d-dave

I was thinking this morning while picking up my dogs' fecal matter off the neighbor's grass, that our team is a competent HC/Offensive system away from being kind of good. I mean, defensively, if they aren't being asked to continually bail the offense out every game, they are pretty solid. ST has been great this season. We have skill players and an improving OL. So Rhule get's fired in January at the latest (I could see Tepper holding on to him to keep from from getting those lucrative college jobs because he's a Petty Betty). Say we manage to find a good offensive coach and draft a top QB prospect. We could be in much better shape even wit ha rookie QB and rookie coach in 2023. But then again, I had these thoughts while picking up dog poo at 4:50am...

Good point

Darnold won't solve anything. Baker is a better QB than Sam. Sam has more talent, but he can't get out of his own way. Baker's issues fall a fair amount on the coaching staff, and an equal amount on himself. Why did we keep putting passing routes remotely near these guys blocking Baker's passes? JJ Watt is one of the best in the business. I think he stopped rushing the passer and just hung back and waited for Baker to throw so he could play volleyball. That's a coaching issue. Baker should have been smarter about not throwing it in Watt's direction. Right now, the Panthers are screwed. You can fire Rhule today, but the offensive playbook is still the offensive playbook. You can trot out Sam, Baker or PJ - it's not going to change things. Man, I miss the days of Teddy and Joe Brady! At least the offense put up some points and kept it interesting! Now it's just a waiting game. Waiting to see when Rhule gets fired, and how badly the defense get's abused after being out on the field 40 minutes a game.

So this is basically saying it's going to be a really fun movie Good to know that it's happening before the Logan film. Though that's only five years after this one when it actually comes out...

I love it! Color me excited! Though I wonder if Jackman will insist on not taking his shirt off so he doesn't have to add 40 lbs of muscle? I also wonder if this will be old man Logan, or a different Logan. I can't wait to see what becomes of this

Snark aside he's over 90. He knows he doesn't have a lot of time left on this earth. I will say, it's getting freaky what AI can do now a days.

It's because that's not what Ben does. So he had the entire summer to study the old playbooks, see what concepts he liked or didn't, and build an offense that would work for this team with uneven QB play (I think that's fair to say regardless of our QB). He has a head coach who like to run the ball and control the LOS, and a rookie LT who needs some help and time to get his head where his physical abilities are. And this is what he has? Color me disappointed. Sure, Ben didn't have a ton of great job opportunities after the giants, but he was around guys and he should have learned, even if it's what NOT to do. This is apparently who Ben McAdoo is. Or worse, this is Matt Rhule micromanaging things again. Regardless, this Panthers Offense is not going to win us any games. We need more than 1 TD a game from them. We need to be able to score points in this NFL. We need to be able to convert third downs. We need to play to our player's strengths. I'm so happy for the win, but the same issues are still there.

Man.. I'm not sure how I feel to be honest. It's been SO LONG and we did not see any real growth on the offensive side of the team. Defense played very well. ST was great today. As the announcers said, the ball just bounced our way today. But Baker was still really off target. We got a great play from the new guy Shenult. CMC ground his way to his yardage. So we were fortunate our defense clamped down on the Saints aside from the BS magic on those YOLO balls. I'm pretty happy for the win, but I'm still concerned that we can't produce an NFL offense.

I know some people just don't like podcasts. I get it. But sometimes you get some great interviews. This morning I started listening to this episode with Jonathan Stewart, which I found super insightful. It's only about 36 minutes long, and the content with JStew is pretty cool. What I took away from Stewart is that there is a distinct lack of trust on the team. Period. Can they trust the play call? The other guys? With that sense of trust is how much you have your bud's back? It's a very interesting perspective about the relationships between players, coaches, and the families. Stewart said "it's not just us winning, it's our kids and our families winning." That hit really hard. He also said something many of us will not like to hear: it's not all on Matt Rhule. He didn't fumble the ball. He didn't drop a pick. He didn't miss a block. Remember his perspective as a player before you think he's just soft in the head. He does also say that when players do their jobs and the results stink, that's on the coaches. It's something we need to remember - there is a give and take between players and coaches. Overall, really enjoyable listen for me. Maybe you will disagree and that's fine. It's important to try to look at the different perspectives as we try not to sell our team out completely. Not that they haven't earned it thus far...

