d-dave

There's not doubting Lance has immense physical talents, and he's young (was a 20 year old rookie). The problem is by this point, he should be showing real signs of being a guy who can play in the league. Someone will gamble on him based on pedigree and hope a change of scenery after some organizational stability will be good for him. Should the Panthers? If Bryce continues to play "meh" then I'm all for looking anywhere for competition and/or a replacement.

I'm not sure we're backed into a corner with Bryce. The trade to pick him up is spent and over. Not worth trying the mental gymnastics to get any of that value back. He plays until we find a better option OR he finally "gets" it. If he wants to sit out instead of playing on the 5th you trade or you cut him. It requires a hard line in the sand. You either believe 100% in Bryce or you wish him well in his next endeavor. This year was Bryce's put up or shut up year. While we're at a 5-4 record which is fantastic for a change, his play hasn't looked like a $50 million a year guy. That's just the reality. He can claim it all he wants, but ultimately the market will bear out his contract demands.

Sorry, someone probably said this, but I'm not going back over 9 pages QBs get an outsized amount of credit for wins and losses. Bryce is the same way. He was far from good except for a handful of plays. That's not a recipe for success long term. On the flip side, with the running game and defense playing so well, he's not being asked to do too much. He doesn't look like "the guy." I'm all for bringing in real competition with Bryce this year.

That's such a great confidence builder for a young kicker. That was great!

Very fair point. I guess when Bryce get's to play spreadout, that works for him, but Canales won't do that because it's not going to hold up for a 17 game season. To me, this has always been a make or break year for Bryce. Year 3, you need to know what you have. We just don't have a full time, starting NFL QB. I will hedge that on the fact that he's only 24 years old. It's a small hedge, maybe just a shrubbery at this point since Bryce has had three full training camps as QB1. I guess I'm struggling with the balance between patience and performance. My desire is to be patient since he's 24, but he's also had plenty of time to improve. I just don't want to use send him off for peanuts and watch him reach his potential elsewhere.

Anyone who is calling for Bryce to get a big fat $50m per year extension are high. Look, anyone can see that Bryce is a mid level QB, who if he went to the right system would be pretty good. Bryce does have some things going for him - the clutch play (sorry, not getting into the good QBs are never bad or put their teams in holes), his athleticism, and ability to make plays though not the big plays we want. And he makes adult men go wild...lol y'all are obsessed. Dalton played like poo. Andy had some good throws, but his low points were just horrific. Andy made a bunch of mistakes that the smart, vet backup shouldn't make. If I'm being smart - I'm going to keep looking for QBs. Bryce has not demonstrated that he's the answer. He's far too inconsistent in his play (and his mid line is LOW). Bryce knows how to play, how to do all the QB things but it's not showing on the field consistently at a high level. Is that a Canales problem? Yes. He saw what Bryce did well last year when allowed to "cook" and brought Bryce back to a system that is not what Bryce is good at. Look, I'd love for Bryce to put it all together. He's still very young, but as a physical outlier in size, time is not on his side. What happens to Bryce's game when he loses his athleticism? He's not settling down like he should. Then again, most young QBs are really struggling.

I can't remember if this was said, but I'll reiterate: Bryce Young's greatest super power is getting dudes all hot and bothered on the Huddle. I am struggling to remember a time when the huddle was this TOXIC of a small dude with an OK arm and a lot more less than mediocre games than good games. He's not quite as bad as the downers say, but he hasn't shown he's good enough to be the long term answer. I guess we'll see once he comes back from his ankle injury what's up.

Bryce haters gunna hate. Can't change that. Bryce has been pretty durable all things considered. A couple minor injuries considering how much he was hammered year 1. And he still takes hits. Dude is tough. The play in question is a football play, poo happens. That's ultimately what happened. Guys running around, trying to stop Young and stuff happened. Sucks but that's how it goes. For me, I'd rather see Young play. He will either prove that he's the Dude, a JAG (leaning heavily right now), or an outright bust (some of you were there on draft night, lol)

Awesome! Thank you for the smart person input! I almost feel as smart as someone who slept in a Holiday Inn Express! (My god, what a terrible reference!) It makes sense. I'm a large person with a lot of muscle mass (but saw how terrible my endurance has gotten this year yesterday - WTF life!), and I never get seriously hurt despite smashing my fingers, hands, feet, head and all sorts of limb on doors, desks, 3/4" sheets of plywood, etc. I do on a daily basis. I just thought I healed faster than others, small biological win. But that it's just my body is just bigger and better at allocating resources. Again, super interesting!

