cam would be getting the lions share of reps, and this will continue as they try to get him acclimated and up to speed as quick as possible, odds are we will still see a good bit of PJ, at least for the next couple of games even with Cam as the ''starter''. With that in mind let's look at the upcoming schedule and gauge our thoughts and expectations: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 11/21 - WFT - I think we can win this game, we have the secondary to line up versus WFT and I think we will be all over Heinecke with the rush. I am curious to see the game-plan we put together on offense, but overall I think we're much more talented. 11/28 - MIA - Whether it's Tua, or Jacoby, I'm not impressed, this IMO is when Cam will start to be in some form of rhythm his 3rd game back with just shy of a month under his belt. For those that thought our OL was bad, these guys TRADED for Greg Little, that tells you all you need to know. Record at this juncture - 7-5 12/5 - Bye Week -- is this not the best time for a bye with the way this season has played out? A week off, and more time to get deeper into the PB for Cam, and a nice break to get guys fresh as we head into the final stretch, ''new energy''. 12/12 - ATL - We get ATL at home after the bye, without Ridley, and them being on the road I believe we are able to secure this win, as special as Pitts is their running game is average, and with no other targets we smother them once more. Record at this juncture - 8-5 12/19 - BUF - At three games over .500, I feel this is a game that we could possibly lose, on the road in Buffalo, my heart says we win, but my head says we lose a close one, BUT look the part of a team fighting for a playoff spot. Record at this juncture - 8-6 12/26 - TB - To me this may be the MOST important game, if we win this game, we guarantee ourselves a winning record, and LIKLEY secure a playoff berth, at home, and I will bein attendance, and over a month of Cam being with the team; we win this game #KeepPounding Record at this juncture - 9-6 1/2 - NO - I think by this point NO will be out of contention, I think they made a mistake rolling with Siemian and not going after Cam (I'm grateful), we win in NO in convincing fashion. Record at this juncture - 10-6 1/9 - TB - This is a bit of a toss up as TB could be playing for playoff seeding, I think we return to earth a bit this week, and lose a close game on the road. Final Record - 10-7 _____________________________________________________________________ There you have it, those are my extremely casual thoughts on how the next seven games will play out, how do you think it will go down?

I think a trade even with incentive is unlikely, everyone saw how bad of a QB Sam has been over the past 4 years. This will simply go down as a horrible decision, we will likely take the lump on next years cap and move on. We're estimated to have -- 36M in cap going into the 2022 off-season -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/2022/ and 135M in 2023 -- https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/2023/ If Sumir earns his money which I am sure he has, I think we could bee in line for some creative contract structures for the players we extend similar to how Robbie's initial 20M / 2yr deal was split (8M / 12M). Extending / restructuring Shaq's contract would go a long way, there's not many cuts that would make sense (Fox / Bouye) in relation to the cap savings.