Saca312

He showed promise but had too many lowlights. Understandable to move on. Wish him luck. I had high hopes for him. Maybe the Chiefs will bring that potential out.

Oh yeah, Brady has definitely shown great traits. Solid guy. Overall, I think the o-line will be more akin to last season. I'd like to presume the first two preseason games were an anomaly rather than the norm. Excited to see how they perform during the regular season.

An interesting video, analyzing the schematic aspect of the Panthers o-line vs the Lions. Despite some misshaps explained, seems this brings about a more optimistic perspective on the o-line than most would've taken away: Primary Takeaways: -Zavala does show potential, but did make quite a bit of mistakes. As a rookie, such is expected, but shows he needs time to grow. -Bradley Bozeman - elite center. We've got a good one. -Ickey sack, while he technically did give up, does not make sense in context. Evidently, Bryce Young takes a seven step drop in a situation that didn't seem normal for such. Either QB miscommunication or OL miscommunication likely attributes. Goes along with the coaches comments that it's preseason: they're trying out different stuff, perhaps this was one of those times. Either way, despite Ickey's subpar preseason performance, seems hard to blame when a likely error in miscommunication may be the true factor. -Ekwonu primarily had elite reps vs the Lions and looked solid. Besides the sack, seems he's rebounded nicely through the game. -Overall, the offensive line shows elite traits. Right guard is a slight issue and weakness. A much more optimistic take if they keep this up through the regular season.

Thielen TD!

Bryce looks so fugging natural out there. So excited to see his potential.

This guy is commentating? Ew.

The mismanagement of the Rhule era will take some time to get over. The Panthers did what they had to do to begin with a baseline - finally get a chance at a franchise QB. With next season comes a large amount of cap room, which I suspect the Panthers are likely to fish around for pieces to fill out depth and starters. It'll be a multi-year process to clean up the mistakes of the past regime, but I'm hopeful that they'll manage to do so.

LMAO they want the McCaffrey special. Not gonna happen.

The 2008 Lions and 2017 Browns were 4-0 preseason warriors. Guess their regular season record? Yep. 0-16. 2009 Colts were 1-3 their preseason. Their regular season record? 14-2, and went to the Superbowl. What does this mean? Preseason success does not indicate regular season success whatsoever.

While I'm pretty much on board with not making any judgments until the season starts, since schematic issues and miscommunication can be adjusted for, on 1v1 efforts it's a bit concerning to see the oline falter, especially Ekwonu. I remember someone saying that a large reason for the o-lines success last year was due to a huge emphasis on the run. By allowing the o-line to use their strength and big bodies, they were able to be successful when they did not have to pass protect as much. But when it comes to making athletic plays, the o-lines lack of such is evident when opponents use stunts and athletic maneuvering around them. Now, part of that can be made up for with proper schematic placement and organization within the o-line. They need to be on the same page. Today's preseason showed a lot of miscommunication and mental errors, especially from Icky. Hopefully it's just preseason jitters and not a continuing trend. I'm still firmly of the belief the staff will adjust and compensate for the team's weaknesses come regular season. There's too much experience not to. Otherwise, a lot of questions will need to be answered for.

It's pretty hard to correlate when coaches go into games with different mindsets. Perhaps some coaches want to evaluate certain schemes in different situations, some may just want to get through it healthy, others may want to boost morale. With the preseason hinging on a very wide variable of coach intent, it's hard to really get a good statistical hypothesis on team success based on that.

A friendly reminder from the Panthers longtime RB... Again, it's preseason. The 4-0 2008 Lions and 2017 Browns went 0-16 the regular season. The 1-4 2009 Colts went 1-3 in the preseason and 14-2 in the regular. Is there work to be done? Of course. Perhaps the players are only putting half effort to minimize injuries, but o-line protection confusion and certain 1v1 looks have looked bad. But then again, preseason is the best time to show these weaknesses, because that allows coaches to prepare to scheme/coach these deficiencies before the regular season. The goal of preseason? Evaluate, get out healthy, and learn what weaknesses exist and adjust for it. Good teams don't play to win in preseason, they play to get reps to their players and evaluate. Come regular season, if the Panthers look bad, feel free to panic. For now, no matter how the preseason ends up, the Panthers will be 0-0 when the regular season starts, and then is where I expect improvement and schematic adjustments for the Panthers strengths. That's when you can actually get a grasp at what kind of team the Panthers are.

Yep, Brown's in charge of the second half.

Yep, the only valid concern that I'm sure will be adjusted for and corrected.

