d-dave

Damn, that is a tough situation. I’m so sorry that your young family has been going through this. Cancer sucks. You just have to keep pounding and doing your best. The dog… I understand that. I’m more fortunate that my doggo is only peeing in the house. She’s a puppy that was completely house broken, but she’s not happy about us being back at school. You can only try to be consistent. Maybe your vet can give you something to help your dog not like the taste of their poo. Best wishes! As much as I’d like for the Panthers to be a good distraction for all of us, doesn’t look like this is the season for that.

Man, some of y'all need to go outside, play with your kids or pets, or do anything else. Look, it's just a game. It's something to enjoy, but please don't get yourself all twisted. If you want to root for another team: go for it! it's your life! You don't owe the NFL anything. I get it, we're disappointed. We all had really high expectations. But the reality is that things don't always work out. I'm sticking it out because this is my team. If we suck for another five years - well that's just the way it is. I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it. Honestly, some of y'all just need to get your stuff together and stop being so melodramatic. Do you act like this in real life? Or is this your outlet so you can do all your pointless whining here?

HAS SOMEONE COMMENTED ON MY ABILITY TO FAN HOW I WANT ON THE INTERWEBZ!?!?!? I MUST IMMEDATELY FLY TO MY KEYBOARD IN RAGE!!!!!!

I'm 43, and while I love to root for my Panthers, and I've been around since the founding days; it's not going to be some major loss in my life if the Panthers never win another game before I die, whether that's today or in 50 years. Pro sports are entertainment. If it becomes an obsession to a point where it negatively affects your family, your friends, your career - then it's not the Panthers' problem, it's yours. I love the Panthers, love talking football, watching the games, and the hopium of the summer. But when they lose, it's "oh well" from me. I'm actively working to create effective boundaries from my passions and hobbies so they don't have a negative impact on my life. Does that make me a bad fan? Maybe to some. I'm just trying to be real. Trying to live in this world and be happy. Can the Panthers be part of the good? Sure! But I'm not going to let the Panthers ruin another second of my life when they aren't successful. I wasted too much time being angry, mopey, and a pain in the butt when the Panthers sucked. I'm a big boy now - I've got plenty of other things to suck the joy out of my life than the Panthers. LOL.

Good breakdown by JT. What kills me is this staff, which has a billion years of NFL experience can't figure out how to win with our WRs. That's a problem. Bryce is doing what he can, but he's really held back by the offense. The Panthers should absolutely come after Seattle and run the ball to take pressure off Young. The plays needs to include better methods for making WRs open and beating man/zone concepts (got that from JT). Frank and Co needs to set things up for Bryce to cook. Looking at a college football reddit (horrible place I know), and I saw a comment that the Alabama has been this mediocre for years, but Bryce Young was able to hide it with his play making. We need to free Bryce to make plays. I'm not sure how that works, but he seems like he's not allowed to improvise as much in the offense. Young needs the freedom to make plays instead of relying on the play calling to be 100% of his game.

The sun will rise tomorrow. The actions of a sports team are pretty inconsequential to the basic pattern that has existed on this planet for millions of years, and will continue long after the biosphere recovers after humanity dies off. The long and short of it is it doesn't matter. Don't get too up or down because as much as we love football, its a foolish waste of time and money, especially since we aren't players earning millions. Fan however you want to, but if the Panthers drag you down to a point you have to go online and attack people...get help. The Panthers aren't ready to be exciting yet. Reich and staff, for all their accolades, still have a limited offense. They are trying to be something they can't be. They need to be pounding the rock like we did last year. Sanders and Hubbard can wear down teams. Keep them honest, and use the play action. Stop pretending we have the players to be a high flying offense. We aren't fast enough outside, we don't hold up well enough in the Oline, and Bryce is feeling far too much pressure and getting hit too much. let's go back to running the ball. Running helps o-lines get confident and comfortable. We are dealing with young guards until Corbitt is ready to return - run the ball, make their lives easier. Let Bryce have that benefit. The Panthers need to get simple. They need to give the defense time and control the clock. Is it the most beautiful thing? Depends on who you are (for me, I ADORED the Steve Wilks offense last year). But it's what we need to do until we build a better team.

