CRA

Gruden was talking about that in his video the other day talking about how horrible ineffective we were at play action w/ Bryce. I still think Bryce is largely graded on a massive curve largely factoring in how horrific he was to start off his career. And you are forced into deep stat dives to manufacture him being "good" last year. He had a good game or two. But he largely wasn't a good QB even in most games post benching. but to me, this is his year 2. So what he was, was actually fine for a rookie season. So it's not all Bryce bashing from me.

lol. see my edit. Brain flipped it as I typed so fast. You want Bryce and company looking sharp. That's the win. Not the game where we win ugly late and Bryce looks like trash

someone said it best earlier, winning in the preseason isn't a reflection of the final score but it is seen in the games. again, it is simplified to the two choices below: A - starting O is complete garbage. Bryce can't get the ball downfield. Tmac can't get open. Icky stinks. Starting D can't stop the run. Both units sit after two series. 2nd half, 3rd stringers find away to get it done in a half that features bad football. B - starting O is very efficient. Bryce looks crisp. Improved routes. OL is generating great push. D gets 2 3-and outs. Then in the second half featuring 3rd stringers, the Panthers lose in an ugly game of football. B is the actual win. A is the win on the scoreboard. Which one is preferred? The answer is 100% B. THAT is the point.

the mindset I want to see from our coach.....is pushing all his players to get better and be ready for the season. So I care about the top of the depth chart being worked (which hasn't been done properly for some time)......and if your future insurance salesman that you know is going to be cut after the game no matter what he does, doesn't get it done versus the future full time vlogger on the other side at the end of game....that doesn't actually matter. The debate to me has always been what matters more....wins or losses in preseason......or how your actual players that matter are playing and look? To me, it always been the latter that matters. Because Bryce could be horrible, Tmac horrible, Icky horrible and then they sit. Then the depth of your roster beats the depth of the other roster for the win. I'll take the starters looking good and then losing with guys not on the roster and depth over the reverse of that.

when I was burying Canales and prior to that Frank for hiding and protecting Bryce the past 2 seasons.....I always said winning the actual game doesn't matter. Sure, you "try" to win.....but if in the 4th quarter you don't get it done w/ dudes that literally aren't going to be on the team that doesn't actually matter.

the solid football team is a bit much. That historically bad defense....isn't flipped on it's head if one player was inserted into it.

Winning doesn't matter. Winning or losing often comes down to the actions of future insurance salesmen in the 4th quarter. What does matter, is how well specific players look doing basics vs other competitors. Tmac getting open. Bryce making smart reads, downfield placement. Renfrow showing juice in his step. XL hands. Probably need to see Horn run blocking. Stuff like that. Final score means nothing. Eyeball test for certain players does mean something IMO.

Worst thing to ever happen. Because they were curb stomped every year……then they caught the expanded bracket and won some games. So now ND has a spot for eternity pending not horrific ND been part of 3 of the more uncompetitive games in the CFP era. 1 win over a team that qualified under the OG model

No real gripes outside of you accidentally clicking the wrong box at the very end. I assume you meant to have Clemson there. Only change I would feel forced to make is bumping one of those SEC teams in favor of LSU. And if LSU doesn't make it, dumbo Kelly is getting canned. And you can basically knock any of them out minus UGA. I actually got Texas as being the biggest letdown team in 2025

I'm pretty sure McVay has been sitting his starters for a long time. That's his thing.

I have no idea.....I know last year Mahomes, Allen, etc played games 1 and 2 .....and sat the last game. Carolina basically ran opposite of most (played starters only game 3 and everyone else sat them) I would assume we are getting on the more normal train of thought this year.

it's like taking in the Tmac highlight of the great catch down the sideline.....as he is still largely blanketed by a dude that shouldn't be on the field covering a teams "#1". How hype can I get.....and the one real question about Tmac is can he separate from NFL DBs. Hopefully the Browns play there starters. That's what I want to see.

2023 was nuts. That was the all star staff, roster that rivaled 2003, Bryce already operating like a 8 year vet, and on and on. OL was supposed to build off of that finish w/ Wilks. It was supposed to be glorious per the hype machine. You could start sniffing out the reality though once preseason games started up though that year.

if you compared the talk this time of year with the last 2 seasons (what the Panthers were putting out and what we thought)....... It would probably rank 2023 2025 2024 That's why it's hard to buy in. And our O practices against weak NFL comp so it's always hard to tell. I really hope Canales borderline overplays our guys this preseason. Basically everyone not named Brown/Horn.

I mean, that’s putting a LOT of weight behind a Duke Mayo Bowl trophy. maybe Beamer should of driven up and listened to Dabo and Dawn talk

well, that the 2 coaching goats of the Carolina's. Not sure you can really add anyone else on par with them. I'm cutting Belichick out and putting him to the side. Clearly the GOAT.....but dude wants back into the NFL. I doubt he has any interest in sharing/helping any NFL team out. That's not very Belichicky.

I don't know. I think we are way too run dependent to just be carrying 2 TEs into a season. Think that's just too light in the run game. and we just don't run the type O IMO to need 7 WRs.

I think Coker is basically a lock. You have to separate out each WR position. If XL or TMac can’t go…..who are inserting into their roles? it’s not Renfrow, AT, or Horn. I mean you can but they all would suck. And that’s assuming TMac will be ready and good enough for every down work to kick off the year I think you carry 6. Make Moore the odd man out.

Sir, this is a message board in the year 2025. Get off my lawn.

We still drafted him where we did because of his tools and ceiling. Sure, hands matter. But that was never a XL thing to work on coming in. He was a rookie. I put the drops on that given it wasn’t a college thing coming into the league. Almost all the rookies of his class had really high drop %’s minus Ladd I still don’t see an argument Moore, Renfrow, AT, Horn, etc have a higher ceiling. That leaves it being ONE person that that could be argued has a higher ceiling. TMac. And we haven’t even seen him play a preseason snap yet. Ceilings and who will actually be better aren’t the same things. I honestly think literally as of today, you could argue Hunter Renfrow is the best technical WR on the roster. His ceiling is just low and a niche player.

TMac a more polished WR coming in. XL IMO is better built for the NFL when you look at his size and speed combo. XL was a first rounder because of his potential/ceiling essentially. TMac sort of got a quirky skillset. Not super fast and doesn’t play really like his size suggests. If Horn projected with a high a ceiling he wouldn’t have been a 6th round flier.

XL IMO has the highest ceiling of any WR on the roster…. he has one season in the books as a rookie with inconsistent QB play. People are way too hard on XL IMO and I will continue my prediction here, if Renfrow can stay healthy….top 3 in receptions

Neither AT or Coker IMO are really ideally what a team wants in the slot. I like Coker as a backup to TMac or XL. No point trading Coker. He doesn’t have real trade value and it wouldn’t be getting rid of a solid developmental guy that good by a really nice role player for us

could we use a Devin Lloyd type? probably. does Coker really have anything to do with that type hypothetical? I don't see. I think most teams generally have their own version of Coker (which doesn't make him relevant in terms of player acquisition IMO.

Jags got BTJ and Hunter. So you gotta start sliding that scale down to 3, 4, 5 area and competing there. Coker is cheap and promising. XL or Tmac could get hurt or struggle. That's his spot on the roster. Basically everyone else is competing for slot or spread it out 4 wide type stuff.