d-dave

Maybe we're not in a hurry to tank because to top end talent isn't that great? After all, there are no generational talents like an Andrew Luck, or physical phenom like Cam or Miles Garret. Instead, it looks like your mix of guys who are good college players, athletes, and guys who have the talent but other sizable red flags.

I wish people would think about that. If we traded with the Rams two future firsts, we would be without our best pass rusher. Where does the production make up come from? Not just for this year? But in the future? Also, the Rams will typically be pretty decent. So the picks will be in the late first. Are we going to get someone who can replace Burns at either point? The draft is crapshoot. There are no sure things in a draft class. We've seen and learned this lesson time and time again. Burns turned into a good player, and good players get paid. He's a team leader and a quality player, though still young at 24 years of age. In two or three years, once those draft picks are made, will they be better than a 26-27 year old Brian Burns? Who knows? What is it they say about birds in the bush versus your hand? Again, if the picks were 2023, then there's a MUCH stronger argument for trading Burns. But they weren't. So fug it. Brian will get paid, and that's what happens in the NFL. It will make your eyes water, but that's just the cost of doing business. Also, it's not my money, it's Tepper's millions Who really cares because the salary cap is a myth, right?

I love that. The Matt Rhule era really drained a lot of us of our passion for the team. I'm glad the fans are getting invested again. That feels great. The game though was a heart breaker. But I was so glad to get excited myself. When PJ hit DJ for that last second TD, I was going nuts. I haven't done that in a long time! My wife was laughing at me. It was just up and down, killing me lol. I hated we lost, but it was great to just feel the excitement again. There are a LOT of issues to fix though. I'm not sure there is enough time to really get that fixed this season with this roster. But they played hard, didn't give up, and that's good enough for me after Matt Rhule's drag-assing time. I have no idea what the future of the Panthers will be, but I'm glad to feel like I can be a fan again.

I'm not so sure that it's going to be an unattractive job. After all, if need be, Tepper can just pay you $10 million a year... Also, there is a long season ahead, even longer now that we're just going to punt every 4th offensive play. The problem when assessing Fitterer is separating what he did and what Rhule did. There were some good moves, the draft maneuvering was fun, and some boneheaded choices with QBs. Was that all on Rhule? I don't think so. So Tepper needs to figure out if Scott is the best GM for him, then he needs to let Scott and the football guys run the show. Tepper just needs to shake hands, smile, and write the checks. I think if that can be established, and Tepper can clean up his other real estate ventures to actually invest in the team, then the job becomes more attractive. Who knows?

What a thing to wake up to this morning. Man, it sucks because I really enjoyed watching him play. At the same time it was depressing because of how good he is, stuck to the incompetence of the Panthers and Matt Rhule these past 2ish years. Realistically he was drafted to help Cam into the twilight of his career. That didn't happen. As amazing of a talent at CMC is, he can only do so much. Blame whomever you want, but we weren't a winner with CMC being the focal point of our offense. I wish him the best of luck in SF. I will still watch him from the edges, and I hope that he helps SF win a SB so we can watch the 49ers fall apart immediately after. Shanahan is going have some fun scheming him up with Debo so that should be a lot of fun to watch. As sick as it made me feel this AM, it was time for CMC to go. We got a lot of compensation so I'll take that. Just sucks thinking about how terrible the Panthers Offense will be the rest of the year.

I listened to that podcast, and I agree with Stewart 100%. Stewie has always been a classy guy, very mature in a lot of ways. His perspective as a player talking about the game recently is an interesting insight for sure. It's never a good idea to air out family business in national TV that distracts from the game and your teammates. Not a good look for Robby. Then again, the number of drops he's had aren't a good look either. Regardless of how you judge Robby's way of speaking, he's smart enough to play in the NFL and get paid. That's more than me right now. But I just don't care about him any more. I wish him the best in AZ, and I'm more than ready to move on here at home.

I just saw that… Did Fitts get them to take on Robby when the news wasn’t that bad? Nice!

