Seltzer

Fair list. I definitely see Chargers as #1 and Bears as #2 given the draft capital. For #3, that gets a little tricky. I think the Falcons and Panthers are neck-and-neck. The Falcons probably have a better overall roster (especially on offense) but I like our defense and QB right now significantly better. I also don't see Atlanta getting Williams or Maye, so they will still be spinning the QB carousel next year too. However, I don't think any of these openings are "bad." So, so much changes in the NFL on an annual basis. The Texans looked absolutely hopeless last year and are competing for a playoff spot. As awful as this year has been, I've also watched enough football to know that we could easily compete for the NFC South next year (what we were promised this year). I still think the Chargers are in a tier above (b/c of Herbert) and the Bears draft capital and big market make that attractive. The others are pretty closely bunched together IMHO. And in the grand scheme of life, is there a "bad" NFL HC opening when you're going to be making guaranteed millions no matter what?

It makes for compelling radio, especially for his big market audience who loves to think they are the center of the world and everywhere else is meaningless. However, Tepper's money will always make this attractive... "attractive" is a very subjective word there. Just b/c the pundits want to clown on Tepper doesn't mean there isn't a boatload of candidates willing to take one of the 32 highest profile jobs in America making guaranteed millions, even if you have to deal with a meddling boss. Many, many of us do that for far, far less fame & money. I think objectively the Chargers job is better, but outside of that, meh... Tepper's wallets will get us a coach... it's a matter of spending that money on the right coach.

Give it rest... seriously... you've had all season to troll & clown around with all your clown buddies, literally & figuratively while everyone with a an IQ above 100 avoided this place. The grown ups are back... you need to head back to the kiddies tables with all the other hot-take artists... literally no one here with even a passing knowledge of football wants to converse with you or your ilk...

Thank God you are still one of the moderators... this is a fair take. Not one single person that I've known on this board with any football sense is wanting to crown Bryce anything. However, I truly cannot believe all the hot-take artists that have simply taken over this joint and people who just want to troll and spew incandescent hate & vitriol at everything related to this team and Bryce... it's effing December and the holidays... I can't deal with that level of constant negativity. I pity anyone who would willingly live their life this way. Trading up was one of the worst moves in franchise history. In retrospect, I think we all can agree. Other than the Sean Gilbert trade, this might be 2nd worse. That's the objective truth. I don't see any reason to sugar coat that. But to me, the blame for that decision lies with the impetus 66-year-old owner who has effed up everything- not the 22 rookie who is doing his best in what has been offensive dysfunction for the ages. Even still, that ink is dry. Bryce is our QB at least through next season unless something unexpected happens. I want him to succeed, and I genuinely believe he can and will if he is provided with the same tools literally any other QB needs (an Oline that can block & guys that can get open & catch). If other people disagree, I understand the validity, but I will debate that fact. My enduring point is the absolute absurdity of people crucifying him when this whole offensive operation (from the coaches hired, to the scheme, to being outlandishly gaslit by Fitterer about where this roster was), has made this situation (in retrospect) one where literally no QB on Earth would thrive. Also, we played what like 15 different interior offensive line combos... nobody wants to hear it, but it textbook insanity to think any of this would be a recipe for success. Back to your original point, the QB is always the easiest lightning rod in a season like this. One on hand, these guys are being paid millions, and the NFL is not about what is fair, it's about wins. No one should be immune from criticism, least alone a #1 pick like Bryce Young... everyone should be clear on that. But, and I can say this unequivocally as someone in my 40's who played (and coached) a lot of sports, there is no effing way I could have handled this situation without mentally breaking at 22, and I feel confidently none or exceedingly few people on this board could have. The fact that this kid hasn't been broken by everything and was able to lead that drive yesterday... I wonder how many people have held any sort of leadership role in either sports or professionally?... b/c if you have then you know the mental toughness (let alone the physical ability to perform) is off the charts. I think we as a fanbase should be able to recognize the trade up was a mistake, full stop. You don't do that unless you think you can compete for the playoffs and not give up a high pick, let alone potentially the #1 pick. Fitterer needs to pay for this (amongst many other mistakes). That being said, and even though the trade up was a mistake, I think Bryce can be a very good QB. Both things can be true, and only time and a supporting cast to fairly evaluate him will give a clear picture.

That's embarrassing, objectively wrong, and straight-up pathetic... Why not just find another team? No one here is going to blame or shame you if you honestly believe that... The kid just led one of the gutsiest game-winning drives in franchise history and this is the garbage take you want to make?? I just don't understand... either you just want to miserable or you want to see Bryce fail... I'm not sure if was Covid, us sucking for years, the general devolution of social discourse due to social media or what, but it is jarring to see so many people here actively clamoring for us to fail, and for Bryce specifically... It is as bizarre as anything I've see in franchise history, and that includes the Weinke Truthers and the Cam Haters. Either stance is fine, but it makes zero logical sense to continue on as a Panthers fan, right? Like, why continue to carry this massive mental burden that is weighing you down?? Just let it go, man. The rest of here who don't live in hot-take world will manage, I assure you.

