Carl Spackler

"The Rams offered us their first-round pick for 42 consecutive years and we turned it down *crying emoji*"

eventually people will tell their kids the Panthers turned down 9 first-round picks for Brian Burns. Every couple months, the number increases

Ultimately it comes down to winning the close games. That and player development/buy-in.

I hope that’s still the burning OL question and not, “what do you do at LT?”

8-9 wins would be a dream for sure. I think this DL lineup, other than Brown, is a mid-level USFL lineup. The linebackers have speed and clearly this is a finesse defense, but it’s not unreasonable to think there’s gonna be some 150-yard rushing performances at their expense. And I get that you can’t fill every hole every offseason, but I still, yet again, feel underwhelmed with Fitterer’s overall performance.

Eschewing defensive linemen in favor of all the tight ends is a Rhulean decision. Need to add a NT.

Good players but a ton of holes at different positions. Shaky roster makeup at best this year.

I’m not a Corral hater. I like the dude and want him to do well. I think he was terrible in the first preseason game (not all on him though) but he’s gotten a bit better since.

I work in sports marketing and I met Mike a year or two ago at an event we were holding. He was super nice (goes by "Mike," not "Michael") and I came away liking the dude and hoping he did well. The coaches sure had a lot of patience with him this preseason and gave him every opportunity to not struggle, but at this point in his career he's likely USFL-bound. Still, the dude made some money in the NFL and did something few offensive linemen can ever say they did (scored a touchdown in a game).

welcome to politics

bro got traded here on his birthday

Amare Barno will end up taking a chunk of YGM's reps

CJ Henderson, if he's not cut, will occupy a weekly space in the defensive bottom 5

I’m pretty pleased with Chandler Zavala, all things considered. It’s the other NC State alumnus on the OL who’s been a major letdown.

BOOM.

He got a good number of reps in the first two games. That was fine. The purpose of this third preseason game exercise is to lead a touchdown drive in a game that doesn't matter. So, here's hoping (actually hoping) it happens.

Yes it does. He said I didn't provide any reason to sit him out, and I did just that.

"Wishful thinking" is the attribution of reality to what one wishes to be true. Saying something COULD happen that's bad, is not wishful thinking in the absolute fuging least -- especially when it's something no one here wants. What our buddy Ger is doing, however, is called "reality denial," which is defined as "A subconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge (or rationalization of) unwanted or unpleasant facts, realities, thoughts, or feelings."

Answer: neither!

Here’s a dose of reality: - Under pressure 28.6% of dropbacks Week 1 - Under pressure 43% of dropbacks Week 2 The offensive line can’t protect him. But yeah, doing the same thing again in another game that doesn’t count is super smart.

Saying the starting QB can get injured in a meaningless preseason game is not an opinion.

Listen, I respect the endless, blind optimism that you and, more especially, @TheCasillas, espouses with every post. I don't know that he's on the Panthers' PR team -- I just know that he's even more optimistic than the most biased content they could possibly produce. And that's great. But because a few teams do something, that doesn't make it smart. It means they're also opening themselves up to a major risk.

I distinctively recall breaking down, one-by-one, the reasons why it made no sense to do that. The fact that you don't like what I said doesn't, by default, disprove a thing.

What makes the last preseason game so meaningful to you?