Khyber53

No offense to Sam, but Jake was a winner out of the gate as a starting QB. Pedigree be damned. Now if Sam can come out and be Jake 2.0, I'll sing his praises. Or if he can live up to his earlier promise, that'll be big, too. There's a lot of pressure on Sam right now. Here's hoping that he handles it well.

Hoping he goes easier on rookies as an exec than he did as a player.

Trying to not get over optimistic about this season, but honestly, I like that set up. Sounds better than most of what we've fielded for a decade.

I'm looking forward to that. Should spice things up and he's proven to have broadcasting chops.

I think Jackson needs the sideline to help him, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just his strength is speed more than scheme. I think this trio might work well for us, really well. If we can get success from our safeties (and Chinn is pretty much going to scare some receivers) then we're going to see a major shift in our win-loss ratio. If we can get more aggressive in the front seven, then it will be great.

Sure, nothing terrible or odd about this. He didn't join the coaching staff, didn't come out of retirement to play for WTF. Just spoke to some linebackers during OTAs.

So, I guess we throw Brady Christensen into the practice squad or are we just cutting him? Did I miss something that the great minds at CBS caught?

People are talking about O-lines. 2003 our O-line included: Brezinski, Donnalley, Gross, James, Mitchell, Nelson, Reyes, Steussie, Willig. Gross, Reyes and Mitchell were good (Gross would become fantastic over time). Donnalley was okay and well, the rest weren't going to win any rewards from anything short of the Turnstile Manufacturers' Association. 2015 our O-line included: Kalil, Norwell, Oher, Remmers, Scott, Turner, Velasco and Williams. Kalil the greater and Norwell were good. The rest, well, just look up the comments about them on here. You might be surprised how good our current o-line will be in comparison.

No one was scared of our defense then, other teams scored on us quite a bit, leading to tons of nail-biters and the Cardiac Cats moniker. We literally just out gritted other teams and never gave up. Could be a similar situation.

We were one kick away from winning the Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme and a team of nobodies and castoffs. The odds aren't important. We can do this.

Honestly, Ian gets to keep his job if just one person ahead of him screws up badly or gets injured. Smart guy with skills would work hard for a better chance than that. Thomas seems to have been happy sitting on the bench being the understudy's understudy. Third stringer is a pretty good job if you can hold onto it, compared to what most folks have to do for a living.

I preached this during the season but folks just wouldn't have it. Two of those missed FGs were at record or near record distances. One was a 54-yarder which is a distance almost all kickers miss at about 33% of the time. One defensive stop or one more first down on our part would have changed those situations massively and won us those games... things Slye had no control over. Those missed PATs, though... yeah, that can't happen.

Marvel really keeps raising the bar. This and WandaVision should be the big lead ups into Doctor Strange 2, and also Ant-Man/Wasp Quantumania.

That's what my research had shown me, too. I know what I saw on the field, but the stats back up my view that he just wasn't tearing it up out there. Got some success, got covered, just stayed under the blanket. Samuel would have been a much, much better keep, but what do you do? Anderson's future really is in his own hands now, unless he hit his peak already.

Oh, I agree about Teddy, no question there. But if you watch the tape, it wasn't like Robbie was wide open in the end zone much either. Bad recipe all around.

That's pretty much what I was saying. And the coaching staff and management saw how he played late in the season. Ride out that pretty decent contract Robbie. Show up, do your work, have a good to great year and the world is your oyster. Go diva or go lazy and the marketplace becomes a tough one for you.

Not all TD catches have to be inside the five yard line. Sometimes a receiver has to work at it, like Moore and Samuel did. And it's hard for a nervous QB to throw to a guy who can't/won't break out of coverage. Truth be told, last year was the first 16 game season Robbie had played in his career. Maybe he was tired.

Slye has been okay. Has the leg to make the record breaking kick, distance-wise. If we keep him, okay. If he loses out in camp competition, okay. Right now, it's just not getting me worried or excited either way. If we cut him here, he'll find another home. There are a lot of worse kickers out there circling for roster spots, he'd move to the front of the line pretty quick.

