ImfromClayton

I thought our receivers were exceptionally poor against the saints, so I was very pleased on Sunday. I think they all got picked apart in the film room this past week. XL alligator armed a touchdown pass with no hit coming, T-Mac had some uncharacteristic drops and Coker had his worst game as a pro IMO. This team feels like effort level and preparation are still a moving target. That's the difference in good and great, because I saw a team that was well prepared and max effort against the falcons this week.

I appreciate you putting the work into this. It's one I struggle with. I do think we have some games where, if he plays better, were not in a position to need a game winning drive. I also think he's had some games, like Sunday against the dirty birds, for which without the dude, we lose the game. period. Part of the reason he has so many of these is due to the opportunities. His rookie year we sucked out loud. We could only really win by scoring before the buzzer. Last year was more of the same. That defensive unit last year with no DB was abysmal. Now that we finally aren't one of the worst defenses in football, we are seeing a lot better results. I do think Bryce was more consistent at the end of last season opposed to this season. The next step that we'd all like to see though is when we play a bad team like the saints, and they put 9 guys in the box, Bryce has to make them pay. And then we don't win on a game winning drive, we win by 14, because it's the NFL and you should get punished for putting 9 in the box. I still think he's only the guy that can lead us to success for this window of players. I'd like to see us get better at all three levels on defense in the offseason. We lose very little to free agency. Next year is the year.

I'm walking away from yesterday extremely pleased with the result, but also quite confused. That was obviously Bryce's best game with us, and I'm not sure its even remotely close. Additionally, he was CLEARLY hobbled by an injury. I thought the Falcons attacked us with pretty much the exact same defensive game plan the saints used. I did think the effort level and intensity our receivers showed was much better this week. I actually thought the o line was about the same as the saints game. I think Chandler Zavala is a talented kid, but he consistently misses assignments and makes mental mistakes. Defensively, our lack of talent is really starting to show up. We need help on that side of the ball badly in the offseason. I don't think Canales is a bad coach, I think he's learning and improving as we go. and In game coaching is absolutely a learned skill. That said, I do think he called a much better game Sunday opposed to last week. I do think Chuba is a better runner against the stacked boxes we've seen the last two weeks. Rico hits the hole so hard, and that's why he has a lot of the success he has, but sometimes, there's no hole, and a more patient runner like Chuba is the more ideal back, especially when teams have 8 and 9 guys in the box. I also think it's ok to have two good running backs with different skillsets as long as you don't allocate too much of the cap to them. At some point, we have to figure out the inconsistencies in the offense and how to address them. It is unconscionable that we looked like that against the saints and falcons in back to back weeks. There is no way to rationalize it. It's so hard to make a determination on Bryce young.

I agree with this. I think Jaycee is really good when he's good. but he's also really bad when he's bad. DB is one of the best players in the league and were lucky to have him. Scourton has been a phenomenal 2nd round rookie. I don't like spending money at safety, but Moehrig has been really good too. I'd spend nearly the entire draft on that side of the ball. We could use a really good player at every level on D. If the BPA when we pick is a DT, I hope that's the position we take. I'd even take a lower value position, like MLB. We just have to improve.

We just beat the team with the best record in the NFC 8 days ago. I don't see any W's or L's at this point. I see a bunch of "idk." As mentioned in the post, We can lose to anybody. I'll go through it though. @Atlanta. Who knows. I thought they were going to be really good. They've been really average. We killed them. I expect them to be better at home. But were definitely good enough to beat them. @49ers. Fully expect to lose. They have too many weapons on offense. But they also can't stop a nosebleed. Their QB's stink too. So Who knows? Home vs. Rams Fully expect to lose. But until yesterday, we've been pretty solid at home. I think Stafford has a field day against our defense. Poona Ford seems like exactly the type of player that prevents us from being able to run the football. This is the least likely W in my opinion. @Saints. I mean I think we are better than them but they just poo pumped us. So who knows. Home vs Bucs. I think they are better than us, but we were playing well at home. Who knows if you get good baker or bad baker. They have some injuries. idk Home vs. Seahawks. I think they are really good. Sam Darnold could turn back into a pumpkin, but I expect to lose this game. @ Bucs I think they are better than us, but same as above.

This is an overreaction. As down as I am on them, and as much of a must win as Sunday was, we still have a solid team, and some winnable games. Chicago has a murderers row schedule remaining. We play Tampa Twice. The playoff window is still wide open, but I don't expect us to climb through it. While I don't think were good enough to pencil in an W's, I'm not sure were bad enough that any remaining game is unwinnable.

