MasterAwesome

While I agree with your assertion about the drastic differences between the two (I've lived in both), I don't think that was motivated by Tepper believing that they're basically the same. It's kinda just Business 101 to expand your reach and appeal to a broader audience. I think that was just his attempt to do that. I've been in Greenville SC for ~5 years now and I barely see any support for the Panthers. I think the simplest explanation was that he was probably just trying to stir up interest in some South Carolinians like "hey this is your team too". Also, there can certainly be some validity (and dare I say commendation) in trying to find some uniting entity to bring two very different groups together. That's more just a general sentiment though, I'm not saying I think he was motivated by some virtuous attempt at unifying the two Carolinas...definitely more plausible that it was motivated by $$$$$.

Yeah but like...Snow was the linebackers coach of the 0-16 Detroit Lions so it would logically follow that he would suck as a DC. -An actual argument I read here multiple times after the hiring.

Woahhhh....you mean the omniscient Huddle expert commentators got something wrong all this time?

That would have been just as much of a wasted pick considering zero kickers were taken after Fletcher. We could have still gone after any bum undrafted kicker.

Yeah you can evaluate individual coaching decisions. The problem is when you blanketly use a coach's judgment as an indictment on the player, i.e. Rhule didn't put Santoso in to attempt a 50-yard FG...ergo Santoso sucks, has a weak leg, etc. So many people here did the same with Rivera back when he didn't trot out Gano for any 50+ yard FGs. They assumed that meant Gano has a weak leg when clearly that isn't the case. Santoso is very much unproven one way or the other, so to use Rhule's judgment call not to let him kick the FG as evidence that Santoso sucks is blindly putting faith in Rhule's judgment.

Yeah which is why I catered my argument to our team so we could have a bit more nuanced of a discussion rather than appealing to conventional wisdom. We do have a pass rush so an elite CB is going to accomplish a lot. We don't have a good interior o-line so an elite LT is not going to accomplish as much.

You guys need to be a bit more consistent. Rhule choosing to play Elflein/Daley over Christensen/Brown = Rhule is being dumb, why isn't he playing our best two guards. Rhule choosing to forego a 50-yard FG = our kicker sucks and Rhule knows it. Do you trust Rhule's judgment or not?

If your success largely hinges on your quarterback play, then you have to acknowledge that an elite CB significantly hinders the success of the opposing QB which is equally important to winning football. Otherwise you're just hoping to win shootouts every week. I mean it really just boils down to having a well-oiled offense vs. a shutdown defense. A shutdown CB is as vital to your defense as a shutdown OT is to your offense. Also an elite LT is obviously super important but the returns are less realized when you have other major holes in your o-line, otherwise you're just getting exploited elsewhere (like up the middle for us). If an LT was the missing piece for us then yeah maybe Jalen Ramsey would be having to cover for 5+ seconds out there. That being said, same goes for CB...but I would argue Horn kinda was the missing piece for our defense to a much larger degree than Slater would be the missing piece for our o-line. Finding an LT would have gone a long way towards solidifying our o-line but I think that's something we would have benefited from more in the next couple seasons after one or two more drafts/FAs, to fill our other o-line voids. All things equal, I'd probably still take an elite LT over an elite CB just due to the conceptual risk mitigation of injury to your QB. I just don't think it's the slam-dunk obvious choice that people make it out to be.

I might care more if Horn didn’t just dominate his own matchup(s) yesterday.

You guys know who was tied for 3rd worst in XP% last season? I'll give you a hint...he's the guy everyone cries about at least 27 times a year since he was poached from our practice squad.

This dude has played like 17 positions since we signed him last season...and not from a "throw poo against the wall" place of desperation like with a Rashaan Gaulden. The kid is a baller...sucks.

Hell, even Ed Dickson catches that pass lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_no5YnIrAb4

Don't forget his coverage on that Shaq interception too...absolute blanket coverage and was in position to intercept that ball had it gotten by Shaq.

That reminds me, I was pleasantly surprised they didn't throw a flag on that Derrick Brown sack for "putting his weight on the QB" or whatever. Not that I think it was warranted, but that awful addition to the roughing the passer penalty has been used ridiculously these past couple seasons, including at least once or twice against us. Especially since Wilson looked visibly hurt after that. Maybe he's not old enough to get that call yet lol.

Technically he wasn't missed in our search, we actually signed him back in March but released him in May lol. But either way, he didn't even attempt a FG or XP so it's too soon to say whether we missed out on anything. His punts were pretty respectable for a placekicker but we have one of the best punters in the league. TBD whether he can actually kick balls through the uprights.