Sgt Schultz

8 minutes ago, Varking said:

Fields has had a great camp and finally has weapons around him. Lawrence has gotten better from year one to two. Lance should have never been drafted where he was. Wilson has looked good in preseason. Mac Jones was always the high floor, low ceiling guy and looks just like that in New England. 
 

Wilson would be getting another chance to start if not for AR. 

I think you are spot on with that assessment.  Lance was (grossly) overdrafted.  It was not a risk, it was an all-out gamble.  When the 49ers made the trade for the pick, I thought they would grab Fields and maybe Jones (which would have also been a gross overdraft).

Wilson looked like a bust but may be catching on and Rodgers buys the Jets some time to figure that out.  Jones is what he was thought to be coming out.  Hoodie may have had visions of him quietly being Brady-light, so there may be some disappointment there but that would be squarely on lofty expectations.

Lance stands alone right now as the guy who looks to be on the outside looking in pretty quickly.

4 minutes ago, Varking said:

Glad we didn't fall for Lance. There was never a bigger risk in the top 10 of the draft at QB in my eyes. Didn't throw the ball in high school and only chucked it for one year in college and his college competition was super on the low end. 

I never got the whole love affair with him.  As you said, just too little to go on to conclude he was going to develop into an NFL QB, let alone do so in a year or two.  Who knows, maybe if he hadn't gotten hurt in their second game last year he would have shown something.  The other side of that coin is he might have played himself off the roster, too.

I didn't have a warm, fuzzy with Zach Wilson, either, but at least there was a body of work to evaluate.

7 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I wish I were there with you!

That's two of us, @pantherclaw.  Good luck with the halibut.

4 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

They will pick through waivers I'm sure. If you listened to Morgan's interview yesterday they have been spending a lot of time going over the 1400+ players they think might be cut for one reason or another. They have a plan to upgrade positions if given the opportunity.  Cut down day is going to be interesting. 

It could be a revolving door at Panther's HQ.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the roster doesn't get drastically older in the process.

There have been two times since Tepper took over that I thought we were thoroughly fleeced.  The first was The Process.  Way too much money and way too much power for a guy with basically 0 NFL experience.  The Process played them like a Stradivarius. 

The second was the deal with the Jets for Darnold.  Even without the 5th year option, what we gave up was over the top.  Somebody else may have been interested in him, but not at the price we paid.  He was somewhere between a bust and a project by that point, and everybody on this planet and four others knew the Jets were drafting a QB to replace him.

I didn't mind what they gave up for Mayfield, or to draft Corral or Bryce. They overpaid for Bridgewater, but had they stuck to the plan that might have worked itself out.  That was typical Hurney: pay them like they are elite and they will become elite.  Which I don't think ever worked.  

3 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Wouldn't it make more sense to do this at morning time you know before it gets real hot.

 

Cmon old man work smarter not harder.

 

Yupperz!

He probably did.  After he came back the first time, World War 47 was still raging so he went back out and did it again.  Tomorrow, he may tar his roof if this continues.

I don't even have any grass to mow here, but I may go to Lowe's tonight and buy a lawn mower anyway.

30 minutes ago, Gerry Green said:

 

Spent two hours mowing and weeding. Come back, and you two are still at it. lol

I assume you are going back out to weed some more.  Hell, you may plant a few new ones just to pull them out 30 minutes later.  I would!

48 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I've been encouraged watching him get up from some pretty good hits but discouraged with the frequency of those hits. Size be damned, if any QB is getting hit with the frequency he has been in limited preseason snaps it's gonna be tough to make it through 17 games.

Agreed.  He could be 6-4 and 240 of pure muscle, and I would have many of the same concerns.  We have a lot invested in him (mostly expectations for the future), and I don't want to watch that go down the drain because he is subjected to so many hits that an Abrams tank would not be able to survive it.

Ouch is right.  Not my favorite bit of news for the day, by a long shot.

57 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I'd actually been meaning to post this but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. It's from Albert Breer's most recent MMQB.

Here's more...

And that something would be important to the Panthers, and still is, as they set the course for Young’s first season, with the No. 1 pick now entrenched as their starter.

Life in the NFL for a rookie quarterback isn’t easy. Usually, the high picks wind up on rebuilding teams, or with first-year coaches, or both, and that only adds to the challenge of making the leap in competition. That means that the player in question doesn’t just have to be talented, but he also has to be physically, mentally and emotionally tough to withstand the normal highs and lows that are part of the normal road map in making the transition to the pros.

The Panthers, in doing their research, found that Young had those qualities in spades—which was not just important but also essential, because Reich and his incoming staff were always realistic about what their young quarterback’s first year, regardless of which one they took after trading up for the No. 1 pick, would look like.