I'm a dumb dumb, what do you mean that he's a type of athlete that not going to heal? No sarcasm, snideness, just being honest. Personally, I've never heard of different types of athletes ability to heal or not. Or maybe I'm over/under thinking...or I'm distracted. You seem to have a lot more knowledge than I do about how feet and ankles work Please enlighten me!

Remember, hindsight is always 20/20. It's very simple to look back and say "we should have drafted this dude instead of that dude." The team took a HUGE risk on the physical outlier. Then instead of building and fostering a team around him, they turned it all upside down on him, jerked him around, and basically sabotaged his rookie season. Year two started off in the pits, and then got better towards the end. This year has been so up and down. I'm not sure this is the right place for Bryce. Honestly, let's see what Dalton does and how different the game looks this weekend. The biggest problem with young QBs is that it's so hard to figure out if you have the guy or not. So much is situation dependent. Look at what's happening to Cam Ward, and how he's getting put through the same Bryce Blender his rookie year. It seems like teams just don't have the patience to develop QBs anymore. If you don't hit it off by the time you're in your 2nd year, you're done it seems.

For such a little human, Bryce Young has an incredible effect on the mental stability (and lack thereof here). It's fair to say the red carpet of coddling was rolled out for Bryce. He's been up and down this season. Dalton has been around a bit, and will take his shots. Will he be better than Bryce? I don't know. So the Panthers are a weird crossroads right now. Do we have a franchise QB? (nope) Could we make a playoff run? Maybe, depending on how the next few weeks workout. Is it worth getting to a winning record and possibly playoff berth if we don't have a long term answer at the QB position? Interesting times!

I've learned to appreciate the just toxic takes here. It's like twitter...just a poo show. Now back to watching people complain about a tough win. Ugly win > pretty loss

Man, there's a lot of subpar OL out there...

I think if it's still unanswered by the 5th season, then it's already answered lol.

Tim Donnelly had a good point about teams that overpay QBs. There are a dozen or so true franchise altering $50m a year QBs. We don't want to be in the Jags shoes of paying $50m for Tlaw when he's not proven to be that dude. Bryce is playing like a $20-30m a year QB (on an extension/market). Someone who can play within a system, make some plays, but isn't going to lift your team out of the dumpster. I don't think it would be a good idea to give Bryce that kind of raise. 5th year option, today, I'm down for it. Give it time. If he does stink after the option, that's a much easier cap pill to swallow than the remains of a fugged up $50m contract... If Dan and Brad sign off on that...well...it's their butts!

The sample size is too small right now. Sure it looks good because we've only allowed 50 yards the past two weeks combined. Cool, but not sustainable. Teams will get you. It happens in the NFL. The eye ball test is that our D is playing MUCH better. Are they world beaters? Nope. But they are playing so much better than last year. Putting the Dot on Wallace is having a LOT of positive effects for our LB play. I'll take being a below average team right now as opposed to the dumpster fire we had for years.

I agree that perspective is important. I also think that it's fine to take the wins when you can. So the Panthers have started playing a lot better against bad teams after the first couple of weeks. Cool, I'll take that. Will it continue? I don't know. The Jets could be the uber trap/Steve Wilks revenge buzzsaw that sucks all the life and wind out of us. Or we could beat them and the narrative still wouldn't change because they are a really bad team. Here's my long perspective: We've been one of the worst teams since we traded for Bryce - talent level, wins, etc. Any metric will show that. This year, we are improving. Maybe we're not bottom tier trash. Maybe we're just to below average. That's growth as far as I'm concerned. I'll take that.

