d-dave

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.

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...