Maybe it's because I had some expectations going in, but that's literally the worst I've ever seen us play. Even our guys that played really well had some rough moments. Scourton was the best player on the field for us IMO. I thought Jatavion Sanders was our best offensive player today. As much as I like the two of them, they can't be our best players on their side of the football the way we've allocated money. Jaycee fell down twice and they scored two touchdowns on those plays. He's a big physical corner. He's never going to get touch calls. He lost his balance way before he actually fell on the Olave touchdown. I did not think that was anything close to OPI. I actually thought officiating went far in our favor. The missed field goal thing gave us the ball with 4 free downs inside the red zone and we had an unbelievably bad fumble. Bryce was miserable. The first INT that got wiped for RTP was telegraphed and thrown right to the linebacker. I don't know if the second was miscommunication or if he just didn't see the defender in the flat, but he threw it right to him. Trevin Wallace was fine when healthy. DB was good, but not himself. Ick was our best O lineman, but even he had an egregious missed assignment that lead to a sack. Interior got bullied. T-Mac had some uncharacteristic drops. XL was not hustling on that fade route. I think the way Chuba runs, he was a better matchup for what they were doing defensively. Most alarming thing though is they dedicated 7/8 guys to stopping the run every snap. There was nowhere to run the football. They absolutely dared us to beat them throwing the football, and at times we would not do it, and at other times we could not do it. Entire group seemed really "off" yesterday. Not sure what in the world was going on.

I'm a Bryce defender, but that was so bad it really makes you question everything.

He had a spinal fusion in april. I don't think he will be quite his old self, but we need depth badly. and if he is his old self, this is an incredible signing. About the best you're going to do on Nov 5.

If the clock reads 0:00 in the fourth quarter, and we have more points than the other team, I'm happy. If the clock reads 0:00 in the fourth quarter, and we have less points than the other team I am unhappy. I don't think there's another player that can play quarterback on the Panthers roster that puts us in a better position to have more points than the other team with 0:00 remaining in the 4th quarter in the year of our lord 2025. I understand the larger discussion, but I think there's no reason to have it until this season plays out.

I just think most people don't understand what Bryce does bring to this offense. His constant checks and adjustments, and dummy calls, and all those other things that announcers don't talk about routinely put us in a position to be successful. He is no small part of the running success we've had. I agree that his physical abilities are near the bottom of the NFL, but I'd say that's less than half the job, and becoming less and less important with each passing season. We've seen far more physically gifted players that couldn't get the job done. There's a reason for that. If were winning, don't change it. I like winning.

Dion Dawkins is a funny person, and a good dude. But his personality is such that when he pisses you off, you're going to get really pissed off. That's what happened here.

Checks out. I thought the o line was fine except right tackle. That spot was consistently bad Sunday. T-Mac is ridiculously good. I am surprised at some of those defensive grades. We had no answer for that toss play. I expect to see it a lot moving forward. Crazy to say this but I didn’t even think Josh Allen was that good on Sunday. XL continues to be a really tough eval. When he’s good, he’s dominant. He just completely disappears to often, and does the weirdest stuff. Stepping out of bounds for no reason on a route. Holding a block downfield. If he ever puts it together he’s going to be very good, but costly mistakes hurt him. You can tell by snap counts they love what he does. And he is max effort all the time.

I don't think they cut Dalton mid season. I don't think he will retire either. Hendon Hooker had approximately 12 seconds to learn the playbook. I do think backup quarterback just addressed itself as a "need." Bring on Jameis.

Andy Dalton is a great guy, and he has earned every bit of the respect he's garnered. He's in line for a relatively large payday next year, so he has a tough call to make this offseason. But it's over for him as an NFL player. That was absolutely clear. I don't want to pile on the guy, because I do like him a lot, and I think he's a good dude. That was like watching your dog get old. Nothing fun about it.

I don't think anybody with a brain thought or thinks we are a legit super bowl contender this year. I do LOVE the young core group that is forming. Part of the reason I defend Bryce Young is that if he is not good enough, we're going to waste a lot of this young talent we have anyway. You don't go from 5-12 to super bowl contender in one offseason unless you get a major injury back or get an insane free agent haul. We currently can't hang with the best teams in the league. We are also much closer than we were 365 days ago. Progress is good. There's still an outside shot at the playoffs, but I am really excited to see what Dan Morgan does with this offseason. Rico Dowdle a big decision. Jalen Coker, Brycen Tremaine, Cade Mays, Austin Corbett, Brady Christensen, Nick Scott and Christian Rozeboom are the guys we have to make decisions on. But this rebuild should be over next August. Or we have to do it again. Improvements needed at pass rush and linebacker for sure. Expecting us to win a super bowl this year is like expecting a kindergartener to do calculus. Is it possible? I guess so. but 99.9% shot it aint happening. We played like doo-doo against the bills, but that was definitely a penciled in loss from the day the schedule came out. Candidly though, if Bryce is ever going to be it, next year is the year we need to start being really good.

