BrianS

I'm not sure this should come as a surprise. Anyone with eyes could see something was wrong in 2018. Do you blame the trainer? I dunno, a little maybe. The trainer is really a guy who focuses on recovery. Getting players ready for the games. Maybe the trainer should have said something along the lines of "Hey, this isn't improving the way it should". Do you blame the doctors? Yea, of course. It's their job to look at the situation, run whatever tests are necessary and diagnose the issue. It's not an easy job, but they are paid well . . . even moreso working for an NFL team with million dollar athletes I'm sure. Do you blame the player? Yea, probably a little. When something doesn't feel right, you really owe it to yourself to get a second opinion. Doctors aren't perfect, and sometimes having a second opinion can open up some avenues of thought that are helpful. Many players DO get second opinions from outside doctors. I haven't read anything to indicate Gano did that. There's blame to go around for the mis-diagnosis for sure. The real blame should fall on the team for getting rid of him. Doesn't matter who made that decision, it was clearly the wrong one. Missed kicks tend to have a much wider impact than is generally accorded them. They can change a lot of decision making in the game, and these decision can really affect the outcome. All I know is it sure would be nice to have him on the team right about now.

Passing numbers make complete sense though. This line is currently competing with 2014 as one of our worst lines ever.

And oldest. Don't forget how old we were. It was bad.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but Darnold is on the books for 18 guaranteed next year. He's gonna be here. The QB draft class next year is looking quite un-inspiring. And here's your 2022 veteran FA's: So, yea. There's that.

I hear you, I really do, but the options weren't there. At guard in the 2021 offseason, there were 16 guys that Walter rated as two star or better FA prospects. Two of them were Panthers: Chris Reed and John Miller. That's a pretty low bar already. Of those 16, 10 of them had clear injury concerns in their history. It's even worse when you say "I want better than what we have". There were only 10 guys who were rated better than Miller. Of those 10, only TWO didn't have injury concerns: Joe Thuney and Kevin Zeitler. We were never in the conversation for Thuney, he went from the Pats to the Chiefs for 16 million per season. At 31 years old, Zeitler went to the Ravens for 7+ per season.

Nope, wrong thinking. When there is interior pressure, it makes it MORE likely a tackle will give up a sack or pressure. The QB cannot step up to allow the tackle to ride his man upfield past the QB. Or even worse, the QB has to take an extra yard back in his drop to account for it. Offensive line play starts in the middle, if that part is bad, your overall line is bad. You can't hide it.

Ah, so we should have spent more than 80 million on an IOL? The guy was a Patriot - part of a perennial winner. He went to the Chiefs, another team that has become a perennial contender. What on EARTH makes anyone think we could have gotten him to come here. For us to sign Thuney, we would have probably needed to offer 18 million a year over 5 years. That's nutso money for IOL. It does point out just how difficult last offseason was. Thuney was really the only guy at guard you could look at and go "Yea, he's a lock to be good".

The problem with this premise is that it assumes there were legit options available with our salary cap constraints. I hear you regarding injuries, I really do. But peruse this list for a bit and be terrified: https://walterfootball.com/freeagents2021G.php I know, Walter football, they suck. But it's just a list. Hard to get that wrong. The point is that as you read thru that list you see a lot of "wouldn't have cut him if he didn't have injury issues" or "dubious injury history" or "coming off a knee injury". And even if Walter isn't that great, they had John Miller - yes, our John Miller - as the 13th rated free agent at Guard. They had Chris Reed - yes, our Chris Reed - as the 15th rated Guard. It was just a scary and awful offseason to need IOL. Look at the list man. Who do you think we should have tried to sign?

Let's tap the brakes there Marty. How many CB's have the Panthers successfully converted to safety? I think this is just a symptom of our traumatized fanbase. We are so accustomed to our secondary being a hot mess that we're still snatching at any opportunity. The truth is, our secondary is pretty darn good these days.

This is the worst "hot take" I see in our fanbase. Do you seriously believe our front office and staff didn't see the problem? Come on man, they knew it was a problem. Seriously - what do you expect them to say publicly? "Yea, our OLine is gonna suck" We signed Moton. We signed Elfein. We signed Erving. We drafted Christianson. We drafted Brown. Etc Now, you can argue that some of our signings were not what we would have liked. But consider for a moment that we walked into last offseason with a 42 million dollar weight strapped around our neck. We just didn't have the resources available in terms of cap space that other teams had. You can argue that our draft picks haven't shown out yet. The season has a long way to go. A lot can change. Norwell and Turner started 2014 on the bench, but were playing in December. This ain't Madden where you can power through a season in a couple days and fix problems. This is the NFL. It takes time.

The Dallas game? Yea, that was on the defense. You can't give up 36 points and win very often. The Philly game? Not on the defense. 21 points is a very reasonable number of points to give up. I don't care what Rhule said. The defense was fine.

And there it is. The thing that turns your franchise into a "window" team (or perennial loser) instead of a consistent contender. I'm hoping our front office is finally getting this, even if we as fans aren't quite there yet. When need and availability match up in the draft, great, love it. But specifically saying "We're going to draft OLine because we need it" is nuts. You can't love a guy because he's what you need. Sure, if you have two guys graded the same, obviously you look at need to break that tie.