I do love seeing how fired up he is. I can't stand Mike Thomas. Good, not great receiver. 11.7...hard to forget the memes. Terrible person though. I wish him nothing but all the pain and suffering in life he's earned by being a giant poo stain.

I'm going to join the 2 games drum. Look at those multiple season there... It's just the first two games. Will it get easier? No, this is the NFL. The Panthers have to get better or else a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. I'm going to wait a few more weeks until I even think on passing any judgements.

Thanks @Mr. Scot! This was a better game than week 1. We are not alone in our offense taking a long while getting rolling. Aside from the injuries, I'm way less concerned with the defense outside of CB. Offensively, they are going to have to figure out something to get these guys open. You keep hearing things like "scheme a guy open" but we haven't seen it yet. Despite the pressure, I thought Bryce looked better. We just need someone to separate from coverage.

You use a generative AI lately? They would have the Panthers scoring 900 points a game, Bryce Young catching 100 TDs, and Brian Burns as the super bowl half time =P Honestly, the Panthers are more than capable of getting in their own way. They don't need anyone to write that story.

I hope he does, but IF by the end of the season we're still talking about TMJ's potential instead of his production.... It's time to go in a different direction.

When we drafted him, it was a "steal!" But over time, he's not showing the development you want. Now he still has plenty of games left, one game doesn't define a career; BUT TMJ needs to really get it together. The quitting on a route is unacceptable, and I hope Coach Jefferson puts him on his butt in practice. Or TMJ isn't a high end NFL player. It happens to high draft picks all the time. He's got the tools, he had the legacy (out of a great LSU group). He's just not there. Hopefully things turn around for him - which will be better for us!

It was a good video. I appreciate what JT says, but man, did Adam Theilan steal JT's dog, truck and girlfriend in high school??? The amount of shade he throws there is almost comical. Regarding the 2 picks - the first one, Young absolute stared down his WR. We know that's a bad recipe for NFL success. The second pick was Bates just playing shallow. You can see that Bates was playing the odds that Young was going to try to go short. I'm not sure about the 95% always open, but Young learned how fast NFL safety's can be! Basically, Young had his first NFL game with some real lumps, thanks to one of the best safety's in the league. We have limitations in the WR room. There were several plays where things just didn't happen because of the WR and Bryce. We'll have a pretty narrow margin to win this year with the way things are right now. Will DJ Chark change things? Hopefully. We'll see on Monday. There were a couple of other plays I saw where Jessie Bates was in Young's head. It's going to happen. It's up to the staff to coach Bryce up and make adjustments. In the 2nd half, Bryce pressed too hard, held the ball too long and tried to do too much. He's just not there yet and neither is the team. If all you got out of the video was the BY is bad at football, then you didn't watch it. Just watch the plays on mute.

I hate it for him. When he's out there, he's a difference maker. But availability is one of the most important attributes players can have. I was pretty OK with him when we drafted him, but he's just had the worst luck in the NFL. If he can play, great, but I can't count on Horn for a season much less important games. Sometimes you hit on those picks, but in this case he got bit by the injury bug.

Does it even matter? I swear, some of y'all just LIVE for negativity. It's been ONE game with a new QB, new offensive and defensive systems, with a a large amount of roster turnover. Maybe there are some coaches who are able to catch lighting in a bottle and go 1-0 week one. I guess we should determine the fate of the entire franchise after one game. This is just insane. I understand being critical of things like play calls, the INTs, etc. That's fine and fair, but to have already given up is beyond words SAD. Get over it. You have a life outside of here, outside of the Panthers. Do something with it instead of mopping around here like an upset six year old.

@Mage, how dare you bring any perspective and logic! I was planning on 17-0, zero punts, zero turnovers, and holding all our opponents to less than 0 points and yards! Don't you try to ruin my overreactions with those terrible things! This is the Huddle! Where we go bup-bup-bup!??! (For real: excellent points!)