Said it before and I'll say it again, Robbie is a meathead. He can run and catch, but he makes stupid decisions off the field and careerwise. Rhule gave him an opportunity here and he made the most of it. Honestly, though, if you look at the stats (or just watched the games) Robbie's production tailed off last season after week 5 (Falcons) and there were games he barely showed up on the stats sheet, generally when the opponent had a good to great corner to put on him. Sure, his overall performance netted over 1,000 yards, but the lion's share of that work was by week 5. And when it came to scoring, Teddy frikkin' Bridgewater rushed for more TDs that Anderson netted. By the end of the season, Anderson wasn't the WR1 or the second choice on passing downs. He was a third choice at best when Mike Davis had to stay in and block. If Anderson's agent is telling him to push for a new contract or a trade, it's probably because he senses that the performance drop off could be even more dramatic going into 2021 and Anderson might find himself in the mix of middling skilled receivers trying to find a spot on a team. And don't get me started on his "veteran presence" credentials. If Anderson is smart, he shows up soon, plays his heart out with the idea that anything less than 700 yards and 5 TDs won't get him a guaranteed spot on the next season's team. And if he takes a pot shot tweet at the new QB during the season, then all bets are off. NFL careers are way too short for a marginal starter to just blow off OTAs.

Unless all the other soccer team owners get domes...

Honestly, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid yet. It's going to take a winning season and probably the playoffs before I can say Rhule is the guy (and Fitterer, too). It all comes down to wins. After last season, we could see Rhule and Co. were different, but really no better in the record book. I know, I know, inherited the team and still had Hurney around. Didn't have CMC. Let's call it a Mulligan, even though they don't give you those in football. The majority of head coaches that come over from the college ranks don't successfully make the transition the first time around. That's a reality. Some supposedly great ones moved to the NFL and just laid massive eggs. They looked great in the off season, built the teams they wanted and then had their butt handed to them. As much as I like Rhule, and I really do, he's got that big hurdle to clear and last season he just hit a wall and could not get his team to win games. And then his coordinators. Joe Brady was and is hailed as an offensive genius. Well, like in real life, it's easier to be a genius and get ahead in school than it is in the real world. So far, well, we piled up yardage but couldn't seal the deal. A timid QB plus little redzone/two-minute drill practice might do that to a team... And Phil Snow, the grizzled old college defensive coach that could whip that team of lackluster players into gritty, disciplined stalwarts? He fielded the least aggressive defense I've ever seen from the Panthers (and I've watched them since Day 1) for 15 of the 16 games last season. In one game, against a flailing, wounded Lions team, Snow turned the aggression up to 10 and we got a shut out and a win. In all the others ... they played like old ladies and there were numerous games where the opposition never had to punt. That isn't going to suffice. I want, I really want this to work out. I want Rhule to be the genius coach with the smartest plan and best coordinators. I want them to not just live up to the hype but to create a new paradigm in the league on how to build a team. I'm not demanding a dynasty, but I want to see someone come in and literally run the tables in the NFCSouth for the next ten years. And lengthy contract or not, if we have another year like last one (or heaven forbid worse) then I think the crowd is going to start calling for blood. On paper, we've improved. In coach speak, we've improved. In fanbase optimism, we've improved. None of that stuff is real, though. All that matters are wins and losses. We've got to improve that before I can believe.

Good write up, @saX man. Honestly, this is the best set up at TE that we've had in a while and I had been thinking the new staff just wasn't interested in the position. Was I ever wrong! We still don't know how these guys will do out there, but they give good reasons for optimism. A good TE combo like that makes things easier on both the line and the WR group. Let's hope it pans out that way.

And a lot of folks have watched their team rattle apart in recent years. They are still kind of a contender thanks to Wilson, but let's face it they've become a one man show.

Big ol' paychecks just ruin some folks.