Navy_football

5 minutes ago, Icege said:

I wonder how much of that is a combination of swapping out over half of the starters from last season and one less week of preseason for teams to get on the same page. We usually see defenses ahead of offenses at the beginning of the season, so the defense starting slow is a concern.

It was particularly frustrating seeing guys that have been in the system for a year or longer failing to execute. I like Nick Scott as a person and appreciate his ability to communicate the scheme to the others, but Lathan Ransom has so much more upside.

Speaking of Ransom, I'm hoping between today and tomorrow to review all of the rookies on defense since they didn't have many snaps to begin with.

They did seem to improve as the game progressed though. I think Derrick Brown needed time to get back up to speed. B. Brown needed to get pissed off too. Confident they'll be better this Sunday. Nick Scott just doesn't move the needle. Ransom can at least give you what he gives you. At least.

6 hours ago, Icege said:

You know... I was going to try and focus an all-22 review thread on some of the "major" moments during the game on offense but seeing as how it feels like a lot of the more vocal fans would prefer reaffirming their feelings I'm wondering if focusing on the defense instead would provide better value.

Do your thing Ice. l've realized that some huddlers are just gonna complain. That's their schtick. I didn't watch the game live (getting too old to let football monopolize my Sundays), so I'll take a look too. 

Yeah... One bad game for Bryce meaning he's not a pro and should be replaced, after a strong finish to last season is a little premature. But the clock has started for sure. If anything, we've seen that he needs to do something to have a better start to the season. That is not sustainable. 

Truth. The team ain't ready. The defense ain't ready. Derrick Brown didn't even look good. Just because you throw a lot of resources into a position group doesn't mean you've magically fixed it. And saying the team is using resources to make a specific QB look serviceable is insane to me. If they're using draft picks at a position, it means they didn't have good players at that position. If they're using free agency to get good players at a position, it means they didn't have good players at that position. It IS NOT to make the QB look serviceable. It's to make the TEAM look serviceable. Football isn't a sport where money necessarily fixes the problem either. I remember the Panthers spent a lot of money on the brother of another olineman, and that was a complete disaster. Paid a lot of money to a HC that was fired half way through his first season and no other team hired him, even though there has been unusually high HC turnover in the NFL. Throwing high draft picks at a position doesn't mean you fixed the problem either. Remember Kelvin Benjamin and Funchess with Cam? Mingo, Marshall...

I think after week 4 we'll have a better idea of what we have. This is an extremely young and new group of receivers. The only receiver out there that had ever caught a pass from BY last Sunday was XL. And he wasn't exactly in prime form. I guess if you want to count J. Sanders and Tremble, then... Ok. 

6 hours ago, Tr3ach said:

Honestly the timing stuff was so consistently bad it seemed intentional.   It was the same every single play.  Casual huddle, break at 15 seconds, get lined up with 7 seconds, read the defense, then try to put the players in motion with 3 seconds, snap the ball at 0 seconds.   It was the same timing basically every single snap of the game besides a few hurry up plays that actually worked and had some rhythm.  It was so consistent that it crossed my mind that the last second shifts and motions might have been intentional to confuse the defense or something,  but all it did was ruin our timing and throw everything off.

Bryce isn't gonna lean on his athleticism to make himself right. He needs presnap reads and protection adjustments. This team is really young/inexperienced. 

Bryce played really bad in my opinion. Timing was off everywhere. Even screens. Not sure watching the jumbotron during a commercial break was the reason. That's kinda reaching. 

18 minutes ago, Stuart Smith said:

I have been impressed with the broadcast crew for this game. I really did not know what to expect, but I thought they worked well together. I am thoroughly impressed with Cam Newton in his role. I had no idea he was as well spoken as what I saw tonight. 

Cam absolutely killed it tonight. No questions. The life of the party!

He's gotta score there. Why try to cut back? Just power your way into the endzone!

4 hours ago, frankw said:

Vinegar based with classic pulled pork is excellent.

Mustard sauce isn't for everyone for sure. I can understand why some want no parts of it. But it really depends on the meat you are pairing it with and what kind someone is trying. They are by no means all created equal. There's one brand in particular that I like but now you have to order direct from them and it's fairly pricey.

