Jay Roosevelt

Yosh Nijman has been a surprise.

Is the most confusing Panthers team in franchise history. That's it. That's the thread.

If Dan Morgan drafted XL because the owner's wife "suggested" it that's on him. Have some balls and take your guy regardless. If you get fired, you get fired. Why any GM worth a damn would want a job under those circumstances is beyond me. Especially Morgan, who was in a position to know how much ownership meddled in football decisions as the assistant GM under Fitterer. If he took the job knowing that he'd be nothing but a rubber stamp for the Teppers then he has little to no integrity and is just as much to blame as they are.

I don't think we'd have beaten the Bills with Bryce at QB given how bad the defense played but I have no doubt it'd have been at least a little closer. Dalton is a good mentor but he's clearly done on the field. Should have signed Jameis Winston for that role.

Cool helmets. The rest looks like baby diarrhea.

Pretty bad showing for the QB when he makes the worst list but the entire top-5 on offense are all WRs and OL.

I'm sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that defenses playing two high safeties is causing this kind of league-wide decline in deep passing. I honestly think most of it is a result of chickenshit play callers who are afraid to stretch the field and would rather rely on dink-and-dunk passes that make games near unwatchable. Two high safeties has been a thing for DECADES and teams were still throwing deep until recently. It's a mentality more than anything purely schematic.

IIRC, Martin was drafted to play CB but ended up at safety.

I'm very interested in seeing the specifics of these cases. The term "illegal gambling" makes me think this is unrelated to typical sports betting/point shaving and related to something else on the side. That kind of stuff worries me much less than something like we saw with Jontay Porter happening on a larger scale. I absolutely think the feds need to be keeping a much closer eye on this stuff given how much more sports betting is going on these days. I honestly don't care that much if it's a Calvin Ridley situation where a player is betting on league games that he's not playing in; I can see why that isn't allowed, but I don't think that presents a major threat to the integrity of the game on any kind of large scale. IMO, the larger threat to sports in general isn't a large-scale organized crime operation but a bunch of smaller operations or even just individuals who are willing to do what Jontay Porter did. He was a relatively insignificant player in the grand scheme of things, but it's entirely possible we see this type of thing more and more even at the highest levels of sports. If gambling is going to be legalized to the extent that it has been, there needs to be better regulation and a very strong set of rules in place for the sportsbooks, the bettors and for the leagues/teams themselves. I don't get the sense that is the case right now.

Drake London also torched them in that game, though.

I honestly didn't see this kind of improvement coming. Especially the run defense. As great as we all knew he was, I'm not sure any of us truly realized just how dominant a player Derrick Brown actually is.

10 things I think about Bryce... 1. He's improved a lot more than many people here care to admit. 2. I think he's better than just a backup QB. 3. I also don't think he'll ever be a high-end starter or franchise QB. 4. I don't think he's quite reached his ceiling yet. 5. His ceiling likely looks roughly like how he played against Dallas, more or less consistently each week. 6. His size is less of an issue than his arm strength is. A lack of arm strength doesn't allow for his accuracy to translate to downfield throws. This ultimately will be what limits his upside as an NFL QB. 7. He's been far more durable than I expected, recent injury aside. You can't question his toughness at this point considering his size and how often he's been hit over his first couple seasons. 8. I don't think we'll ever really know what Dave Canales is capable of as a playcaller without a QB who can make downfield throws a lot more consistently than Bryce has shown. 9. I wouldn't pick up his 5th year option or extend him. 10. Long-term our best bet is to hope he continues to play more or less well and hope a team in desperate need of a QB (Jets? Raiders? Dolphins?) make us a decent offer for Bryce, hoping they can get the next Baker Mayfield/Sam Darnold redemption story.

That Mingo trade still baffles me.

So turns out C.J. Stroud is a bust, too?

Baker having Matt Rhule flashbacks.

We finally have a winning record and y'all are debating about firing the head coach? QB I can see; that's a legitimate debate. But if Canales has us at 4-3 despite limitations at QB, why is that a sign that he should be fired? If anything it's the opposite.

Oh, without a doubt. Vinny always did have a big arm, though.

Hopefully he was just rusty after so long off.

I wouldn't hate having Winston. He's basically the modern day Vinny Testeverde but he's still got a live arm.

I mean, odds are we're going to lose this game regardless.

I would take Bryce Young on one leg with an eye patch over Justin Fields at this point.

I've been as hard on him as anyone but this is absolutely true.

I'm liking what I'm seeing from this Chambliss guy from Ole Miss.

Yeah probably a career backup but a guy you want on your roster for sure.

I'll give him this; he certainly seems at home on the sidelines. A lot of coordinators who become head coaches will look lost as hell on the sidelines. Canales is obviously not one of them.