SCO96

This is how I feel. Could we find a better DC this off-season? I think so. Could we do worse than EE? I think so. We rank 14th in points allowed per game (22.5). Last year we gave up 31.4 points per game. We've only given up 30 points in 2 games this season, the blow out losses to Buffalo (40) and NE (42). If we could find a double digit sack guy to come off of the edge and find ONE STUD ILB, we could easily be a top 10 defense in 2026 with this current scheme.

I hate to agree with you, but XL clearly has not lived up to his draft status. He's had a couple of good games. I'd loved to see him make a huge leap forward in his 3rd season (like Bryce has in 2025), but I'm not holding my breath. I don't think it's a stretch to say our offensive production would not be drastically affected if he were not on the roster in 2026. Check out the below data. XL (2024-2025): 80 rec/835 yards/ 7 TDs. He's on pace to finish with less than 450 yards this season TMAC: 65 rec/924 yards/7 TDs with 2 games remaining in his rookie season. We could probably find a WR on Day 2 of the draft to replace those stats. Jalen Coker would have better stats if he hadn't missed so many games due to injury this season. I hope for everyone's sake he pulls everything together in year 3. If not , you pretty much have to decline the 5th year option and move on to the next guy.

Hey....KOOL AID! I haven't seen one of those commercials since the 80's!

John, If you re-watch that play, it looks like the receiver made the mistake. He was running across the field to Baker's left, stopped and pivoted to to Baker's right. He released the ball as if was expecting the receiver to keep running left toward the sideline. As soon as I saw that play my first thought was "the receiver wasn't where he was suppose the be". I don't think Baker was fooled by some master defensive scheme either. The receiver would have had an easy completion if he had run the correct route.

I could see this happening too. 1) We're at home which "should" be a plus (5-2 in Charlotte this season). 2) We are going into this game realizing that a win will clinch our first winning season since 2017 and gain a playoff spot to boot. 3) We seem to play up and down to our competition this year. Three of our loses are to teams that are at the bottom of the their division (Arizona/New Orleans--twice ) Three of our win were against teams with the highest ranked offenses this year (Dallas, GB, Los Angeles). The 3 teams that thoroughly whipped us this year have 11 wins or more (Jacksonville, New England, Buffalo). I will say that I don't think Seattle will "overlook us". I just looked at the schedule. The top 3 teams in the NFC WEST have all clinched a playoff spot...but the division is still up for grabs.

I agree with you. This team is definitely on the upswing. If Morgan can nail the 2026 draft as well as he did the 2025 draft, I really believe the Panthers can be a legitimate playoff team for the rest of the decade. I think the two things that will affect our success the most going forward is improving the pass rush and the quality of QB play we receive (no matter who is behind center). The guys we drafted to pressure the QB will likely step up next season, and we have an entire off-season to acquire more talent. The most important factor is defiitely QB. When Bryce plays well, we play well. Even his harshest critics can't dispute that. I've been as critical of Young as anyone on this board. That said, if he could master climbing the pocket like Drew Brees and improve his ability to attack the middle/intermediate areas of the field, I think we might be able to ride with him for the next several years.

How did Jimmy Horn get such a high rating?

I've been as critical of Young as anyone on this board. That said, if he could master climbing the pocket like Drew Brees and improve his ability to attack the middle/intermediate areas of the field, I think we might be able to ride with him for the next several years.

Maybe...but how do we know that it wasn't on the receiver?

Hopefully Sam Darnold will do the SAME THING NEXT WEEK

If we had taken care of the Saints this season we would have clinched our division TODAY!

Carolina failed to capitalize on the turnovers and didn't produce enough points on offense to outscore the other team.

Top NFL defenses in "Havoc" which is the % of plays a defense gets a pressure, TFL, forced fumble, INT, or pass breakup: We rank at the bottom of the league in this department. --- No one is disagreeing with the data in your text. We know we need pass rushers to get more pressure on the QBs, better play in the secondary to improve our pass defense, and some impact guys at LB. But, Evero isn't playing with a stacked deck. Our defensive roster is mediocre at best. Despite our talent deficiency, Evero has statistically managed to field a middle of the road defense in Carolina. Our main issue is on the offensive side of the ball. We are only averaging 18.9 points per game. That ranks 28th of out of 32 teams. Only the Browns, Saints, Titans, and Raiders score less points per game than the Panthers. FYI: We've been outscored by the woeful Saints 37-24 in our 2 games this season. Our point total averages out to 12 pts a game and theirs is less than 20 (actually 18.5 pts per game). How is that Evero's fault? https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/points-per-game