Grilled pork. Mustard based BBQ is for pork. You can put it on chicken too, but it's not for hot dogs and hamburgers. 

17 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

That's probably the only time Nakamura could get captured in the same frame as Julio. Dude was super duper mega ass.

Yeah but at least he could judo flip you if he caught you lacking.

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

He sucks for sure, but...

Could you imagine Nick Scott trying to cover prime Julio? I'd probably place my bets on Haruki. 

BY better not throw a pick on his first pass again. That ish is getting old. See the guy open before you throw it - at least for the first completion. Fug anticipation with new receivers. See him open, then fire a strike. 

8 minutes ago, CRA said:

How about 2 legit good games in a row? I still think his post season benching is romanticized and overstated….

I mean his turnaround was amazing.  But that had more to do with how bad he was than how good he actually became.  
 

 

Agree. Be more consistent. But he did have pretty good games consecutively against the Chiefs and Bucs. And not bad against a very good Eagles defense the next game. Good enough to win but...

BY needs to be more consistent and continue to make big plays in big moments. Like take over a couple of series a game, particularly at the end. If he can't become that, then they should be looking for his replacement. 

You can not blame a QB for losses with the worst oline/receiver/coaching combination this team has ever had - in his rookie season at that. And then a below average receiving group to go with the worst defense in NFL history his second season. I don't understand. QBs aren't one man teams. It takes a team to win games. 11 on offense, 11 on defense, 11 on special teams, an OC, a DC and a HC. Let's have more than one play of 25+ yards of YAC in a season before condemning the QB for not breaking 300 yards passing a game. Perfectly acceptable to have high expectations but let's not be completely unrealistic.

1 hour ago, frankw said:

Honestly I am past the point of hearing complaints about the pieces around him. We have one of the four most expensive OL's in the entire league. We've drafted back to back first round WR's including one 8th overall for the first time in 30 years. It is not completely ideal or perfect. But nothing is or ever will be here. Just go out there and do the damn thing and whatever happens is what happens. If he struggles we draft another QB and let them duke it out in camp next year.

I agree the coaches are going into the season with this group, so he has to make the best of it.

My post was about when BY returned last year. Easily the worst receiving group in the NFL. Easily. So the fact that they were 30th in passing isn't far fetched. The plan was for Thielen and Johnson to lead the group, not two rookie WRs and a rookie TE. 

On 8/30/2025 at 9:35 AM, frankw said:

Even with the progress last year we had the 30th passing offense and the 32nd passing offense before that.

We're hopeful. That's about the best anyone can say.

Frank? When he came back his targets were XL, Coker, Moore, Tremble, Mingo and Jatavion Sanders. His major upgrade was Thielen when they played KC in his 4th game back. No knock on any of them. They were all great as role players, with potential for the young guys to be good eventually. But last year they all would have been the 3rd or 4th options on most every other team in the NFL.

On 8/28/2025 at 11:14 AM, LinvilleGorge said:

That dates back to my college days and their turn toward "idiots screaming the dumbest hot takes at each other" programming. ESPN was a helluva lot better when it was basically just live sports and a neverending cycle of SportsCenter. My dorm TV was pretty much on ESPN 24/7 back then and then came the hot take bullshit.

Same. My tv stayed on ESPN ALL DAY LONG. Stuart Scott and Rich Eisen changed the game! Chris Berman was a one man gang especially with football and baseball! Now the announcers are a heck of a lot louder and prettier, but not nearly as entertaining. I just can't do it.

2 hours ago, BlazeCarolina said:

I don't know that anyone is hating on Bryce.  I would think we all want him to put it together.

I just have to ask though...did you watch our preseason games?  We have plenty of reasons to be concerned.

To the OP's point, my preseason concerns aren't from BY. Run defense without D. Brown, pass rush, receivers playing like they're young, and play calling. Still hopeful because Dave and Evero weren't calling plays. We'll see in a week.