I'm watching a preseason game, where good teams don't care about the score and just want to get out of it healthy and a better idea of what their players look like in 1v1s. Half effort? Who cares, as long as people are healthy. The players are clearly fine on the sidelines and not freaking out about the score. I suspect that they've been drilled to keep healthy, and to not worry so much about a preseason score. It's preseason. Come cry if they look like this during the regular season and I'm ready to cry with you all. I expect the coaching staff to adjust when games count and for the team to look much better resultingly. If not, then it's panic mode time. But for now, it's just typical preseason football. Not worried at all.

Yep, another valid theory. Chances are perhaps the players have it drilled in them to consider their health above all during these meaningless preseason games. We don't know what the coaches plans are. A sign that the players are chill and relaxing on the sidelines indicates there's not much care to the score, but more so to get it out of the way until it really matters. Again, doom and gloom if the Panthers look like this in September. I'd like to give a benefit of the doubt that perhaps, they may actually be much better when the games count.

And if the Panthers had gone into preseason with the goal of 4-0 and scheming every game, I'd be pissed. 2008 Lions, 2017 Browns were preseason 4-0 winners turned 0-16 regular season losers. 2009 Colts were 1-3 preseason losers turned 14-2 regular season juggernauts. Y'all are quite funny if you think a respectable team actually aims to win each preseason game and not evaluate. It's more encouraging to see weaknesses since that means a good coaching staff will have that on tape and actually scheme around that. Now come regular season if the coaches don't use this great opportunity to adjust for the Panthers weaknesses, then can them. But for now, it's preseason and last thing that matters is how we scheme in scrimmage.

Any coach that coaches to win in preseason and not evaluate weaknesses/strengths is a fool. Again, preseason matters zilch. 2008 Colts proves it. Good coaches use preseason to evaluate, not win. Nothing matters until the regular season. For those of y'all quitting before game one of the season, well I don't know what to tell you.

Yep, I do recall that. I also recall the 2008 Lions went 4-0 preseason and 0-16 as well. And the 2009 Colts 1-3 preseason, then 14-2 regular season.

Yep, and that's where I'm at. Yes, this is probably by far the worst preseason performance by the Panthers in a while. But I hope the coaches have a reason for this. Perhaps they're looking to see what weaknesses other teams pick up on. If so, then I expect them to scheme around deficiencies and maximize strengths with the all star coaching staff they have. If they continue looking like this come regular season, then I'd have many questions.

again, come regular season if the first few games show the same as preseason, then I'll join the doom and gloom wagon. i could care less about who wins in the preseason, chances are the coaches are just using it as an evaluation style scrimmage as they should. i would suspect that come regular season, these coaches will understand the deficiencies carolina beholds and likely will scheme and adjust for such. i'd much rather see sloppiness and crap in the preseason, bc it's the perfect time to analyze weaknesses. if they gameplanned and actually tried scheming, well those weaknesses would be masked, and they wouldn't be able to adjust in time. so yeah, i'm on the train of thought the coaches understand that and will scheme and adjust for it when games matter. if they don't, then i'll join the wtf wagon.

incredible how the panthers season is over two games in vanilla preseason! clearly this is the panthers best and limit. if the panthers look like this the first few games of the regular season, sure, you can start panicking. but poo, it's preseason football. overanalyzing what amounts to 1v1s, simple playcalling and tryouts for fringe roster guys is simply unproductive.

These quotes from Saleh are the equivalent of some neckbeard in his lifted F-150 mashing the gas pedal to angrily speed past some family in an SUV just trying to make it home, then stopping at the next redlight with the SUV pulling up right beside. Sure, the Truck who put in more effort to the gas pedal was faster at reaching the red light than the family SUV who was cruising, so they beat them there by a few seconds. But ultimately, they both arrived at the red light and have to wait for the green light. Saleh and the Jets are like that F150. Thinking they're in the Daytona 500, scheming and pressing the gas pedal against the Panthers. Meanwhile, all Carolina was doing was cruising along, with a whole different purpose of just evaluating their team, while the Jets wanted to win the game more than the Panthers cared to. So, just like two cars meeting at a red light, so will the Panthers and Jets be when the regular season starts at 0-0. Gloating about a preseason beatdown is hilariously short sighted and Saleh has a lot cut out for him if he's taking too many victory laps over a scrimmage game.