They have had some issues at the QB spot this year. Purdy was injured and missed several games resulting in Mac Jones having to come off of the bench. Still, they have a solid 96.87 passer rating for the season. What's killing them is their pass defense. Their rating against the pass is 101.31! That's terrible when compared to the top pass defenses around the league. The 49ers rank 26 out of 32 teams in stopping the pass. I know they have had some injury issues this year so that could explain why their pass defense is mediocre. Fortunately for them, they are able to be an exception to the historical trend. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-average-team-passer-rating

Passer Rating Differential = Offensive Passer Rating - Defensive Passer Rating Offensive Passer Rating = how efficient your team’s QBs are. Defensive Passer Rating Allowed = how efficient opposing QBs are against your defense. The larger the positive differential, the more dominant your team’s passing game is relative to opponents’ passing success. Conversely, a negative differential means your defense is getting carved up or your offense isn’t efficient enough. Almost every Super Bowl champion from the 1970s to the present day finished near the top of the league in DPRD (Defensive Passer Rating Differential). https://coldhardfootballfacts.com/stats/passer-ratings-differential Look at where we are #16 and we have a Negative DPRD (-0.36). Every team above us has a a positive DPRD, is .500 or better, and still in running for a playoff spot. Look at the chart. The best teams in the NFL have the highest DPRD. Only 2 teams below us with a negative DPRD are still in contention or the playoffs: #19 San Francisco (-4.44) and # 21 Tampa Bay(-6.62). And, Tampa has no shot if they fail to beat us down the stretch at least once. The teams with the highest negative DPRD always seem to be at the bottom of the standings. I didn't learn about this stat until 15 years ago. It's amazing how it always seems to accurately predict who will be in playoff contention year end and year out. 1 = Los Angeles Rams 111.76 85.23 26.53 2 3 Philadelphia Eagles 100.00 75.57 24.43 3 1 Seattle Seahawks 100.30 77.42 22.88 4 1 Buffalo Bills 104.20 82.66 21.54 5 1 Los Angeles Chargers 91.46 71.19 20.27 6 1 Houston Texans 90.70 72.40 18.30 7 1 Detroit Lions 110.41 94.40 16.01 8 1 New England Patriots 109.10 96.75 12.35 9 3 Green Bay Packers 102.95 92.09 10.86 10 1 Denver Broncos 89.21 78.78 10.43 11 1 Indianapolis Colts 95.12 85.91 9.21 12 = Pittsburgh Steelers 97.42 89.90 7.52 13 = Baltimore Ravens 93.87 86.91 6.96 14 2 Jacksonville Jaguars 88.07 81.23 6.84 15 4 Chicago Bears 89.48 88.70 0.78 16 2 Carolina Panthers 88.77 89.13 -0.36 17 2 Arizona Cardinals 93.49 95.79 -2.30 18 1 Kansas City Chiefs 88.85 92.46 -3.61 19 1 San Francisco 49ers 96.87 101.31 -4.44 20 1 Atlanta Falcons 87.50 92.50 -5.00 21 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 89.77 96.39 -6.62 22 = Dallas Cowboys 98.69 108.92 -10.23 23 = New York Giants 87.74 98.84 -11.10 24 1 New Orleans Saints 84.97 96.17 -11.20 25 1 Miami Dolphins 88.33 102.37 -14.04 26 3 Minnesota Vikings 75.03 90.31 -15.28 27 3 Las Vegas Raiders 83.50 99.14 -15.64 28 = Cincinnati Bengals 84.51 104.46 -19.95 29 2 Washington Commanders 87.24 107.74 -20.50 30 3 Cleveland Browns 70.46 91.41 -20.95 31 1 New York Jets 77.75 104.86 -27.11 32 = Tennessee Titans 76.27 106.03 -29.76

Evero has his faults, but even in that loss, the team only gave up 20 points. Your post gets to the heart of the matter. We are not a talented team on defense at this time. Some of our younger guys may develop w/more playing time, but for now we have no impact players at LB or EDGE. We could really use a ball-hawking S on the back end as well. We have exactly two players that have to be accounted for on every play, D. Brown, and J.Horn. Mike Jackson has been solid. The other starters would probably be backups on most the upper echelon NFL teams. We really can't expect this team to a Top 10 defense with such a lack of talent. All things considered I've been somewhat impressed with how much better they have played this year. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-points-per-game https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-average-team-passer-rating We are in the top 15 in terms of points allowed per game (22.6) and top 12 in defensive passer rating (88.9). And, we are doing this without a formidable PASS RUSH. Even our rushing defense has improved. We are #16 in rushing yards allowed per game (116) compared to 179 per game last season. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-rushing-yards-per-game I wouldn't cry if Evero moved on after the season, but his defense isn't the biggest worry for our team.