I like what someone said on twitter: better have that contract ready at the half!

I'm not checked out by any means. I'm "here" for the Panthers. I have my entire Sunday cleared so I can see the full rework we're in. Will Burns play just as hard? How will we stop the run game of Atlanta? Can Bryce Young survive a full game if Icky hasn't cleaned his game up? Lots of interesting things to watch. If the Panthers lose, it's not going to ruin my day. It will suck, but I have a life to live!

I got to ask, why? In the cap, as I understand it so please correct me if my info is wrong, LBTE (likely to be earned) incentives count against the cap, and are then refunded the following year if not met. So the incentives count anyway. We already have $51m in space for 2024. So it really doesn't matter much if it's with incentives or not. It's going to be $28 million regardless. Burns also wouldn't sign a deal with incentives that he couldn't meet. He has the leverage at this point, not the Panthers. We need him, and there are plenty of other teams who'd gladly spend the money on him. Sources: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap/2024/ https://russellstreetreport.com/salarycap/nfl-salary-cap-faqs/#:~:text=LTBEs count against the Salary,the Salary Cap this year.

I appreciate the compliment, but I don't think I posted anything incredible. It's just some of the takes here are REALLY bad. I have to add my little bits here when I can before they are quickly forgotten for the trading insults. I'm also very busy this year. Work keeping me on my toes!

I disagree. I do not pay any Carolina Panthers salary? That's Tepper's money. We buy Panthers gear, go to games, concerts, watch TV, etc - and it still get's funneled to Dave Tepper. Since he bought the team, his wealth has increased by $4 BILLION. The salary cap isn't a fantasy draft. It's not our money, the cap is an easily manipulated myth. Look at the Saints, the poster child for cap manipulation. "Oh no, they have all this dead cap money!" But they still are able to keep players, over pay them, and add more. If YOU or I were he GM/Owner who wrote checks, then I'd be much more concerned with the money issue. I'm not. I'm just a fan. It's up to the team to make the best decisions. They made this one when they didn't trade Burns to the Rams - we all knew he was going to get paid. Now that Bosa's deal is done, the market has been set, and it's time to sign Burns to his MEGA deal.

First off - we all know the salary cap is a myth and that's why teams pay guys good money to manipulate it. Second - it's not our money, it's Tepper's cash. Third - we've already played our hand not letting him go during a fire sale. The facts: -Bosa reset the market, that's just how it works. -The Rams draft capital would not play until next season and the year after that. Who knows where the Rams end up draft position wise. -Draft picks are risky, and the jury is still out on Fitterer's ability to draft. Not great right now... -Burns was one of the last Hurney picks - and Hurney usually hit homeruns on 1st round picks so.... -Burns is going to make a LOT of money, regardless of how stingy some of y'all think you can. So with that being said there's no real dilemma to paying Burns. The market has been set. Burns is a proven player. We've seen for years for every play he gets washed out, he comes back and makes more plays. He played his butt off for bad teams and coaches. He's a guy you can build your team around. Pay the man and let's move on. Congrats to Brian for his genetic gifts and his hard work. He's earned his money in the NFL. He's 25, and if he get's a contract in line with Bosa, he can be locked up through his prime pass rushing years. The sticker shock is incredible, but didn't Pat Mahomes sign for $450 million (with like $160m guaranteed)? The NFL is the biggest game in America and those TV contracts are RICH. So again, it's not my money. The cap is not real. Burns has done everything he can, and looks like he's ready to take that next step. Pay Up Panthers.

The great news - it is what it is. Single player, play at your own pace and your own style. No plans for big future content. Just a $60 that's got hundreds of hours of content AND is not nickel and diming you to death.

My god, you're brave =P I'm just enjoying the balanced run.

While I know he wants to get paid; he's going to wait and see what happens in SF with Bosa. I think Burns is set to really have an explosive year. Does he deserve Bosa money? No - but he's going to try to get close. I'd like to see the Panthers get him signed ASAP so that he can just go out and play. With a, hopefully, better balanced team, with a better scheme, I hope that Burns totally dominates out there.