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d-dave

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  • Birthday 01/26/1980

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  1. Honestly, it's all going to depend on the individual dog's temperament. It goes without saying but all dogs have different personalities. Labs have been great family dogs for a long time so they probably will end up being great dogs so long as you love on them.
  2. I will say Jaws did it for me. Thankfully years of Shark Week fixed that by the time I was 15 or so. But I do get the fear of water. I do have another fear of open water. It's more the threat of drowning, being lost, etc. When I was young, my parents used to send me to Camp Thunderbird where we learned to sail little sail boats, among other things. It was fine along the shore, but when we got a bit into open water, it was not good. My partner, an older kid who had spent time sailing in previous summers wanted to really mess with me. So he sailed us out into the middle of the lake and capsized the boat on purpose. So here I was, in the middle of Lake Wylie in a life raft with the other kid laughing and chilling. Yeah, in retrospect this was the early 1990s so safety was just kind of a don't die thing. I freaked out, swam to the nearest shore and walked back to the camp. When I showed up after dinner, I got yelled at for walking along the highways around the lake. Nothing happened to the kid who tipped us over. Ahh, the 90s... I'm better about it as an adult, but I am still uncomfortable over large areas of water. For the actual bridge, it's a tragedy. Once the investigation comes back to the boat, I wonder how much corporate "profts over safety" we'll see.
  3. Some of y'all are really thinking that Stroud was the norm. No, CJ Stroud's rookie year was the exception. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/browns-texans-playoffs-ranking-c-j-strouds-2023-among-best-rookie-qb-seasons-since-2010/ From 2010-2021 there have been 23 QBs selected in the top three rounds of the NFL draft to start 10 or more games. Why did I stop in 2021? Well, 2022 and 2023 are still fresh and the returns are interesting. 2022 brought us Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis, and Matt Corral in the top three rounds. We are most familiar with 2023, Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, and Hendon Hooker. That brings us to 28 rookie QBs since 2010 who started 10+ games as a rookie. Sure, you have those top 8, but after that, it's a crap shoot. Also, you can look and see that some of these guys peaked at rookies, some had sustained success, others were just meh. Now let's go back to the Frank Reich era (so long ago). They wanted to make sure Bryce could call the plays first before they worked on the feet and fundamentals. That's why late in the season you had the "his footwork is terrible!" stuff come out. The Reich way was the wrong way. Would CJ Stroud as been as effective as he was in Carolina? If you really think that, be careful buying things online...that's all I'll say. Finally, some of y'all will die on a hill that Bryce Young is not an NFL QB for all of the reasons many of y'all continue to drum beat. The stark reality is that this is kind of a make it or break it year for him. If he continues to play poorly, then he'll be gone. I think Bryce is smart enough to understand that his size outlier gives him less opportunity to show he can be the guy than someone like Sam Darnold, who continues to make good money by looking the part in practice. If Bryce and the Panthers don't produce more offense (which puts butts in seats), then he will be gone and we'll be looking for a new QB again.
  4. On the flip side, we traded a guy we were going to cut in a few days for an upgrade at WR. No one is doubting Johnson's ability to play football. If he sucks, we tried, and we move on with zero down side. Maybe the trade is a wake up call. Maybe Canales' style better suits Johnson. We'll see. As someone who errs on the side of hopium, I'm going to hope for the best (but not be surprised at the worst!).
  5. Here's where I am, as an idiot with a keyboard. 1. Mike Williams has a perception of being hurt a lot. Of being on the injury report weekly and playing through injuries. While that's not out of the norm in the NFL, let's do some basic division and look at a few things versus how much he got. Average games per season 12.6 Average receptions per game 3.5 Average yards per game 54.6 TDs per season 4.4 Williams contract from the jets: 1 year UPTO $15 million ($8.3m guaranteed, $6.7 incentives) When you look at it that way, maybe he was asking too much, and the Jets overpaid. Maybe the Panthers realized that he's too old, too injured, and not a great gamble. Compare that to DJ Chark: 15 games, 2.3 receptions, 35 yards, 5 TDs on the year. These are the same averages for Williams' career. Don't get it twisted, Mike Williams is light-years better than DJ Chark. But is Mike Williams in 2024 three times better of an investment than a journeyman WR at this point? And heck, it could also be the team didn't like his medicals. I don't know. Just an idiot with a keyboard!