On Sunday, I saw a team that spent too much time playing around with "competitions" for the sake of competitions. These guys needed more time to get acclimated. That should have been done earlier this offseason and at TC.

I wish there was something that could be done on the fan's side that mattered. The NFL gets tons of TV money, and fans will buy tickets and food for games. But I'm pretty much done with the Matt Rhule coached Panthers. 10 straight losses? Longest losing streak in the NFL. 5-12 when leading after 3 quarters? He's never going to turn a corner. It's pointless for me to spend my Sunday's hoping something happens. I'll follow, but forget watching games again. Heck, I'd rather scrub my toilets than watch Matt Rhule continue to ruin my team.

Man that is very interesting for Saturday morning twitter Is it realistic? That's another matter. While there are a lot of egos and money involved in the NFL. Could some that be true? Sure. But we won't really know because of the fraternity of the NFL. If it's at least partially true, then Rhule won't finish the season. On the flip side, if the Panthers win Sunday, then this gets swept under the rug for another week.

I think most of us would be glad for the win, because when your sports teams win; it feels good. That's fine. But I don't think there would be too much optimism. The reality is we had a full team, Bozeman being the only real injury issue. What a fortunate camp! We had a defense that had weeks to prepare, to have schemes and plans to stop power running teams. We have a new OC and system, but that OC is recognized for being at least decent. While the "glass is always full of piss" crowd will never ever be happy with the Panthers, even if they win a Super Bowl, there wasn't a lot to celebrate other than the fighting back. Fighting back means the team still gives a poo. Rhule has earned a LOT of poo for being a terrible game coach, weak at Xs and Os, but his players play hard for him. That was still showing in the 4th quarter. The problem is that regardless of the score we gave up TONS of rushing yards, bounced off running backs, missed tackles, and allowed a backup QB to play a turnover free game. Our only sack came on a blitz, and pressure was always late. He had it easy to hang back, find his spot and rip it. Thankfully he missed some big throws. Others, he did make some good throws that are hard to defend. He's an NFL QB for a reason. But we should have played better on offense. Several 3 and outs in the first half gave Cleveland the ability to control the clock, even if they didn't light up the scoreboard. Even if we'd have won by the skin of our teeth, games like this are untenable for the rest of the season.

Let's not get lost in the weeds here. We played like crap. There's no way around that. That's a coaching issue. When your team has months to prepare like we did and they can't find their way around a snap, run defense, helping out a rookie with one of the best DEs in the league; it's a coaching issue. Now it's great they fought back. It would have been really helpful to get an ugly win under their belts. But they didn't. That stinks. Teams know we just can't stop a power run game. So the Panthers D to me is built to protect a lead. They SHOULD be able to get a stop in a close game, but ideally they want to rush the passer. When we've had times to do that over the past couple of years, we've had some pretty decent success, especially last year. But again, our coaching is not up to snuff. That's what's really getting me. After three years, this should be a well oiled machine. They should be able to come out and run their system. Instead, we've kept changing things because of poor choices and we've had two first years out of the offense, which puts all the pressure on our light and fast defense. PFF grades are fine. But at the end of the day, the team has to be coached better.

I was very disappointed during the game. They had three weeks to basically game plan how to deal with and attack Cleveland's defense and pressure their QB. That shows how poorly coached this team is, IMO. This is the 2nd time in two years Bill Callahan has dominated our Run D, just abusing us. Why wasn't that addressed? That's just unacceptable. BUT - I did feel better seeing the team keep fighting. Baker and Robbie made a heck of a play which seemed to lift the entire team. That's great to see from the players. The defense had moments where it played really well. I feel like Baker will help us content in the South. Which is something we didn't imagine would happen with Darnold. That's my hope. But the issues with the defensive line, with the offensive game planning, the development of Icky are going to determine our fate.