I've seen much discussion on this topic, but its really hard to evaluate it piece for piece due to the cap implications it had. For example: I'm not sure we sign hunt or lewis with burns contract. Those picks obviously turned into XL and Mitchell Evans. So our side of the trade is still very much TBD. That said, as good as Burns has been this year, and he's been really good, He's still a pash rush only DE. He's also getting a lot of 1 on 1 there, as they have Thibidoux (I'm sure that's spelled wrong) and Abdul Carter, as well as Dexter Lawrence in the middle. If you don't double Dexter, your play is not going to work. You can only have him on the field on first and second down if you have a dexter lawrence, or a derrick brown. If you watch the giants, one of their biggest flaws is that teams attack their defense the same way they attacked ours when he was here: Run off tackle straight at Brian Burns. I'm not sure you can win a lot of games with a player like that absorbing so much of the cap. So sure, he's on pace for a ridiculous season, but the giants are not good, and I really don't think he'd be able to put up the same production here. Throw in the way this trade opened up our offense, and I think it's a wash for us at worst.

I personally think Bryce is going to be an extremely good Quarterback for a long time. If you look at modern QB development, it just takes a while. The extreme athletes can get by early, but if you look at the trajectories of guys the last 10 years, were seeing a lot of slow-cooking. Jared Goff, Geno Smith, Baker, Sam Darnold, Trevor Lawrence. The list is long. The guys that were truly special from Day 1 is an extremely short list. The list of things that college quarterbacks are responsible for gets shorter by the day with the transfer portal, and the college offenses. The list of things that NFL Quarterbacks are responsible for seems to get longer and longer each season. I saw an interview the other day in which a rookie quarterback and center were calling plays for the offense. I can't remember the team or the Quarterback, but I definitely remember the clip. It takes time, even for the smartest and most gifted, and the reality is, we have no idea how good or bad the coaching may be until we hear things we aren't supposed to hear anyway. Bryce isn't perfect, but I saw in another thread, his biggest struggle is risk/reward. That is something I only expect him to improve upon. His adjustments, ability to read a defense, and execution have been extremely good considering our rosters in his tenure here. Our offensive personnel and coaching were both so poor his rookie year that I'm not sure it's fair to properly evaluate that at all. Since that time, all we've seen from him is growth and progress.

To this point, we have the worst pass rush in the league. Nothing in football happens in a vacuum. Corners have been fine. Not great mind you, but fine.

IMO, if Ceedee plays against us, the game probably goes the other way. Same with Tyreek Hill and the Dolphins. Our team just isn't designed to beat teams with two high level receivers like that. But when you look at the league, how many teams really have two guys of that caliber? There's nothing wrong with defensive adjustments, but sometimes I think a lot of fans want Evero to call a different play like a game on madden, and defensive football just isn't like that. That said, I thought we did a much better job this season against the Cowboys of flipping Jaycee and at least making them work for it, opposed to last season when they literally just lined CeeDee up on the other side of the field every single snap. For us to just straight up switch to consistent man coverage, or a different zone, or whatever, we likely would consistently need different personnel on the field. Doing it a few times a game is a gamble and can work, but if we consistently run man coverage against the Cowboys, eventually a RB is going to beat a linebacker, or something of that nature with our personnel. Part of the reason Evero likes this scheme is that, while we have our defaults and presets, what we do is very multiple, and you can do a lot of different things pre and post snap. We are a challenging defense to read. But as you said, if guys are getting beat, it doesn't really matter what you call.

I don't think officials are biased. I think that is lunacy. That would be about the only way to break the multi-billion dollar money printing machine that is the National Football League. I do think some teams are harder to officiate than others. Some teams do a better job taking advantage of the rules. And officials make mistakes. We see it more with teams like the Cowboys and the Chiefs because they are on national TV more often.

I'm not sure how much I'm changing mid year, especially when we are seeing some success. Most Pass Rushers are physically gifted. Scheme and personnel help, but you gotta have the Jimmys and Joes, especially at that position. We will likely lose games when the other team can throw for 400 yards, and has multiple high level receivers, but I think at this point in the development of our franchise, we have to be ok with that. You can't address every single issue at once. Really looks like we have plugged some holes on offense, and definitely in run defense. In the next draft, if we hit on a CB, an ILB and a Pass rusher, we will be pretty dangerous.

We’re 6 games into their careers. it’s never as good as you think it is. It’s never as bad as you think it is. im stoked right now, but let’s pump the breaks on this.

But a bunch of people on this chat page told me Bryce Young can't throw the ball downfield.

These threads really expose some people. First: We run a primary cover 3 zone scheme. We can't just move Jaycee wherever the other team's #1 goes. If you watched us, we did a good bit of randomly switching sides and roles yesterday to try to mess with them. They simply audibled and motioned into plays and packages that put george pickens away from Jaycee. They did the same thing with Ceedee Lamb last season. It's ok to say that the other team did a good job of something. Second, We have allowed about 40 combined rushing yards the last two games. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our defensive game plan. In fact, a lot of folks owe Evero an apology. The issues on defense is that we do not have personnel capable of rushing the passer, and we do not have a 2nd corner capable of covering the best receivers in the NFL. I can live with the 2nd problem, but the 1st one has to be addressed in the draft. Princely and Scourton have been solid, but they aren't going to be 10 sack guys as rookies. They may get there though. The more we can force teams into 3rd and 4th and long, the more chances we will have for turnovers. I think the job Evero has done with this crew has been pretty solid.