KSpan

The only logical and rational conclusion, really.

Thomas made the key block that allowed Tremble to score. Just sayin'.

I don't think Sherman (or any other proven vet) signed tons reasonable 1-year deal would fall into that category, but I do agree that this isn't 2015 where a Cortland Finnegan-type midseason signing is going to make or break the team. With Bouye coming back and a longer week it seems wise to hold tight.

Across the entire team there seemed some grit last night that was perhaps a bit lacking last year, the ability to increase resolve and shut the Texans back down after those couple of good drives. I also liked that the offense seemed to have an answer after stalling out the final drives of the first half.

That's hilarious.

As is the Panthers way.

His own timid play and pathetic attitude, particularly as the season went on, are the only things laid directly on him IMO. Agreed that the team was expected to be bad last year but it definitely had a negative impact on the team and their ability to win in critical situations. Also agreed that all parties involved appear better off at this point and it will be interesting to see what happens when Denver faces a real team much like Darnold here in Carolina, though the Saints are a tier or two above the Jags and Giants.

Even though they lost that game Jake was on fire in 2007, 8 TDs to 1 int in less than 3 games before the attack of Tommy Jone.

That was his 3rd TD of the day. Carolina started that game red hot and jumped to a 14-0 lead, with Smitty having a bobbled tip-drill TD pass as well. Then the wheels fell off.

I enjoyed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It's not as adult as others but was decently well done, and had the nostalgia factor from reading the books as a kid.

Ha! Love it.

Nah, they just need more money bet on Houston.

So what is Teddy's strength then? The whole point of bringing him in was supposedly because Brady wanted to capitalize on his strengths... but then he just opted not to? Also, are we to believe that Rhule, Brady, et al just didn't spend time working on red zone/a clear area of weakness? That makes little sense. I'm not saying that there's zero truth in Teddy's comments and I'm still not fully warm on Rhule but Teddy spent the entire season deflecting blame with 'we' being the operative term for failure. He was wholly unimpressive both on and off the field and may be better for the experience depending on what happens in Denver, but what a waste of a year.

To look at things from an optimists point of view, offensive lines oftentimes improve as the year goes on assuming that there isn't extensive shuffling due to injury. If this is the baseline and we do see improvement throughout the year then that the team may be in a decent place toward the end. Now, I'm not saying to retain underperfomring players or that changes shouldn't be made if there is someone that may be better. I still don't understand the Erving and Elflein signings given who else was out there (Reiff was my target) and Elflein may well play himself out of a job. It will be worth watching in the coming weeks as competition gets better as well.

After my comment about Lamar's performance in bigger games he deviated from that trend tonight. Really turned it around after this early mistakes.

That Chiefs/Rams game from 2 years ago gets hailed as some amazing game but IMO was the same thing. Agreed that crappy defense isn't the fun to watch, and I'll even go so far as to say that the Rams/Patriots Super Bowl was highly entertaining despite the score because it was a defensive battle.

I get the sentiment but Carolina can't help that, and they've looked good in winning these first 2 weeks just like quality teams should in games they should win. Agreed though that a true litmus test is still outstanding.

Lamar has shown himself to ultimately be overrated. Dude kills it in lower stakes games but when the pressure is on he just doesn't seem to have it.

Weird things happens on Thursdays and this is just a wild card. It should be a good omen, yes, but in reality who knows what will happen.

Eh, Carolina has a long and storied history of making backups looks like All-Pros. Not sure I'd go that far at this point.

Are you implying that Tyrod Taylor is a QB to be feared?

I haven't seen anyone call him a 'snake' or anything similar, and being objectively skeptical and ultimately disappointed because of Teddy's historical and continued lackluster play is entirely separate from other QBs, Cam included. It's fair to note that his public actions did not appear to fully align with his reputation and that a team offloading a player like that given the financial commitment and loads of stories about how he fit exactly what the offense was hoping to do raises questions that will likely go forever unanswered for the typical fan.

The story was that Carolina signed him because he was what they wanted and good at what they wanted to run, so even assuming that's only a half-truth it should have seemingly been a better fit. The whole thing is odd because moving on that quickly indicated the staff saw nothing there redeemable/worth even considering a second year. I'm still a bit skeptical of Rhule but the motivation to jettison that quickly would seemingly be him not as advertised behind the scenes, even if only in Carolina for some reason, and the tension was so easy to see publicly.

It's just puzzling that he has this rep of being such a great leader and team player, yet flamed out so badly in that type of role in Carolina. Rhule and his staff are certainly a variable here but whatever happened things sure went south fast and they dumped Teddy as quickly as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Teddy drank his own Kool Aid and wasn't so great behind the scenes (evidenced by the obvious frustration the staff had with him), but that's speculation on my part. Whatever it was though they couldn't wait to move on.

That's... that's just... beautiful.