On 8/28/2025 at 3:14 PM, mrcompletely11 said:

There are only 3 options going into 2026 for Bryce and the panthers

1. Pick up the 5th and go from there

2.Extend him

3. Trade him and draft his replacement

 

Year 3 is absolutely make or break for him in regards to his career with the panthers.  And for the record I hope he balls out.   Starting again with a rookie qb would just be a ruthless cycle and basically starting from square 1.......again 

 

Option 1 is most likely. Even if he kills it this year, it wouldn't be prudent to rush an extension for one good season. If you have to pay him more because you waited another year, then he earned it. And that's OK. Adjust accordingly. 

On 8/28/2025 at 4:40 PM, hepcat said:

Thielen was a "dawg" like Dan Morgan likes to say. And they replaced him with puppies. 

The analytics are probably saying this is more targets for younger receivers they are hoping to develop, specifically the first round pick from 2025. The eye test is going to show a very inexperienced group of WRs that are going to have some serious growing pains, for a 3rd year QB who has not yet proven to be the guy going forward. 

It's crazy how in the literal first game of his NFL career, Cam Newton showed everyone he was a star QB and there was never any doubt about that. It almost didn't even matter who was around him, although he definitely had a serious lack of talent at WR for most of his career.

Bryce is going into his third season and there is still a ton of doubt, and who is around him is seen as crucial for him to have success. I don't like it. 

Cam had the advantage of having a very strong supporting cast his first 2 seasons. Things definitely worsened later on. But those first couple of years can kill a QB. Some never truly recover. If they do recover it takes years, and usually with another team. Trying to learn to be an NFL QB with TEs and WRs that are trying to learn too is a recipe for disaster. Imagine if Cam's rookie season was that 2014 offensive squad. Changes everything!

I said it when they moved up in 2023. This team wasn't ready for a rookie QB yet. Anyone that thinks Stroud would have been a lot better is delusional. The correct formula is to build a strong team and then you go get your rookie QB. Not the other way around. BY is going into his third season and we're still trying to put a respectable group of WRs and TEs around him. I think they have the right personnel now. Unfortunately they haven't developed into actual NFL players yet. 

This season we should expect consistency and aggressiveness from BY. Mostly for his development but also to DEVELOP his young cast.

9 hours ago, frankw said:

Doesn't sound like Thielen had much confidence in the QB room in Carolina.

But he went out of his way to talk glowingly of the rookie QB in Minnesota just two months ago.

Really? What did he say to make you think that? 

Kinda seemed to me that he's saying the same things about JJ that he said about BY when he was a Panther.

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Peppers:

We could've literally done better off the trash heap.

Look like the perfect compliment to me.

How is D. Lewis? If he's out, that left side might be a problem. 

20 minutes ago, csx said:

The comp was Brees.

I don't necessarily agree with that comp. Not saying you're wrong. Just that I don't agree with that train of thought. Bryce is more elusive than many give him credit to be. Not athletic, but elusive. I would say one of the more elusive QBs in the NFL. Like top 5. Where Lamar is way ahead of the pack. BY tends to thrive in the off schedule plays more than he does as a 5 steps and then let it rip guy. Brees got the ball to the right guy quickly. Young tends to like to buy time to allow guys to get open. That's a little bit of a flaw in my opinion. Sometimes you just have to let a guy make a play. If it's 3rd and 8, and a guy is open at 5 yards, just get him the ball and let him get the extra 3 yards. 

Bryce Young has been a tale of two QBs. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. To use stats and film prior to returning from being benched is a little disingenuous. Completely different players. Like a new BY returned. You could actually see him trying something new every week, that he was afraid to do before - and being successful at it. 

If he picks up this season where he left off, we'll have our franchise QB. And yes he was proficient against pressure. And yes he could throw the deep ball efficiently - with a couple of drops that NFL WRs shouldn't make. 

If he reverts back to the unsure and conservative Bryce from the first two games and most of his rookie season, then we'll be drafting a QB in the first round in 2026. No one knows which we'll get yet. Not even Bryce. My advice would be to stay aggressive going down field. The FO appears to be bringing in receivers that can win the 50/50 ball. That opens up routes underneath. Teams stop blitzing as much and keep a safety over the top. Now what if they had to keep two? It's a lot tougher to defend the middle of the field with LBs than Safeties. I get what they're doing. BY just has to play that game. I think he will. He did in college. 

28 minutes ago, Castavar said:

Naw, yolo that sh*t