“We just watched the tape, talked to the guy,” Reich says. “Mentally, emotionally, physically, he does everything you have to do to be elite at that position. I say all that, and you’re dependent on so many other things—it’s not going to come easy. It’s going to be an up-and-down journey, because it always is. It just is. Our expectations should be that. Anything above that would mean, not that it’s up and down, it would mean it’s just a little less rocky.

“There will no doubt be rocky times.”

Friday at least gave Young a window into that. He played two series against the Giants and finished 3-of-6 for 34 yards. He was sacked. He got hit a bunch. He hung in there. There was some good and a bunch of bad, and Young kept swinging, proving, again, the Panthers right in how he was handling not being on a team that had 90% of its games won the minute it got off the bus.

So that’s where it’d be easy to say in doing so, he earned the respect of his teammates. But he’s already done that. And done it mostly, to this point, with how he’s carried himself.

“It’s just his demeanor,” left tackle Ickey Ekwonu says. Veteran receiver Adam Thielen echoes that, adding, “It’s kind of a combination of his demeanor, his confidence, his humbleness, and then making plays on the field.”

So far the Panthers feel great about what they have in their No. 1 pick.

“Everybody sees how mature he is,” says veteran pass rusher Justin Houston, who just got to Carolina. “A lot of guys that I see, when you’re a quarterback, it takes a year where they get embarrassed to understand this isn’t college. You got to go put that work in. With him, you see that already. He understands. He’s the first guy in the building and the last one to leave. That’s hard to find as a guy that’s just got in the league and hasn’t played a true snap yet. He understands at a high level what it’s going to take.”

Of course, he had to prove he could play, too, and that also happened fast.

There was a play in training camp, earlier in the month, on which the pocket closed around the diminutive Young. He felt the rush, stepped up, kept his eyes down the field, went through his progressions and unloaded the ball. At his release point, the receiver, on the far sideline, was still a step and a half from going into his break. When he turned, the ball was there, and the throw, and in particular the anticipation exhibited on it, drew an audible response from the coaching staff.

He had a couple of nice moments against the Giants, too.

On his third throw, Reich called an RPO. Young put the ball in running back Chuba Hubbard’s belly, pulled it and, with Kayvon Thibodeaux and a blitzing Xavier McKinney in his face, delivered a dart to fellow rookie Jonathan Mingo, who caught the ball, bounced off a defender and went for 15 yards. Three plays later, on his second third down, this one a third-and-6, he put the ball in a spot where only Thielen, running to the sideline, could get it to pick up the first down.

And sure, both plays were small moments, but each showed the command he’s exhibited in camp, command that has the players harboring the same sort of high hopes for their quarterback that the front office and coaching staff have.

“It’s his ability to kind of feel for the game,” Thielen says. “A lot of times, it takes time to get that feel. For him, it seemed to come pretty natural. … It’s the timing mixed with feel and comfort, and being able to make the defense do what you want them to do, but still do it in timing. A lot of times, guys, they want to do that, so they do all those things, then they’re late because they’re trying to do too much. There’s a lot more feel to it. … You start seeing things with him, you’re like, O.K., that’s different in a good way.”

Along those lines, Young’s already showing command at the line and setting protections, and that part’s been pretty spotless, too.

“He’s been on the money when it comes to that sort of stuff,” says Ekwonu. “I don’t think he’s made one mistake yet when it comes to finding the blitz. Defenses do a pretty good job of scouting that stuff, and he kind of reads right through it. Definitely impressive.”

All of it, too, is what his defensive teammates see in practice.

“How smooth he is in the pocket, I’m telling you, he’s smooth,” Houston says. “He moves like a vet. It’s crazy. Most quarterbacks, they see you, they go one read, and they take off running. They’re young, and everything is fast on them. With him, it’s like, I’ve been here before. He got a confidence and a poise about himself like, I’ve been here. I’ve done that. I think it’s come from his preparation. That gives you a whole lot of confidence when you put in that much work. That’s real confidence. That’s why he’s quiet. He doesn’t have to say much.”

And this is the part where you have to be reminded, again, that Young’s passer rating the other night was 68.1.

There was a play in the Panthers’ preseason opener against the Jets where the New York coaches thought their pass rush had broken Young’s collarbone.

Instead, the rookie bounced right off the turf, impressing his opponents, and returned to the huddle, just like how he responded against the Giants to a game-opening three-and-out with a 15-play, 62-yard drive that required consistency from the quarterback, and ended with a 37-yard field goal.

These are small steps, of course. But they’re important, and necessary, ones.