Man, some of y’all have no idea what bullying is. This explains why kids are such thoughtless jerks to each other. yes, you actually can bully the rich and famous. We see it all the time. couple of truths for some of you to ignore: 1. Life’s short, don’t be your want. 2. While we don’t necessarily know you, you show your true colors online. you can be critical without bullying or being a douche.

I'm not familiar enough with the names, but here's a couple of qualities I think we need to look at in the next coach: 1. QB development - I want a coach who has experience molding young QBs in to + starters. 2. Offensive Acumen - That goes without saying, we need a coach who brings an Xs and Os advantage to our team. 3. Adaptability - I'd love to find a coach who is much more open to being offensively flexible with their system and who is able to make adjustments at half time. That seems to be a really big ask. There's still a lot of season to go, so we'll see what happens the rest of the way to a lot of these current names.

I can see the appeal of blowing things up and getting picks for guys, but it's just not that easy. First, as soon as "fire sale" goes through the NFL, all values are depreciated. Teams will wait and get the deal they want. They aren't going to throw 1s when they can get our players for 3s and 5s in a few week before the deadline. Second, we can't "worry" about the cap and then talk about eating 10s of millions of dollars in dead cap cash. Robby is $20 by himself, and he's probably getting cut this week. CMC is like $30. DJ or DJax just signed deals so that would be a lot of dead money as well. Guys are under contract. They are going to have to play, that's just the way it is. Third, the draft is a crapshoot. We all know this. Fitterer has a mixed bag of draft history, but it's hard to qualify because of the Rhule effect. While on one hand, it's better to have more shots at players, it's another to bet your entire future on rookies. Finally, if we can get the right coach, then we can see our fortunes change. That's just the reality of things. Year after year, teams who suck get better coaching and they turn it around. We have some really good pieces on D, and our OL is MILES better than it's been in a long time. DJ is a quality player, and CMC is one of the best in the NFL (when healthy). So if in 2023, we get a better coach, get lucky with the QB selection, then there's little reason that 2023 won't be a LOT more fun as a fan. We could also see ourselves in playoff contention much sooner than later.

Absolutely. We are just dealing with a load of crap out there - not Wilk's fault, but what he got. The reality is that we need a QB and a coach who can coach the QB.

One game is not enough of a sample size here. It wasn't good, but then again, Wilks was thrown into the fire. I'm more willing to give him more games before I'm ready to cut bait. He's got a lot of work to do on the culture of the team. And honestly, no one could win with PJ playing that way in this offense. These are not his decisions, but rather what he was stuck with.

It demonstrates the importance of QB play in the NFL. You can have a good rest of your team (and I'd still argue there is plenty of talent on our team), but until you have a good QB, you have nothing. Cam carried Rivera. Not that Ron was a terrible coach, but he made plenty of bone headed calls as a HC that Cam and Luke dug him out of over the years. Right now, we have a team without a QB. Sure, it would have been nice to see undefeated PJ Walker come out and win a game for us. But that was unrealistic. PJ had a week of practice after spending months running scout team or less. PJ is our #4 QB and Eason is #5. We don't have a QB right now. I love what CMC does. Man, he's a beautiful machine of a RB. BUT, he's not a QB. Until there is a QB, teams will just spy CMC all day long. Because of his talent, he's still going to put up numbers, but it won't lead to wins. It sucks, but that's just what it is.