That's pretty cool. I don't care about the garbage versus not-garbage time non-sense. You play what you have to play, and everyone has garbage time one way or another. After all, if you don't win before the game starts, then are you really a winner? Isn't it all garbage time anyway? (Sarcasm with a capital S)

Good to see you back @fieryprophet! But I disagree with your point. QBs are ultimate chad alpha winners! Unless your QB is an uber-mega-alpha-chad-winner, you got a beta-cuck-loser. (tell me huddle, am I doing this right???) In case anyone isn't quite sure, yes, I am being extremely sarcastic Great post

Look, no one is ever a perfect player. Since the QB handles the ball on 100% of plays offensively (unless there's a direct snap to a RB or something), I can absolutely see where they get an outsized blame and gain from what happens at any given snap of a football game. Theoretically, there shouldn't even be a stat or idea to a 4th quarter comeback or game winning drive because you should already have done that during the game. Losers! Right? Just because you win late doesn't take away the fact you tried to lose the game for your team! I'm not a fan of that opinion, but again, I'm just a moron with a keyboard. Bryce has limited tools. Bryce has not inspired the same level of confidence in us as Cam Newton did in year 3. I certainly get that. We traded a TON of assets to get Bryce, and we still suck. (I mean, since we've lost games, we're losers right?) I completely understand that some fans are just unhappy with a limited QB and a team that isn't performing well, unless the other teams are worse losers than we are. I will say this: Bryce will fight until the end. Sure, he's has some real loser football. But in close games, he's doing his best to comeback (even against a winner of prevent D). Now is it better or worse if your QB plays their best ball in the first half and sucks 2nd half so long as they finish with 300 yards, 3 TDs for your fantasy points? Who said stats are for winners anyway? The Panthers and Bryce has a long way to go. I'm enjoying the winning right now. Though I do start each game thinking "how will we fug this up today?" Because it's been such a poo show in the Tepper era. Will he prove to be a legit starting NFL QB? Maybe not here as evidence by our record with QBs who were high draft picks.

How long did we spend looking for a LT? I remember those years. You pay the LT. That's the nature of the game. How did the OL look when Icky missed time? Like a poo sandwich? Yep. He's a good starter, you have to resign him. Is anyone really worried about Bryce breaking the bank at this point? I mean, he's looked better, but he's not looked like a $50m a year guy, much less a $30m year guy. Some might even say he's a replacement level. Regardless of QB, Bryce, FA or Draft Pick in 2026, having a good OL is important. Also in another two years, a bunch of money will coming off the books from recent FA. So it's not like we're tying our hands completely up by resigning Icky.

With as long as the Panthers have been horrible, it's important to understand that some people aren't ever going to be happy with the Panthers again. Year after year, we've had hopium highs only to be dashed by the regular season. I get it. There are also plenty of Bryce critics, which are very fair. I think Bryce had a pretty good game. Not great, but good. He made the plays we needed. Now why aren't we seeing the explosive plays more often? While some will point to his physical limitations, which are there, we've also seen him throw the ball downfield successfully. He didn't forget how to do it. I think that a lot of fans want to know that by year 3, we can see why Bryce was No. 1 overall over more physically talented QBs. We're not. The inconsistencies, the turn overs, the timid play. There's a LOT going on from Bryce's play which makes a lot of posters(and fans) nervous and unhappy. Again, no issues, fan how you want to fan. The fact that while behind or tied, Bryce was 10/10 for 158 and 3TDs... So that's a thing. I'm not convinced that Bryce is THE DUDE, but he played pretty well Sunday. He's got to string more strong games, keep protecting the ball, and he's going to have to try some downfield throws again.

I love how he just performs when his number is called I'll take it!

I think Bryce had a good game over all. Not perfect, but good. He made some good throws again, but also didn't push the ball down the field as much as he could have. More yes, but not quite enough to satisfy most Huddlers. I'm still in the "see what happens crowd" Bryce needs to either prove that he's the QB1, get us to the top 5 pick, or we need to move on if he's just average. I'd love for Bryce to be the guy, but I'm not convinced yet. Thought he did have a good game today.