“It’s not going to be a straight line up,” says Reich. “He has to go through some really low lows, because it’s going to help propel him to new highs. If you don’t ever go through the really hard times, if you have upside, which he does, and a high ceiling, going through the low lows only makes the ceiling that much higher, in my opinion. That’s if you’re made of the right stuff. He’s made of the right stuff. There’s gonna be some tough moments. There’s going to be some bad games. I hope there’s not, but if there’s none, he’d be the first ever.

“We’ll have some tough losses. Those are going to be important in how we respond to those, in how he responds as a player and how he responds as a leader.”

And yet, already, Young’s leaving little doubt, to those around him, about just how those will go.

My only concern about Young is his ability to continue to bounce up off the turf.  That is not a critique of him, but rather those paid to protect him.  But, it will be Young's problem to have to survive.

In every way that is under his control, he seems way ahead of the curve for a rookie. 

OL.......do your stuff.  Please!

5 hours ago, PNW_PantherMan said:

Can we go ahead and overreact in this thread instead of waiting until the game?  Just trying to be more efficient.

ThE sTarTeRs Didn plaY.  WhY NOt?  ThEy nEed thE rApS.

THe sEcoND sTrInG oNlY PlayEd ToO SeRIes.  ThEn iT wAs AlL thE gUyS WhO WoNT mAkE tHe TeAm, anD ThEIr BoTtOM GiEs oUtPLayEd OUrs BaD.  We StINk.  ThAt MeANs ThEiR GuYs ThAt WiLL nOt EvEn Be On tHe RoSTerR oUTpLayed OuR STarTeRs.  We wONt WIn A GaMe For tHe NExT To yEaRs.

Geez, I gave myself a headache writing that.

21 minutes ago, ncsu12engr said:

I agree with the amount of reps being a big difference and a concern. Definitely feels like in the modern NFL preseason reps are not being valued.

It has been heading that way for a while, and going to three preseason games hastened that movement.  At the same time, the quality of play out of the chute in the month of September has also gone down.  September has always been rough around the edges, but in the last 10-15 years it is almost impossible to identify who is good, bad, or in between until the second quarter of the season takes shape (about mid-October).

There were "threats" of going to two preseason games, coinciding with expanding the regular season to 18 games, and I can only imagine what that will look like. 

4 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I'm sure now that they have gotten a good look at the starters and the depth they've had to adjust quite a bit. The depth is little to nothing to speak of and there's nothing on the street that's going to change that. It will be duct tape and bailing wire to hold it together if injuries set in until the seasons over. 

The funny thing is we may be a little deeper overall than in the previous couple of seasons, but there are spots that are wafer thin.

Then again, the recent bar is pretty low. 

And to dredge up another recent fiasco, let's hope this staff has been aware enough to figure out who other than the kicker can kick if the need arises.

2 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

He fits right in...until he doesn't.  Just goes to show how fast one can lose his job in the nfl.  It's step up or move on under this new regime. 

It's either that or they discovered he wasn't OOU.

Sorry, bad flashback for a second.

1 minute ago, Brooklyn 3.0 said:

Mmmm, the final preseason game ... the most mindnumbing thing one could possibly watch. Can't wait.

Clearly you were not on the Zoom meeting I was on an hour ago!

My feeling about preseason games in general is pretty much along those lines.  Every now and then somebody who was on the bubble or worse does something that makes them a keeper, but otherwise, pretty dry stuff.  And the last one is usually the worst in that regard.

I think our ceiling is more than 7 wins, but there are a lot of IFs that go along with a ceiling.  IF the OL plays like it did in stretches of last year, IF the WRs play to what we think their potential is, IF Bryce is as good as processing plays as reported, IF the defense can hold its own weight against the run (especially critical against the Falcons, it seems), IF the secondary is decent, IF our coaching staff can steal a win or two, IF our injury situation does not kill us, etc.

I think we settle in somewhere between 7 and 10 wins.  Vegas' 7.5 over/under is reasonable, given the unknowns. 

My evaluation of where we stand at the end of this year is not dependent on that number, but how we play down the stretch and what hope there is for 2024.  I'd love to see 10-7, but that is not my expectation.

IF too many of our IFs don't pan out, and I think the margin for error there is slim, this board may do its best impression of Chernobyl for the next year.

18 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

So if he does get a carve out in the past now he doesn't. He is in charge and hired Reich so now we can judge him on his own merits. I would think as a Panther fan we would want our GM to be successful and give him the benefit of the doubt until it is proven to be the problem. We are seeing the fruits of his labor now. This is really a better conversation for after this season for when we have solid results to evaluate. I don't know why folks want to throw Fitterer under the bus given the upgrades we keep making to improve the team. And honestly I thought he did great in his first draft this year. Maybe it is just me......