I looked at the similar stuff, and I agree. While the #1 doesn't guarantee it, it helps. There have also been plenty of other quality QBs in the top 15 picks. Teams that pick #1 tend to have a TON of problems. Just look at Jacksonville. They have their "generational" talent at QB, then turn around and have to draft #1 again. Sometimes, you just have a bad team, period. The Panthers aren't there. Sure, we're not a great team, but it's also because we have wiffed for years trying to replace Cam Newton. But our OL is better. Our defense is pretty good. Our ST is MUCH better in years past. We have CMC, when healthy, is one of the best in the league. If we can improve our coaching, maybe not having a micromanager coach is the key, we could be a better bad team. Then....crazy thought....if we manage to get the right coach and QB... We could make some noise as soon as next year. The Brady will retire, or just breakdown. Atlanta still can't figure out it's QB situation. The Saints are going to start aging out, and they still need a QB. So (and this is a font sized 72 IF) if we can finally get our QB and coach squared away...I almost don't want to say it... =P

Man, what an interesting response from Robby…. I thought he might be a little more responsive, but he looked completely disinterested. Almost as if he realized Matt was great in college and helping him get paid, but wasn’t up to being an NFL coach. it’s a business. Indeed.

Dude, if I could invest stock in the Panthers....it might be a good gamble. The NFL has done nothing but make money for decades, and the league is still interested in making cash, even if there weren't your traditional owners.

I'd love to see the Panthers turn it around. If Wilks is able to get everyone on the same page, working together, and we're able to see success, then he should be the next coach. We do have spots of talent on the team. If we can get that elusive complementary football thing down, we could at a minimum be dangerous. I have no idea if we'll be a winner, but I'd be happy for a team that can play together.

I saw that, and I just want him to let it out. Let's see how horrific the NFL really is at the highest levels. Then yes, force the owners out, change up the structure of the league. The GB model would be interesting indeed. Then again, who would rake in the billions and get rich off the backs of the workers?

It's going to have to be the PJ show until someone gets healthy. Will they worry about the 5th rounder for Baker when trying to win? I don't know. I know PJ is good for a turnover every 19 pass attempts... I think they will try to get a few games out of PJ, then try Baker again, and then if he still sucks, trot out old Darnold. It's going to be a poo show. I wouldn't invite Cam to this mess, and he won't come for this crap, no matter how much love he has for Wilks or the team.

This is the most basic thing to do. But that may not happen this season. Instead, Wilks is going to have to concentrate on developing that team identity. While Rhule is gone, will Snow follow him? Will we need a new DC as well? We have a LOT of questions to answer as we move forward. I have no idea what will happen, but it's something.

I wish him the best of luck outside of the Panthers. Now that he's gone, let's get on to figuring out how to win some games.

Cookies, Temp files and restarts will fix a majority of quirky issues on computers. (I know because I've been a complete dumb dumb over those kinds of issues before I learned to fix them)

I like what Geoff Schwartz said: he's just programed that way. LOL. You have a coach who wants to run a precision team with a QB who likes to improvise. Go figure. Seems to be a major problem in the NFL. Coaches have to coach to the strengths of their QBs. Something we know really well.

I thought people liked his competitive fire? That privilege! Race matters aside, something is really off with Baker and this offense. No one wants to say it because "we're a team" but the reality is that the game plan sucks. John Ellis (@ellis) did a nice job breaking down the struggles this year compared to Baker's previous years in Cleveland. He's having over 10% of his passes batted down. His worst year in Cleveland it was under 4%. John also makes a great point about height when looking at the batted passes from Josh Allen and Justin Herbert, who are very tall QBs. So the reality is that there is a MASSIVE game planning/coaching issue going on. Teams have picked up on this offenses tendencies which is leading to these batted balls. If you can't get home, just hold up and play volleyball. That's on Ben McAdoo. They need to get smarter. Is Baker completely at fault? No. He's doing what he's coached to do, and having to take the heat for it. I'd be pretty pissed if I had to spew the company line, knowing full well that my career is the one going in the toilet. Baker does need to take responsibility for his play, absolutely. He needs to make adjustments at the line, he needs to hit guys accurately. He needs to find his throwing lanes. It's not as simple as fire a coach, bench a player. It's a lot of everything. That's why they all make millions of dollars. If they fail, then at least they have that nice cushion of cash.

Ben McAdoo.... While a fun thought experiment, even if we fire Ben today, we're still stuck with his system that the team was installing all off season.