Jay Roosevelt

The bottom line is the bad situation around him makes it impossible to judge exactly what we have with Bryce. I know a lot of people seem to think every #1 pick should be able to single-handedly carry a team on his back from day one, but that's not the case with the vast majority of rookies or vets. I'm not even saying Bryce hasn't had his struggles outside of the team around him, but he's a rookie and still developing. That's going to happen even when they have good team around them at times, but it obviously will with a rookie.

Tee Higgins + a WR in the 2nd.

Morgan has had too much of a role for me to trust him with the job. We need to start fresh.

Sounds like it won't matter what happens on Thursday. Good.

We have an elite coaching staff... for the year 2012. We're behind current trends offensively, though Evero deserves a ton of credit for keeping the defense solid despite all the injuries.

Honestly, Nicole can't be worse than her husband.

You're not wrong, but the way I view it if you're picking top-5 it really doesn't matter if it's #1 or #5 if you've traded the pick.

It would be embarrassing for people who hang out on message boards and Panthers Twitter. Otherwise, what difference does it actually make in terms of the future of the team?

I don't get this. Who cares if Chicago ends up with the #1 pick? We're not going to get it regardless. Why does it matter if it's #1 or #5? We suck either way.

Tepper is a horrible owner. Reich is a horrible coach. Fitterer is possibly the worst GM in the NFL of the 21st century. None of that changes the fact that CJ. Stroud would be struggling just as bad as Bryce has if surrounded by this poo show of a team.

Thursday night games should be done away with. What a horrible idea.

Pretty obvious he's pressing, trying to make something happen when nothing is there. I keep saying it; we won't know what we have with Bryce until/unless we get an at least functional situation around him. Not to say he wasn't awful yesterday - he clearly was - but in the long run we need to have enough talent around him that if he fails, we'll know it was the player who failed and not the team failing the player.

Embarrassing. This is the kind of poo that makes me defend Bryce Young. Regardless of any struggles he may have in addition to this no QB can function properly behind this abortion of a unit.

No question it was a bad game from Bryce - his worst of the season by far - but he's a rookie QB on a bad team and these type of games are going to happen. Yesterday was the classic example of a rookie QB on a bad team struggling; chicken or the egg? Yesterday was both. Like I said, I'm not going to sit here and say that I think Bryce is 100% going to be a franchise QB, but I will say that the way a portion of the fan base is acting regarding him is embarrassing to me as a long-time fan. NO rookie QB should be written off halfway through his first season, especially when the team around him is this bad. And that's not even getting into the coaching situation. Bryce has shown flashes despite all this, and that's what keeps me encouraged enough to think he could be our guy long-term. Maybe he won't be, but all I'm saying is we don't know yet and likely won't for a while.

Great post. I'm ashamed of how a large portion of this fan base has treated Bryce. Yet I guarantee you if/when he turns it around and develops into a franchise QB these same fans will be wearing his jersey. I'm not even saying that it's a sure bet that he's going to work out, but you don't give up on the #1 pick in the draft after half his rookie season, especially when the team around him is so awful.

Hopeful? Because he has at least shown flashes and the team around him is garbage.

There's a difference between taking sacks and literally having 3 defenders in your face within half a second of getting the snap. OL is THE single biggest problem on a team with a LONG list of them. That's 100% on Fitterer. He's the one who insisted the OL was "fixed" during the offseason.

Everyone, hopefully.

This may be the worst OL in franchise history. To think Fitterer thought the OL was "fixed" after last year. Bozeman is garbage. Ickey is trending toward being a bust, and Throckmorten is a JAG at best. The only remotely capable NFL OL we have are Moton and Corbett.

Atlanta? Surely not.

I predict the baby will be born on its birthday.

You have to also consider the change in blocking scheme and, of course, the turmoil at left guard beside him. Chandler Zavala, despite having played with Ickey in college, was an absolute disaster and Calvin Throckmorton is a JAG at best. I don't think it's a coincidence that as soon as we started having problems at LG that Ickey began to struggle. But in general I agree 100% with what Wahle is saying here. Guys like Ickey can get by in college with being bigger and stronger than the opposition to the point that they don't have to be technically sound in order to succeed, but you HAVE to be a good technician at the NFL level to succeed. A couple quotes from Wahle that I think sums up Ickey perfectly: "Great feet, poor footwork." This speaks to having all the athletic ability in the world, but needing to refine his technique and improve his consistency. As much as he has struggled at times this year, there have still been those flashes of the guy who was the #6 pick in the draft. "Campy is a good coach who has helped produce a number of really great OLs, but this kind of talent has had years of people saying ‘good job’ instead of perfecting technique. Takes time and a general desire to improve." This is something that can be applied to players at any position coming out of college. These guys are all great athletes - sometimes ELITE - who have dominated against lesser athletes for coaches who are OK with that because their job is to win, not develop players for the next level. That said, I think if Ickey WANTS to be great, it's only a matter of time. He's shown he can play at this level, just not consistently yet. I also think we have a good OL coach who can get that out of him as long as Ickey is willing to put in the work, which we haven't seen any indication that he's not willing to do. Only time will tell. I think his floor is a good starting guard, and that is an option if he continues to struggle, but I think we have to give him every opportunity to develop as a left tackle before using that 'break glass' option.

I still think Ickey can be a great LT, but he needs to start showing more progress and consistency for sure.

The OL is the single biggest problem on this team. Until that improves we're not going to see any significant improvement from the offense as a whole.

I'm more optimistic about Bryce after the last 2 games than I've been since before preseason. The switch to Thomas Brown will be huge in the long run, IMO. Still, until the OL improves and we get him some better receiving options the results are going to continue to be mixed. It's nice to see Bryce show his toughness by getting up time after time after taking these hits, but it's absolutely not something we can allow to continue happening if he's ever going to reach his full potential. As much as we need to upgrade the weapons around him, the OL needs to be the #1 priority, IMO. Whether it's the scheme or personnel something has to change.