Peon Awesome

Not to look ahead because we need to focus and take care of Houston on Thursday but I seem to recall it wasn't till our complete thrashing of the Cowboys on thanksgiving that the whole world took notice that the 2015 Panthers were an absolute juggernaut. Several experts had even picked the Cowboys to win that game even though we entered 10-0. And if that sounds outlandish, just check this link: https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/11/25/9796444/2015-nfl-picks-predictions-experts-week-12-panthers-cowboys-seahawks-steelers-falcons-vikings It's possible the Cowboys may serve a similar role this year.

I heard 2 ESPN NFL analysts call the Panthers the number 1 defense in the league without any disclaimers and followed by heavy praise. I'd say we put some people on notice with that win against the Saints.

If they're going for absurd predictions, they could've predicted Alvin Kamara will rush for 5 yards and the Saints will have less than 130 yards of total offense. The fact that he chose that over anything else tells me he had no clue how much better this Panthers defense is this year.

Love the decision to go for it. In a game where neither defense was stopping anyone and you have perhaps the greatest running qb in NFL history, needing a single yard to seal it, why not? Much better chance to win than giving Mahomes a minute to march into field goal range.

The irony is palpable. Trading Houston 2 1sts and a 2nd for Laremy Tunsil, after they basically turned into the worst team in the league after they did just that. I'm just glad we have Fitterer and not these couch GMs on the huddle.

He seems like a downgrade from Santoso but I guess we really valued that 7th round pick. I agree with you though that the kickoffs are concerning. I don't think we have any confidence in Eberle cause we keep bringing in other kickers. And not sure how eager we are to poach someone off another practice squad and get stuck with them another 3 weeks minimum while having limited tape to work with to decide if they're actually an upgrade.

Teddy definitely got more hate than he deserved. He's certainly not awful. But what makes him a good game manager also exposes his biggest weakness. He makes the safe throws. Ask him to march the team down the field and take some chances and he gets exposed. It wasn't wrong for the team to try for something better. Especially for the minor cost we gave up for Darnold. Early returns suggest we came out pretty good. Good for Teddy though.

The sad thing is he won't get as much respect as he deserves because QBs are rarely going to throw his way so he won't get the opportunities to rack up as many interceptions and tackles as some other corners. But he's the real deal.

Maybe the Saints aren't the Chiefs, but Kamara is still Kamara and their offensive line is one of the best in the NFL, and yet Kamara had 5 yards. FIVE! Not to mention our 6 sacks. And this was one week after the Saints scored 38 points, Kamara had 83 yards rushing and the line gave up zero sacks. I know McCoy was out, but Ruiz is a damn good replacement and I don't see him making up for that huge difference.

I actually think they made more of an effort this week not to completely take their foot off the gas. Ran a lot of pass plays, even midway through the 4th quarter and Darnold even took a couple shots down field. The Saints just did a better job of clamping down their coverage.

Yeah they've been surprisingly "good enough". Which I'll happily take. Give Darnold credit for getting the ball out and extending plays with his legs. But even Mahomes couldn't escape his offensive line in the super bowl and he is otherworldly in making something out of nothing. Our offensive line is doing just enough to make Darnold's plays effective. They might get exposed by a great defensive team, similar to the 2015 team in the super bowl, but hopefully we'll see even more growth by then.

Apparently Erik McCoy is the difference between putting up 38 points against the Packers versus only having 128 yards total and a measly 7 points after getting the ball in the redzone on a turnover. Someone give that man a $50 million per year contract.

The Panthers played an NFL team and had an absolutely convincingly dominating win. How long has it been since we can say that? Let us be happy please.

Gotta consider putting in a waiver claim for the Panthers defense. That's smelling like 30 fantasy points.

Kinda glad we missed the 1st down there. We need more reps for our kicker to see if we need to panic sign another one before his 3 weeks are up.

Serious question: do we have the best defense in the league?

Only 18 more games. Don't forget the #1 seed in the NFC gets a 1st round bye.

What an absolutely beautiful half of football. Let's hope we keep our foot on the gas and not replicate last week's anemic 2nd half gameplan.

Just go ahead and line up for the field goal.... sigh

Well you gotta understand the decision to kick the field goal considering we might be the worst short yardage team in the league. Personally I would've preferred a play action pass on 3rd down. I don't think we've ever been successful on a goal line run in the Joe Brady era.

It's becoming more and more unfathomable how we signed Reddick for $6 million. That's less than we signed Stephen Weatherly for on a per year basis.

Saints are going to have multiple defensive starters out or far less than 100%. If our offense can't capitalize and keep things competitive, then we're obviously still a year away from playoff contention.

You probably want to actually look at the data that's available. His average distance was 46.4 yards. That's 2nd most on the entire list and by a considerable margin. The difference in yardage between Gano and 3rd place (43.6 yards or 2.8 yards difference) is the same as the difference between 3rd place and 19th place on the list. In other words, Gano (and Zuerlein at a whopping 48.4 yard average) is a huge outlier and was faced with harder kicks than the average person. If he had an equal number or xps and field goals, his average field goal would've had to be 59.8 yards. Obviously they aren't equal, but even if you assume 2 to 1 in favor of field goals, that's an average of 52.5 yards per field goal. Not a chip shot.

Crazy that despite 33 yard extra points counting for him, Gano's average kick distance was 46.4 yards. So that means the overwhelming majority of his field goals were 50+. Which makes 63% pretty average at least.

Yeah the Huddle was so damn ready to kick Gano to the curb. Everyone felt like it was just unfathomable that we would keep Gano over cutting him for an unknown rookie. Since 2017, Gano has been 79-83 on field goals (95.2%), including 10-12 from 50+ and a 63 yard game winner. You could honestly say he might be the best kicker in the NFL right now. Now we're shuffling through every team's practice squad hoping something will stick.