  6. I imagine a lot of this happens at the NFL Combine. NFL Team: Hey Prospect, we represent NFL Team. We'd like to talk to you about a future in NFL City. NFL Prospect: Thanks but no. I will not play for the dumpster fire that is your NFL Team in your NFL City. NFL Team: OK, have a nice life (but beware you show up to our stadium!). If I were an NFL team and some player told me to F off, I'd probably take them off my board. Then, they probably spread rumors that they are lazy, have bad medicals, etc. I mean, the reality is that there are only so many jobs to make you an instant millionaire. While some guys might have the leverage, not all do. Were I in their shoes, I'd be very hesitant to say I won't play for X simply because the NFL changes so quickly.
  7. He had me at the accent lol. Not really. I don't know how to scout for the NFL. The fact it took a while in college before it clicked can be good (development) or bad (flash in the pan). Seems like a good kid. If we do, great, I hope he's successful. If not, best wishes to him regardless.
  8. How long of a leash are fans of your opinion going to give Bryce? What else could we do for Bryce? Offensive HC, rebuilt the OL, kept Theilen, got one of the best separator WRs, and have more work to do. If Bryce still looks pensive and shell shocked despite all the systematic changes the Panthers do, then that's on him and he's not the dude. I think we're putting our best effort out there right now to build a decent offense around him. At the end of the day the NFL is a QB league, and every QB has to step up. It's on Bryce. I'm going to take a good hit of hopium here, and we'll see where the card fall over the season.
  9. What I like to see is when an offense needs a play, a WR can be the dude and make the play. Like what Smitty was. I've liked what I've seen and read about Wilson.
  10. C'mon, worst ever? Did you see Jamarcus Russel's tape? Ryan Leaf? Bryce wasn't good, but the entire team was bad. Was he the root cause? No. The FO believes in Bryce, and they are going all in to try to give him a better situation. If Bryce can't turn it around with Canales, then he is that great college QB who couldn't cut it in the NFL. Who is the QB that could have led this offense to a winning record? What QB could survive a complete poo show of an offensive line? Maybe Prime Cam or Vick because they could run out of danger.
  11. I'm not sure I ever want to hear "win the offseason" again after last year =P Things that I think we ought to do: 1. Continue to look for edge and CB help. 2. Keep looking for depth at all positions 3. The rest is really up to the coaches. The Draft is a Crapshoot. Kind of goes without saying =/ Ultimately, it's going to be up to Dave Canales and Evero to make something happen. I'm excited and hopeful but also realistic. It would be cool to finally have a winner, but that's a TALL order for this team as bad as we were last year.. Let's see improvement! I know, that's not a great chant, but I just want to see us get better from last year, and from week to week.
  12. I'm not saying Fitterer was a good GM, but he was a smart football guy. How else did he work his way up through the Seattle system during their heyday and get a GM job? You don't hand that kind of power and authority to a moron like me. Fitterer's record as a GM was pretty terrible, which makes him a pretty terrible GM.
  13. I have no doubt that Scott is a smart football guy. I just don't think that Scott has the same leadership traits that Dan has. Scott's approach of building consensus was great in concept. It's how a lot of hard things are done. The main difference is that Scott came in under Rhule, and his only coach he hired blew up in EVERYONE's face. Scott was trying to make everyone happy. One thing I'll say about Dan Morgan is that he's well respect in the league. There's a difference in the inflection when people talk about Dan Morgan respect versus general respect. For Morgan, it was always a matter of when he became a GM, not an IF. Conversely, since Dan was hired, he brought in Dave, and D&D (oh how I love that moniker =P) are aligned (take your shot). So there is a clear plan in place. I'm not saying that the 2024 Panthers are going to be world beaters, but they should be MUCH better than 2 wins. How many actual wins? 4? 6? Push to 7? Who knows? But since D&D are in ALIGNMENT (take your shot), the team will look different, and should ideally work better. There's my hopium in mid March. We'll see what happens. It could all blow up again. We'll have to see. I'm excited though. D&D seem like they have a plan, now let's see what the execution looks like.
  14. Well, aren't my feelings bruised? Oh, they're not. We deserve to be raked over the coals for the absolute poo stain of a team we fielded last year. Folks want to take their shots, then by all means. Nothing says more about your character than how you treat others online. All the Panthers have to do is win. Get better. Show fight. Then we won't be the laughing stock of the NFL. Until then, we get to be the butt of all the jokes.
  15. Yeah, I saw that and was a bit taken aback. The past few years, the high end WR market has been insane. And Mooney is not a high end WR... Good for him for getting the generational wealth though! I'm fine passing on WRs right now, and waiting for the slow rounds of FA...
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