I was watching the game on a tablet in the Publix parking lot when a Canales made the decision to go for it on 4th and 1. I thought RGIII was dead on when he said they should call a sneak instead of a hand-off. 1) It was less than a yard 2) We never run Bryce on a sneak (due to his diminutive size) so it probably would have caught them off guard. He opted to hand off. And to make matters worse handed off to Chuba instead of our power back (Dowdle). I LITERALLY KNEW IN MY GUT THAT THE GAME WAS LOST ON THAT PLAY. The game shouldn't have been that close. When you let a team hand round in games like this, things tend to go south a lot of the times. I'm expecting us to miss out on the playoffs now. A win and today and a split with Tampa would've had practically guaranteed us a playoff birth. Watch us finish up at 8-9 instead of 10-7 because of TWO baffling losses to the Saints.

Only the Panthers can beat 3 of the best offensive teams in the NFC league (Dallas, GB, and LA) and still get swept by Saints with a chance to take control of the division.

I'm glad we're up...but I don't think Rico got that ball across the goal line.

Icky is a good player. He deserves to be resigned. BUT, there is NO WAY any knowledgeable football fan believes that Icky is a top 5 player at his position in the NFL. The point of my post was that a guy who may not even be in the top 10 at his position SHOULD NOT RESET the market for Left Tackles just because he's the next guy up to have a contract extension. If he does, then that puts even more financial stress on a team that may have resign a QB to "record deal" in the next year or two. The NFL salary structure is ridiculous. Merit is what is really meaningless. In some cases you don't even have to be that good in the NFL at the top of the NFL pay scale. You just need to be the next in line to get a new deal.

When I see those figures my stomach gets queasy at the thought of Bryce getting a similar deal. I think it would be a wise for the FO to speak to him and his agent before the deadline for 5th year option. If Bryce expects a similar deal prior to his 4th year...or even after his 4th year...Morgan needs to try to work out a trade deal and move him.

The above scenario would be a nightmare for Carolina. It's tough having to make decisions on who to keep and who to let go. You have to look at which position can I spend less on and still get similar production. In our case I think it would be the quarterback position. For most teams with a legitimate franchise QB, that decision would/should be easy. It's hard to replace a guy like Mahomes, Allen, or Stafford in terms of production. Those guys can make any throw and can carry a team on their backs to compensate for the weaker areas of the roster. However, a starting QB who does not produce at an ELITE level and needs the team to carry them is easier to replace than solid LT. I'm not giving Young a 45+ million deal prior to his 4th year at the expense of a solid left tackle when the said QB isn't even a top 10 QB in his own CONFERENCE.

If we somehow won our division and made the playoffs in 2025, I could understand the reasoning behind picking up the 5th year option on Young. However, I would let him know not to expect any renegotiations until the deal expires (end of 2027). If Bryce became crazy productive in year 4 and Carolina returned to the playoffs in 2026, I could understand the reasoning behind giving him a new deal prior to 2027. Under no circumstances would I make him the highest paid QB in the NFL. There is no way I'm letting BY get a deal that is going or "reset the market"...unless we win the SUPER BOWL. If he wants to "reset the market" you let him play out his final year and acquire or draft a QB prior to the 2027 season with the intent to start that person in 2028.

I think Icky was shown steady improvement and really should be entering the prime years of his career that position. He's a first round draft choice that panned out and I think he needs to be resigned. That said, your above formula is correct, but concerning. Icky is Good player and could potentially become great. But, should a 4 year starter at LT that has never been selected for an 1st or 2nd All-Pro team or been selected to a Pro Bowl become receive a new record setting contract and become the highest paid LT in football? We may have to do as you suggested in your post. If he does get that deal, then the financial situation at QB becomes even more concerning. If Young and his agent insist on a contract in line the "QB Market" and you want to retain him you either have to hope he takes a hometown discount (i.e. below market value contract) or have a guy in the wings to replace him when he decides to hit the open market. We still have crucial holes to fill at EDGE, LB, S. It's fun to pretend to be a GM, but in real life we can only imagine how stressful that job really is.