I still get excited for the games, and my after loss brooding has shortened to less than 30 minutes. The reality is that I have ZERO impact on the team. It's no use to get incredibly upset or overjoyed over the games. I will always try to enjoy it, one way or another. Life is too short to drown in needless sorrows. Be like Elsa and let it go

I'm very curious to see how well "complementary" football is going to work. Will the offense be able to sustain drives to let the defense rest? Will the defense get people off the field on 3rd downs? Can we limit our turnovers? I'm really excited because it's Panthers Football period. I always get excited, I'm all full of hope, and I'm willing to place my faith in the team. Will I be disappointed? I'll let you know this afternoon, ha ha. Let's Go Panthers! Let's see what kind of team this is!

Do you get the feeling like someone in the Panthers is trolling the world with that? It's a cut. Not sure why they felt like they had to note that while he was a 100% participant...

Draft pedigree has a lot to do with 2nd chances and getting cut. Guys who were hurt, but just more talented players stick around. Nixon seems like a great value pick, but he couldn't do much before he got hurt. This preseason, he just hasn't looked good. We were much more willing to give Vernon Butler opportunities because of his draft position. It's not the end of the world.

Big Nerd Hat Time: At the time of the Fellowship, Galadriel was about 8,000 years old. She was born in Aman, the Undying Lands in the time of the Two Trees. She was amongst the oldest and most powerful of all Elves living at the end of the Third Age. She fought throughout the First and Second Ages. She spent the last thousand or so years of of Third Age as the Lady of Lorien. I just think angry kids of the internet are mad because they are always mad when their expectations aren't met. The new character of Elrond(played by Robert Aramayo) has just enough smug that it's believable he could grow into the Hugo Weaving, stern, serious leader Elrond. It's also a dude. We all know how the internet handles strong females of any type! I rewatched all of the preview trailers, and I am SO STOKED for the rest of the season!

Oh, just read an article about how Galadriel was in fact a total badass. I have just forgotten. From her days in the undying lands, she was a beast. She also fought in the first kinslaying wars of the elves as the Teleri elven ships were stolen by Finrod and the other Noldori elves. Yeah, she should be one of the greatest living elven warriors. Jackson missed a cool opportunity there. so my inner fanboy was wrong. God that’s nice to put him down a bit more!!!

OK, finally got to sit down, watch and think on the two episodes. First off, my point of reference is that of a guy who read The Hobbit, LOTR, and Silmarillion annually until I got hooked on GoT and other stuff. I'm a BIG fan. BIG BIG NERDY fan I'm completely hooked as well. At the end of the day, it's a universe I LOVE that shaped me even to this day. Is it going to be 100% accurate? No, it shouldn't be. It's an adaptation, which is great. The process of adaptation isn't some kind of word for word nonsense angry internet fanboys cry about. It's about making choices for your end game. In this case, it's a monument to the legacy of Tolkien, Jackson and our own collective imaginations. At first, when I saw how the story and Galadriel had been changed, I was like WTF? Then I sat my entitled fanbutt down and had a quick chat. It's more Middle Earth. It's bringing Middle Earth to the 21st century. it's bringing Middle Earth to more people. After I slapped my internal fanboy, I was just engrossed. It looks like a billion dollar show. The cast we've seen thus far is amazing. You can tell that no expense in time or cash was spared. I'm in love. Will that remain? I have no idea, but I'm so excited for this future. Lady Desi is my favorite character so far. She stole the scenes she was in, and it was wonderful. The kids playing in the heads was hysterical. Frankly, I love seeing the liveliness of the Dwarves since there was so little of it ever shown. Even my 10 year old got into it, and he's been very much "I won't watch new things unless it's a cartoon" lately. So there's that!

OMG! I can't wait to get home today and watch it!!!! Damnit work!

Regardless of the draft picks and what not, I feel bad for Corral. This a major blow to his career. 1. If he was healthy, he could have played at the end of the year if we were stinking it up to get some quality reps. 2. If Baker does well, he's getting an extension and Matt's career is as a backup at best. 3. If the Panthers stink, a whole new staff comes in, and they won't want anything to do with him. He's going to have a very hard time finding his way in the league now. While he's a millionaire now, I do still feel bad for he competitive kid he is.

I was in my first apartment. My roommate and I were just watching the game, drinking, snacking etc. Then that play happened and we lost our poo! Jumping, screaming, and generally upsetting our neighbors. Yeah, we were totally excited and happy jerks