Because we are 0-2 and look lost in the preseason.  Don't you know?  We should have be 2-0 and have a point differential of 55-17 in the preseason.  Because teams that suck in the preseason suck in the regular season.  That was something Nostradamus wrote and is a universal truth.  It is panic time.  It was panic time after last week.  Why aren't you panicking?  Start now and avoid the rush.

Seems like the primary exercise routine these days is jumping to conclusions.

We have no idea who did what when The Process was in town.  We know that he had full control of everything, on paper.  We know he exercised that control over parts of the organization that are unrelated to NFL coaching duties (but something a college coach would do on campus).  We heard that he lost some of that control heading into last offseason, but we don't know if that is true and, if it is, where the lines were.  We don't even know what we don't know.  That is the result of a "creative decision" to give a guy who knew nothing about an NFL team and had no reason in his history to believe he knew anything at this level full personnel control of an NFL team.  I thank Tepper and maybe Hurney for that piece of brilliance.

I am hard on people up the food chain (even in my job), because I actually expect them to do their jobs.  I don't buy into "plausible deniability" or any of that other horse manure.  But even with that, I have no idea when Fitts was allowed to do his job, other than sometime on or after October 10, 2022. 

34 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

This thread has drudged up the Huddle bottom dwellers to be in a post frenzy.

It is a thing to behold.  Sort of like watching one of those 1950's era horror films.

4 minutes ago, SmittysLawnGuy said:

He also switched to Tampa when we moved to Florida, watched a team win 2 Super Bowls 2 hours from me and and looked at at my dad with disdain. Glad he got the satisfaction though before he passed. Me I'm a lifer.

That is a tough job.  I've been a St. Louis Blues fan since I was 8, going back to 1969.  I was pretty resigned to the idea that I would leave this earth before I saw them win a Stanley Cup.  Then, in 2019, they left me speechless.

I'll never forget that feeling.  It was almost surreal watching the clock tick down to 0, and then watching the celebration.  I still want them to win it again when every season starts, but if they don't, I can carry that memory with me.  Of course, the memory is tainted by the fact I was in south Jersey for game 7, but even that can't ruin it.

My hope for you is if and when we see this team win a Superb Owl, neither of us is in south Jersey when it happens!

6 minutes ago, TheCasillas said:

Again, you only looked at the box score. Bryce only played two series...

How dare you confuse this thread with facts. 

12 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

They are probably laughing from reading the reactions on the huddle. 

"Hey, look at what this moron said.  He can't tell a football from a headache ball.  Oh wait, now there an even better one."

7 minutes ago, ladypanther said:

Knock on wood.....lol

"And if anyone is interested in this fine, future hall of famer, we will reluctantly consider parting with him for a mere third-round draft choice.  It will be painful for us and a huge loss, but sometimes you have to do what is best for the young man."

In the present, Rivera is one of the guys you call when you hired a complete buffoon and he left your team a smoldering mess.  In the case of Washington, the owner was busy making the team a smoldering mess.

The examples are following The Process, McDaniels in Denver (John Fox), Meyer in Jacksonville (especially if he had been around another year).  Fox and Wilks are cut from the same cloth as Rivera.  They are guys that stabilize things, create cohesion within the team, emphasize basics, and slow things down (in a sense).  They are not going to steal wins with their game planning or adjustments.  But, they will stabilize things somewhere around mediocrity, with some years being better depending on talent.  In general, while they are not going to create the best situation for the talent to excel, but they are also not likely to make it impossible for the talent to succeed.

There will always be a market for stabilizers because there will always be owners and GMs hiring buffoons that screw things up to the core.

Rivera is good at what he does, but that has limitations.

7 minutes ago, TheCasillas said:

That wasn’t the issue at all….. his issue was that he didn’t run the right depth of his route. He went too deep. The QB School broke that down in a neighboring thread 

Yeah, he didn't even really start his break back to where the pass was going to be when the ball went sailing by.  I forget who the receiver was on the other side of the field, but he ran a similar pattern but did cut it off sooner.  The QB School was a very good thorough breakdown of that pass and his others.

For me, I would like to see the OL act like they have met at least once before they took the field, some deeper passes (not necessarily bombs, but something beyond the underneath stuff), and some improvement against the run on defense.

Some sustained drives on offense would be nice.

3 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Weird. My wife says the same thing.

Al Bundy might have been onto something

 

Yessirree.  In my father-in-law's words, "I exist, therefore I am wrong."