Khyber53

And half the HCs in the NFL lost last weekend. Only only 50% won.

Thanks for making the original post. I appreciate what you're trying to do. We've been through periods of suck before, just none that have been as prolonged or seemingly futile as this one. This too shall pass. Eventually. Even if Bryce can't.

You ain't wrong!

Ding ding ding! We have a winner here! Exactly the problem. Big men playing tackle can only backpedal for so long at such a speed. If you are already in shotgun, and THEN begin backpedaling, you are going to outrun where your tackles can effectively block to AND put yourself right in the lane where a defensive end can just jet straight back. Step forward, let the tackles send the blockers back and around you. He doesn't trust his line, doesn't understand the physics and is trying, more than anything, to get enough distance to see the field. None of this works in our team's favor and very little of it is fixable. Once upon a time I wanted us to draft Timmy Chang, the guy was a touchdown throwing machine for Hawai'i. We didn't take him, no one did. Because Timmy was about Bryce's size. I thought it was unfair and stupid to pass up on his skills because of that. I was wrong. So very wrong. Timmy is now the HC at Hawai'i and has a good program there. Bryce should take note.

He couldn't see over them. You could tell by watching him.

I just know what I'm seeing now. There ain't no fight in the whole team. And if you're looking for a QB to put that back in them, then we don't have that guy. Not at all. Do we have a coach that can do it? Not sure. He needs to find it.

Great. The Harbaughs both coach their teams play hardnosed, punch them in the mouth football (as the game is meant to be played.) And we're fielding 53 Jimmy Claussens out there. Cue the school girl screams and the battle cry of "not in the face, not in the face." We've been on a downward toughness trajectory since Tepper came around and we're pretty much to the point where I'm not sure we've got the stones to make a decent 7th-8th grade flag football team, much less a pro one.

It has everything to do with giving up before halftime. They'd whipped us within the first five minutes of the game and just proceeded to do whatever they wanted to to us. We knuckled under sooo fast. Just no grit, none at all.

"Loser" Rivera ball was a damn sight better than what we've had since we jettisoned him. We have had the softest, wimpiest team in the league since. Not saying bring Rivera back, but we need someone who can teach a team to push the other guys around, not just hand over their lunch and girlfriends by midway through the first quarter.

We've been rebuilding since before Tepper arrived. He arrived and wanted to turn us into the new Pittsburgh. He turned us into the old Cleveland. If we'd have tried to rebuild the Panthers as the Panthers, we might have had some success. And here we sit with another year of frustration trying to assuage ourselves by dreaming over the #1 pick next season. What a bunch of chumps we are.

Well, that wasn't much fun while it lasted.

I chirped on it all last season: our defense was nowhere near as good as people said. They pointed to some stats but didn't watch the games. Eviro being held onto was a head scratcher for me. I still don't like the 3-4, but our opponents seem to. And lastly, this team still shows no grit.

Shaq Thompson was doing his job, but honestly the other three LBs were nearly non-existent. He had 4 tackles, 6 assists and two TFLs, and that doesn't tell half the story. Clowney, got some pressures, sort of, but he gave out early a lot of times. The other two guys... never heard their names. The biggest problem isn't coaching or even a single player. It's the whole methodology of this team. Ever since Tepper bought the franchise we, or he, has been hell bent on playing a 3-4 defense. And it just doesn't work against our opponents. More tellingly, our scouting team just cannot seem to get the right parts to make it work. Stop. Scrap the thing and go back to a stout 4-3 and start looking for the next Luke-like MLB (if there will ever be one) to draft before Shaq's time on the field runs out. And on offense? Stop with the sunk funds idiocy. What we invested in Young was lost. What we invested in even tinier Sanders was lost. Let them go. Move on, take the cap hit, and start the eff over.

The best thing right now for Canales' career is to bench Bryce and say, "he just isn't going to make it. Let's move on. We tried."

It's just not going to work. You could add 15 pounds of pure muscle to him and it wouldn't add an inch of height. He can't see past his line, he can't see past the defenders, he doesn't run fast enough to be a scrambling threat. He's only iffy in accuracy when he can see. In all honesty, from this point on he should be the best paid player on our practice squad. If someone wants to snag him away from us and teach him up, go for it. We've got to move on.

I was a chump.

I'm just speechless. On the one hand, our defense held them to three field goals. On the other hand, the Saints also managed to score three touchdowns. In the first fuging half. First play from scrimmage and PeeWee throws and INT. And then it only marginally improves until the last drive of the half where we score a mercy FG to a Saints team that just wants to go in at half time and celebrate. Bench Bryce. It would be a mercy to the kid. This isn't going to ever work out with him. In the meantime, Sam Frikkin' Darnold is 15/17 181 yards and 2 TD. Sam Darnold.

I try to believe every year at the start of the season, at the start of every game. There's something different about the vibe this time around. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. I believe we will be and it starts with New Orleans.

I have no idea how things are going to go but I am soooo looking forward to this game.

I'm calling it an old school NFCSouth worst to first move. We win a gritty first game, Bryce gets knocked around a bit but toughs it out and gets some scores and a lot of confidence. We lean heavy on the run game and two tight end sets throughout the fall, winning six games by mid-November. Cold weather sinks in quick and New Orleans and Atlanta struggle away from home, sinking their chances by Dec. 1 to make a push. Canales is in the running for division lead with his old team the Bucs, while Baker Mayfield is in the running with his old team as well. Somehow, but the end of the season, we string together a 9-8 season and sneak in as the division leaders after home wins against the Bucs and the Falcons. The passing game is okay, but the running game between Hubbard and Sanders just punishes opponents early on and gives the team an identity. Jonathan Brooks is eased into the schedule in late October and is the lead back by the middle of November. He proves to be the perfect addition to the team, carrying on the punishing rushing attack and becoming a revelation as a pass catcher out of the back field. Defensively, we perform slightly better as the run-heavy attack provides them with more time on the bench than the previous year and long fields to work with. A shaky secondary gels by the beginning of October into something respectable, but not great. Brown gains recognition as a mauling line breaker up front and Clowney shows he still has some in the tank, although his production falls off late in the season, still posting nine sacks on the year. We won't make it past the first round in the playoffs, but we'll make it back and we will be looking down the road at a solid team.

I just want to hear Neil Diamond sing "Sweet Caroline" at the end of Panthers games and hear the crowd singing happily along. Is it too much to ask for nine or ten of those this year? We're owed it. Neil deserves it.

I just don't know. I just don't know. This is really a tune in and find out moment.

That's not a train, that's a ship of fools.

I sure hope we get to see that they're right.

There are 32 teams in the NFL. Shaq Thompson would be a starting linebacker on all 32 of them. Right now, and for the last couple of seasons (and sadly last year was cut very short), he directs traffic in our defensive scheme. He's excellent at it. Sadly, he doesn't get much credit from our fan base because, well, Carolina has consistently had THE best linebackers in the game for 4-3 defensive schemes since the early 2000s. Honestly, probably back to their start when you consider the Hall of Famers that have lined up for us back then. But in recent memory alone, Shaq has been compared to Luke and Thomas Davis. Those were his teachers, his team mates and they left mighty big shoes. Luke will go down as the greatest linebacker to play the game. It is a tragedy that injuries cut his career short. TD, on the other hand, is the template for recuperating and rehabbing athletic injuries -- the man had the knees of Wolverine, and the on-field demeanor to match. Shaq has been excellent for us for years, but he is probably nearing the end of his playing days, just because of his longevity. Quit downplaying his importance. He's not in the dark, he's just been standing in the shadows of giants.