I find it rather amusing some posters still believe in the idea that the strength of most teams from last year will be equivalent to what they will be this year. Every season, there always are teams that surprisingly play better than last year, and there are some that regress unexpectedly. In 2016, the Eagles finished last in their division. By 2017, led by Nick Files of all QBs, they enter a shootout against the Patriots in the Superbowl and come out on top. Everyone predicts the NFC South to remain the worst in the league. I would argue that the teams down in Louisiana and Georgia have improved their teams compared to last year, so it's not like the Panthers are the only ones to have improved. It is not as much a certainty. After one vanilla preseason game, it amuses me how many are already calling doomsday on the season. So, with that being said, who knows how the Panthers record will turn out, and how close to the playoffs they could be. The Falcons and Saints could put up a much bigger fight this year, which entails the Panthers having to likely bring forth a better record than last year at minimum to have a shot. Some extra stats to help temper expectations: - There have been exactly ZERO starting rookie QBs who have ever won a Superbowl. In fact, there have been exactly ZERO to even make the Superbowl. - In 57 years of playoffs, with countless teams, there have only been ten rookie starting QBs who have even won at least one playoff game. Only five have won two playoff games. So, all this talk about playoffs or Reich should be on the hot seat is rather amusing. Frankly, I don't care much about our win loss record as much as I care about seeing improvement. We could be 5-12 for all I care as long as I see this team has more direction and ability than last year. What does that entail? -Improvement on the QB side: Obviously, while Bryce Young is a rookie, I'd hope to see him not stare down receivers and progress through his reads. I want to see him manage the pocket and stand tall, avoiding the pressure and getting the ball off in time while not being too scared. I want him to take significant chances with the ball in the right situation, rather than get scared into a check down. If he does this, he will have significantly improved compared to every QB from last year. -Improvement on Offense: Quite frankly, I don't care that the Panthers could run the ball down the throats of some of the worst run defenses in the NFL. That was very neutered and conservative playcalling from Wilks, and while that got the Panthers to nearly squeak in the playoffs, but against any significant team (cc: Bengals) they got blown out, and rightfully so. Sure, they were one win away from the playoffs, but the rest of the NFC South could argue they were 1-2 wins away as well. So, what do I hope to see improve? -Creativity: I want to see how Young unleashes the offense and allows the Panthers to get more creative. I want to see Carolina start more downfield concepts and letting Young take the reins on that. Get creative, don't rely on the run to get things going. That will help improve the team compared to last year. -Offensive Line: Yes, the O-line was incredible at run blocking last year. Definitely helpful when most plays revolved around that. But, I want to see pass blocking improvements too where the run doesn't have to be relied on as much for them to be effective. When the Panthers couldn't run last year, they were neutered and the o-line leaked like a sieve. While Mayfield, Darnold, Walker and Co. were not world beater QBs by any means, still it'd be nice to see the O-line start gelling out better for when the opposing defense defends for obvious passing downs. I do think the o-line is slightly overrated, and that their athleticism is a notch below being an elite pass blocking unit, but that can be overcome with coaching and understanding stunts and what the defense is planning, so hopefully that gets worked out and the Panthers are able to pass a lot more. -Improvement on Defense: I want to see better pressure. I have not seen a defense perform at 2015 levels in such a long time, let alone 2013. Most pressures were created via blitz rather than the front linemen. It seemed when the Panthers hoped to let their d-linemen make a play, they were unable to do so and often got bullied. Unlike 2013, where the Panthers front bullied offensive lines, or even 2015 where Short wrecked havoc, it has been a long while since pure pass rush has been effective. For once, I want to see the Defensive line start adding pressure of their own. I'd rather not see us be too reliant on the blitz and instead see guys like Brian Burns improve. I would also love to see the run defense improve as well, since that was a sore spot at times last year and even the preseason as well.

Despite the doom and gloom of the offense performing poorly for the most part (some warranted, most attributed to vanilla playcalling vs a jets defense letting go of the reins imo), there were a few positives that can be taken away. For instance, Bryce Young's first NFL (preseason) pass. In particular, take note of Young's head movement. His begins processing the left side, then quickly makes his way through to the right before landing on Thielen for the first. For a rookie QB, this is insane. Super fast processing and progressing through his reads. Something many veterans would struggle with. Young's speed through his progressions and understanding is incredible, and super exciting to see out of a rookie QB. Far from the one read QBs we've had lately and some of the slower processors from the other rookies, Young looks like he belongs. Despite being thrown to the ringer on his first scrimmage, Young looked the part. Once the Panthers actually gameplan and the o-line gets more cohesive, I'm sure we'll see his talent blossom. Was the trade with the Bears worth it? Time will tell, but so far, Young is looking incredible for a rookie. Definitely a lot to be excited about.