Funny thing about that. We have priors for doing exactly this. The first game of 2014, our starting OL was: Bell, Velasco, Kalil (the good one), Silatolu, Chandler. The first game of 2015 our starting OL was: Oher, Norwell, Kalil, Turner, Remmers. That exact progression there was the entire genesis of the infamous Rivera "The answer may be on the roster". Norwell, Turner and Remmers were all on the 2014 roster, they just didn't begin the year on the field. Likewise, consider how our ENTIRE defense changed in one offseason - the famous Rhule all defense draft. Yes, it's painful to be where we are right now, but this is typical Panthers fan reaction when a season starts with some success. We overreact. This season was never our season. Not sure why we can't square with that. This was / is supposed to be our transition year. Settling in with the Rhule system and becoming that team that might not quite be there, but no one really wants to play in December. We're also still sitting on 42 million in dead cap. We just didn't have the money to go get what we needed. Doesn't matter who is to blame for getting us to that point, the fact is it's 42 million we couldn't spend on the team we're fielding this year. Next season, if we're still in dire straits on the OLine, it's very fair to question the staff / front office.

While I don't disagree with the OP sentiment, the unfortunate fact is that there simply aren't any takers out there. Think about it this way. Who would the market be for Donte? If you aren't interested in the player for this year, you can get him for free next March. That eliminates pretty much half the league right there. Further, we just picked up CJ Henderson for a 3rd and Stephon Gilmore for a 6th. What does that tell you about the market right now for CB's? There just nothing there. We bought in a low market, which is what you're supposed to do. The only way I see that changing is if there is some bizarre series of season ending injuries to starting CB's across the league.

I appreciate the zeal of the OP, but the problem with grading based on highlights is that by sheer definition, you're grading only the absolute best plays of the game or the absolute worst. It's just not helpful in determining what the problems may have been. For example, giving BC a low grade based on his getting overpowered. First off, this should be a cautionary tale for all of the huddle OLine coaches. BC's game was never power. It's technique. Putting him at guard is dumb. That's not his game. Second, you had a rookie in his first start playing out of position. Don't let that be understated. I can't remember who it was, some Panthers lineman from the past, who was asked about switching from right to left. He said it was like learning to wipe with your other hand. You can learn it, but it can be messy. Third, if there was a solid anchor on the interior, and all you saw all game was BC ushering his guy upfield and past the QB, how much better would you rate him? A good OLine can easily compensate for having one backup quality player in it. Unfortunately, it appears right now that we have at least three. That's unlikely to change this year. Hopefully our coaches realize that and account for it.

I mean, how could this not happen? Rhule talked him up after the Dallas game. Kiss of death man, kiss of death.

In all fairness, if his first read wasn't there, chances are he was getting hit before getting the second one.

You cannot - CANNOT - Let that happen. Moore was the better receiver last year. He's the better receiver this year. With the cap situation this coming offseason, the smart move is to front load some money for DJ into next year. I think outrage would be warranted frankly. Think of it this way. What kind of numbers would DJ put up in a highly successful offensive system? With Mahomes in KC, Rodgers in Green Bay, Wilson in Seattle, etc.

For a guy who believes in stats and analytics, he's sure missing some big ones right now. In 2020, 12 of 14 playoff teams averaged giving up 23 points or less per game. 2021 reality check: Currently averaging 18 per game. Our defense is fine. In 2021, 12 of 14 playoff teams averaged scoring 26 points or more per game. 2021 reality check: Currently averaging 23 per game. I see you Joe Brady.

Yes. A comeback is typically thrown before the receiver makes a break. The QB reads the DB and decides whether he's leveraged to make the play or not. Basically the QB is just throwing to a spot before the receiver reaches the top of his route. Double moves and stuff the QB can't get the read until after the move has been made. The QB can't even make the read until the receiver reaches the top of the route and makes his break. Unless you see something very specific pre-snap, those types of routes are typically your last read before you check it down. A lot really comes down to the way the play and progression are drawn up.

This cannot be said enough. Pressure up the middle is the WORST CASE SCENARIO for any QB. It's the fastest, most direct way to put a QB under pressure. Why does that matter? Well, obviously because defensively you WANT to put the QB under pressure to force mistakes. You cannot ask ANY QB - Mahomes, Rogers, Brady, etc - to face pressure on 50% of his drops. How do you beat a great QB? Pressure and contain. If that's the formula for beating the best of the best, how much does that affect a guy who isn't in that stratosphere? I don't know if Sam is the answer. Maybe, I have no strong feelings either way at this point. But this game wasn't a fair representation. No QB should ever face pressure on half his drops.

This is exactly what I've been saying. BC, for all that he is, doesn't appear to be stout enough to play G. My only observation is that we should stop moving him around, put him at LT (where he played his entire college career) and see where we go. Nothing to lose really, and it gets both tackles in their most comfortable position.

It's all on the interior. If you can't anchor, your whole line looks bad. Tackles can't do their job because a lot of their technique revolves around ushering the edge player upfield past the QB, or to a point where the QB can simply step up. Whole thing breaks down when the pressure is up the gut.

And we have FOUR of those.

There's always this guy: