BrianS

I think you're missing my point. We cannot replace Kuechly, the MLB. He was generational. We'll never see another like him here in our lifetime. What we can HOPE to replace is what he brought to the defense, the leadership. What we miss most from Kuechly is not his ability to play MLB - as exceptional as it was. What we miss is that guy who can call out the play that's coming, the guy who can get us into the right defense to counter it, the guy who puts his teammates in position to be successful. I think / hope Chinn can be THAT guy. Another season playing at the level he played at last year will give Chinn the "street cred" with the rest of the defense to start taking over that sort of role. If he can mentally get to that place where Kuechly lived.

Don't sleep on Chinn taking over that role. He's got the athletic ability, it's all down to whether he elevates his preparation to Kuechly levels at this point.

Darnold. First, last and every option in between, it's Darnold. If Darnold can be just "good", my expectations for this team will go way up. We have talent at a lot of spots now. Yes, we still have weak spots, but every team does. The question is do your strong spots cover for the weaknesses.

Context! This is a *VERY* good Colts team. If they had any sort of QB last year they may have had a chance to get to the big dance. I'm not saying we should be accepting of getting beat up, but it's not like the Jags came out and beat us up. My only concern is the intensity with which our players approach the situation. Sounds like we might have been a little flat. That's a concern, 100%. As long as we play hard, we'll be fine. That's what I want to see.

GL Agent89.

I think people confuse the read option with the RPO. Read option is what Shula ran here with Cam. Some read options have a throwing component, yes, but mostly the read option is what Cam did when deciding to keep the ball or let Stewart have it. RPO is when the QB reads the defense and decides if the play is a run or pass based on what he sees. I don't think Darnold is a good candidate for read option. Yes, he's decently athletic and mobile, but do you really want to expose our only real QB to any potential hit he doesn't have to take? With this line? I prefer Darnold focus on becoming more like Aaron Rodgers than Cam Newton.

Why is age relevant at all to a rookie? Yea, it sucks for the player, it means his potential football career will be shorter. But for the team? There is no downside. You're getting a player who is, in theory, mentally more ready to put in work and learn. One who will likely only need one more contract done in his entire career. BC either works out or he doesn't. Like any rookie. But his age isn't really a negative as some folks would like to make it out to be. If he takes a year or two to acclimate to the NFL, and we then get five productive seasons of a "good" NFL lineman, it's a pick well spent.

So two thoughts. 1. There is always room for a possession receiver on a team and if this is "that guy" - the one who always gets 9 yards when you need 7 and never drops a pass - we have room for that. 2. As a coach, you've got to motivate ALL your players. By talking up Saunders, you're giving him motivation to keep pushing, which is great. Simultaneously, you're sending the message to the other guys competing for seats 5 - 7 in the receiver room that they need to step up.

He's pretty good about posting a thread here when he releases a new one.

The best case scenario for Tremble is he becomes a decent catcher of the ball. We already know he can block, regardless of where we line him up. If he can become a reliable catcher of the ball, it just adds that much more uncertainty to the opposing defense. Consider the options if Tremble becomes a reliable reciever. DJ, Robby, Terrace, Tremble and CMC are in the huddle. What do you do? Replace Terrace with Dan Arnold . . . now what? Our offense has the potential, assuming Darnold gets his act together, to be the best we've ever seen here. Yes, we have OL problems, but with those sorts of weapons any little slip up by the defense and SOMEBODY is taking it to the house.

Not sure Deonte makes the team at this point. Yea, he's big and physical, but historically we've asked our guards to be able to move. Not sure last year really gave us the best read on our offense, but I can't see Deonte being able to do the sorts of things Norwell did as far as movement goes. He looks like he'd be a great fit in a power run scheme, just not sure he's mobile enough for Joe Brady. Maybe we keep him around for first and goal from the 2. Hard to argue that our red zone offense was worth a dime last year.

Surely you did not just try to equate Tepper with Dan Snyder. That can't be what you just did, right? The two couldn't be any more different. And what's the problem with other events going on at BofA? I think it's a good thing. I'm pretty sure most folks would agree that getting more use out of your stadium is a win for the community as a whole. No one is forcing you (or any other Panthers fan) to attend these events. Pretty sure you'll see a stadium full of Garth Brooks and Elton John fans who are thrilled to be there.

Won 5 games with our best player out all year and a QB who couldn't get the ball downfield. And now we're worse? Shenanigans.

Of course, but holding this particular rep up as evidence that Horn is "the answer" for us outside is ludicrous. Agree. That's why I don't think this particular clip is all that exciting. Horn lined up with the right leverage for the route. After that, not much to see. Had the route been outbreaking or deep, we might have had an opportunity to evaluate something. I'm excited and hopeful that Horn turns into another Gamble / Norman / Bradberry. I want to see something special. Something that really shows a spark of that potential. We'll know a whole lot more in 11 days.

Don't get me wrong, I want Horn to be good . . . but that video . . . Horn had the leverage the entire time. In a game, you simply don't throw that route. Or the receiver options to an outbreaking route so the leverage works in his favor.

You may well be right on that. My only worry is how many guys we have on the team who also fit that narrative.

The tin-foil brigade is actually saying that the Wentz injury was not actually a serious injury, but designated as such specifically to trigger the clause that keeps the Eagles from getting a better return.

Honestly, any situation where Brady Christensen starts for us - even at guard - is nothing but a win. It would mean the draft has yielded at least three starting caliber players from three different rounds. That's the sort of drafting that builds a franchise from inconsistent to perennial winner.

That's not true at all. We used him in prior seasons, but last year he was CLEARLY playing for a contract. Notice how his catch percentage went up nearly 30 points from the prior year? How his catch percentage was 20 points higher than his previous career high? He actually had more targets in 2019. I'm glad he performed so well last year with CMC out. I hope the light bulb finally went on for him. I'm REALLY glad we didn't pay him 10+ per season.

I want Horn to be good, he needs to be for where he was drafted. I hope the staff can correct the problems, because the problems are right there for everyone to see. This is the kind of player who would have really benefitted from two more preseason games.

Still just training camp. No pads. Against backup DB's. If the guy turns into Moose 2.0, fantastic, I'm thrilled. I hope he does, because it will enable us to pay Moore and loose Robby without a problem. I just look at our history of receivers and am still a little scared.

He doesn't need it. Moose played at 6'2", 215 and was great. If we end up with a combo that even approaches the Smitty / Moose levels of production people will not want to see us on their schedule.

So truth is stranger than fiction sometimes: The Panthers look to have one of the best WR groups in the NFL *after* losing Curtis Samuel. You can't make this stuff up.

I think that all things considered Brady should get a total pass on what happened last year. TB5 under center, CMC gone most of the year, no offseason, brand new staff . . . yea. Nothing that happened last year should have any effect on Brady. This year is different. We should absolutely expect the offense to perform better this year. If the offense doesn't progress or moves backwards and it's not easily identified as a QB problem, I think at that point Brady may be in trouble. Not fired, but it would be fair to ask serious questions.

The first four games isn't even a quarter of the season any more, it's certainly not enough to make the hype real. I'd prefer that we temper expectations especially early on, otherwise we end up with threads like "TedDy cAnT thRoW DeEp" or elevating Kyle Allen to sainthood. We should hope that our defense learns to stop the run, then get off the field on third down. We should hope CMC stays healthy and returns to form. We should hope for Darnold to declare himself as either a legit NFL QB or a real bust. I'll be ecstatic this year if we can finish 8-9 / 9-8 while winning some close games. Anything beyond that would be miraculous.