d-dave

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.

God, I felt that... Very on brand for Rhule... I felt like we've seen that a few times before.

I think we're going to play our best ball in the 2nd half of the year. The first few weeks - everyone is going to be figuring out how to play together and we're going to have a lot of close misses on things. It just takes time. We could luck into a bad division and be playing for the playoffs at the end of the season again. I think that's completely possible, and I wouldn't be opposed to that one bit!

Geez! And seeing how Spencer said he played it through a dozen times...

LOL, glad to help! It does take some time to get combat straight. When Gale turned level 5, the game changed lol. Lighting Bolt and Fireball are super strong AoE spells. When you can hit five enemies' in that spell, that's DOPE! The biggest adjustment for me as a long time D&D player (Theatre of Imagination not a miniature guy) was the flanking/threatened system. I kept getting frustrated that I couldn't use sneak attack when I was flanking a dude. Now I know that Astarion needs to start at ranged (with his good initiative score) while my pally comes in and makes everyone angry. Then he can start piling up the Sneak Attack damage! Also, using things like misty step and jump are really important in the positioning battle. You don't want your own guys to get nailed by a fireball either. I'm a total save scummer. I quick save every 5 min it seems so that if I start off getting fugged up in combat, I'm not going to lose too much. heck, even in combat I'll save! I'm looking forward to Starfield, but I do like the slower pace of BG3 with the ability to pause the game. Starfield is going to again require my family to leave me a long for longer than 10 minutes at a time!

We'll have to see. I thought the unit played better against Detroit, but that's not saying a lot. There are still a lot of issues to fix in the protections and communication. But that's what happens when mostly everything is new. Having Campen is great, but they are still transitioning away from the power running offense they finished the year as. Asking these guys who'd rather run block than pass block to pass block a LOT more is going to have a learning curve. Hopefully we'll see more improvement throughout the season.

When I saw that, you could see that most of the impact went to the defenders. That was kind of crazy - I think that Bryce has developed an instinctual skill to avoid the big hits.

According to internet sources (so take with MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF SALT) - this is one of the least buggy Bethesda launches... So??? We'll see. I can't wait to jump in! Hurray for Game Pass and MS putting it's billions to use!

Yep, I started in 1992 or so. The game has changed a lot. I'm honestly pretty happy without THAC0... And I do appreciate the DC based system. You don't have to do guns. I don't mess with them because it really kills my vibe. As far as sex: it's a game known for ubervirgins playing while NOT getting laid. So "if there are any girls there, I want to do them!" happens a lot. From my college years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kgx2b1sIRs&t=191s

I was being facetious - that's what people have called it because the companions are very "thirsty." But if you're not down for that, that's fine! Play the games you enjoy! You don't have THAT much sex....

I haven't played turned based since Baldur's Gate 2 some 15 years ago. Not a huge fan myself either. What I have figured out is that I have a LOT of strategic flexibility. So it's different. Not as fast paced, but very rewarding. Using the environment, combo effects (grease + fire), and sometimes a simple shove are super effective. So what is the selling point here? The story and characters! There's a LOT of questing going on, and the dialogue is just great! You have a lot of options to complete different objectives and each one has it's own story outcome. You've probably heard BG3 is the bear-sex simulator, but that's just ONE character! You can have sex with a vampire, a hot bad girl with a past, a wizard with a bomb in his chest, a demon, a demon hunting warlock who can get really horny, there's a love interest for every kink! There are so many cool story beats. You mean some real bastards, so real gems, and a lot in between. Want to murder everyone? Go for it? Want to play without killing? Go for it! Want to min-max the heck out of your abilities and skills? Go for it? Want to play only using auto saves? You are quite brave! I love the game. I am a 30+ year D&D player, but I'm much more into my action and FPS games! I played he old school Eye of the Beholder games along with a fair number if the isometric party games (Icewind Dale, Planescape, BG and BG2, etc) in my youth. So I'm coming back after a long break. So what am I really personally enjoying? I love the exploration and the stories. I am becoming a big fan of art and world design so I am having fun digging into every corner to see what the artists have added. I love seeing the new characters and finding those emotional story beats for the main questline and my buddies. Oh and the Paladin's smiting attacks are MONEY!

The JT O'Sullivan video was great. He's able to much better than a blow hard like Sims to articulate what's happening on a given play. Sims' value is of entertainment. I admit to listen to Florio and Sims sometimes when I just want some football talk - I know they're full of poo. It's just another perspective. I stopped caring about his ratings a few drafts ago. He's a former player, son of a player who is entrenched with NFL connections. He can have some interesting opinions, but at the end of the day, they are opinions. And opinions are like feet, we have a few and think each other's stink. Bryce will only go as far as the offensive line goes. The first month will have a fair number of "almost" plays that will start to click as everyone gets more familiar. I'm super stoked about Young and the Panthers future. But more and more I'm tamping down my expectations for early season. While preseason isn't overly meaningful - it does show we have a new team that needs time to gel. It won't happen over night.

I just don't understand why people are overreacting to preseason like it's going to determine how well we do. There are some concerns, and you hope that things get cleaned up. How well Bryce plays, along with the rest of the offense is going to determine how many games we win. That's just the modern NFL. If your D can keep people below 20 points a game, you give your offense a chance, even a subpar one. I think our D will do that... But I'm realistic - new coach, rookie Qb, new schemes, and a LOT of change. It's going to take a few weeks of real games for them to gel. After week 3-4, I think we'll have a much better idea of the team.

It's so easy to be negative. Optimism is hard - you have to maintain it. You have to keep believing, even when the road gets tough. In this case - our team has been pretty poo lately. It's easier to say "yeah they will suck" because that's just what we've seen. It's much harder to say "Ok, we're going to be better." While I'm not sure our defense will be as good as we hope, I do think that by the end of the season, Bryce Young will be proving his worth. What will our record be? I'm not sure. I think 7-10 (total wins, not record) is possible. We could be surprising, once we get through the first month of the season. I just don't see this team being horrible unless all of the wheels fall off the wagon. I'm going to choose optimism because it's more fun than being a pessimestic. Also, if the Panthers lose - I'm not going to let it ruin my life. I'm a fan, but I'm also a father, husband, and educator. I've got lots more things I care about more the Panthers. But if they go on a run, I'll be there for the ride!

While I am getting more concerned with each preseason game, I know the Panthers aren't game planning and they are trying to play vanilla. While it would be great to have a full steam ahead team - they just aren't there. New coaching staff, new schemes, and limited contact during training camp. I think for guys like Icky, they are thinking too much. That is going to happen. I think there could be a high possibility of us having a really rough first half of the season while everyone figures out how to play and we settle this play calling issue. Regardless of players - the team has done better with Brown calling the plays. More points, first downs, and yards in the 2nd half. So if I'm Frank, I have to be humble and give it Thomas. Frank should be part of the game planning, but I think it's Thomas Brown's offense moving forward. The good news is it's still preseason! We still have a good amount of time before the season. We'll see what happens!

For me: 1. More competitive play from everyone. 2. Better execution. Do your job: block the dude, tackle the dude, etc. 3. No injuries. I think if we do that, we'll look pretty decent in this game, regardless of the score.

I saw a couple of shots on twitter, and in one he starred the guy down, in the other he was super later to a hole in the zone. The big knock on him was being able to process the information on the field. Did he throw with any touch, timing or anticipation? CJ has the tools to be a great QB, and I was all for him before we traded up to 1. I don't want to see him fail (if for no other reason to be a successful OSU QB just so people stop making that argument). He also seems like a nice kid (like most rookies) so you root for them. Houston should not have him start if he's not ready. You'll ruin him. Look, let Davis Mills start until things slow down for CJ. In those two shots, he looked like a deer in the headlights.

I was/am. There's a lot of hope on my end for the story and exploration. I've fallen deep in the Baldur's Gate 3 hole! I will definitely check it out, since it's on Game Pass. Here's to hoping it's fantastic! EDIT: Oh, and I LOVE ME some No Man's Sky as well, so maybe this is a little more action/story driven than NME, that would thrill my soul!

I've heard a lot about the BG3 early access, but I figured I wouldn't have time to play. Well after seeing how much it brings D&D to life, I had to buy it. My god, this is a fun game! I love it! Not only as a D&D fan, but just as someone who appreciates how well the wrote the characters and interaction system. This is so much fun and I sneak in as much playtime as I can Though I will say, my party members need to keep it in their pants...sheesh! Everyone is horny for my dwarven cleric!

For my family - Jersey Mikes. Ours nearby is really good and my wife likes the GF bread. I like Jimmy Johns, but they suck at the GF stuff for the wife. Last one I had on a work day was meh, but we used to love JJs. Honestly, it really depends on who works at the shop. Our JM has great folks who do a good job. The JM near my work sucks ass because people are lazy and don't care. The Wich Witch at CCM is pretty meh as well. OK, but I don't need to go back. As far as the make your own: still spending your time and money. I'm fine paying for convivence.