True statements about your evaluations in terms of where the team and franchise is at overall. All I was saying in any of this was that Bryce had an amazing final drive. I'm happy about that, b/c 1)It would have been amazing for prime Tom Brady to lead that drive, let along maligned rookie Bryce and 2) I still want to avoid the #1 pick if at all possible If this was any other QB besides a rookie that a substantial amount of our fanbase wants to crucify, there would be no objections to how amazing that was, especially in the worst conditions I've ever seen at BOA (and I've been to most bad weather games over the past 15 years). There's nothing more than that to what I'm saying. And Tepper deserves every ounce of criticism thrown his way. He is the puppet master that has overseen this tragedy. I've just seen so many fans direct their anger at anyone else but Tepper over the past 6 years. And literally none of them have deserved it. Neither does Bryce- he deserves plenty of criticism, but not this incandescent hate that he hasn't magically saved the bad decision this franchise has made for 6 seasons and counting.

Totally fair statement. Both game winning drives have been incredible, but unfortunately, there really hasn't been much on offense outside of that to be excited about. And pretty much every single person on offense has had more than their fair share of screw-ups (I'm inclined to give Hubbard and maybe Moton a pass). However, a rookie QB making mistakes is somewhat expected. A rookie QB dealing with historic levels of dysfunction should cause you to expect more. What's disappointing is that Bryce has made so many plays this year where guys who shouldn't be making these types of mistakes are making them repeatedly. That objectively has made it almost impossible to fairly evaluate (let alone support) his development. We need to get everything right going into next season so we can make the proper evaluation we should have been able to make this year. I know that isn't hot-takeish enough for some people, but it's true. And you're right about next week... I certainly hope we can carry some momentum, but there's no evidence in this season to believe that.

Tua is a game manager. Purdy is a game manager. You think any of that matters to those fans if they win a SB. Most QB's are game managers. That's really the bulk of their responsibilities. I'll take a game manager that can manager a drive like that final one 17/17 games.

See, this is the kind of debate/criticism I can get behind 100%. These are legitimate questions, and they haven't yet been answered. And trading up was a mistake- there is no question in retrospect. But the absolute nonsense emanating from so many people on this board has been embarrassing. Bryce is going to be here starting next year. I support this team, so I want to see him improve and to succeed. And maybe I'm just older than some of these people or coached too long, but damn some of these takes are so divorced from reality (and still celebrated as the only acceptable groupthink in here) it's just hard to take. Good game (in terms of we got the win) and elite final drive. Hoping to see a better offensive performance next week.

Take your copium clown boy... not your day

This has been an awful season, but both game winning drives by Bryce have been something to build on. People can hate on him all they want, but if you want to believe he's not tough as hell mentally & physically you're just a miserable person. I don't know that he will ever become the guy we want him to be, but anyone not giving him his flowers today for persevering all day in those conditions & with the normal drops and penalty nonsense & still being able to be at his best at the end was remarkable. I was honestly thinking more Delhomme-esque than Cam. Delhomme could be mediocre all game and come through clutch as hell at the end.

That's really the takeaway for the team. It certainly was as ugly a game as you can have offensively before the final drive, but this was the epitome of extreme weather conditions today. The previous monsoon game in 2011 was an UGLY win also. That's all you can hope for in this environment.

It was pouring with 30 miles wind gusts. The Falcons didn't even want Ridder to throw at all after his braindead pick... It wasn't a situation where you want your QB to have to throw in, especially backed up. It was as bad of conditions as I've seen at BOA stadium. There's only been a few games that were even close to this one... basically a tropical depression sitting over the stadium the whole game.

He was throwing against massive wind gusts in the rain. I know some of them didn't look rifled in there but you are throwing against the wind and also trying to make the ball as catchable as possible in the pouring rain. Cam Newton throwing lasers in that weather wouldn't work either. Ridder had several throws that were dropped that he put too much mustard on given the conditions... I think you are massively underestimating how hard it would be to balance throwing the ball with touch in these conditions and fighting the elements. Every single player and coach knows how impressive that final drive was... it's amazing the amount of hate people can have against something so beautiful... LOL literally eveyone talked about how Cam could never throw with touch a decade ago... I'm convinced so many people here just don't want to be happy.

That was the work of a franchise QB and a guy worthy of a #1 pick. Incredible drive for any QB, let alone a maligned, rookie QB backed up against the wind and in the worst weather conditions imaginable against a talented Falcons secondary. Unlike the litany of people on this board who want so badly to crucify this kid & ignore the almost comical level of dysfunction he has had to deal with this year, I'm not crowning him by any means. It is still 100% valid & fair to say it was a mistake to trade up for Bryce. I will never argue against that; I just vehemently disagree with the assertion that any other QB would have been justified for us trading up for given how unbelievably inept everything else has been this year. We are stuck with Bryce for at least next year, and I'm neither a masochist nor a Bryce hater, so I am incredibly excited by this drive. 5/5 for 68 yards is objectively good for any drive, and almost impossible in the weather conditions out there. Hope he can continue to build on this in hopefully better weather next week.

Top 5 in terms of fun experiences for me. I've never seen so much rain in a 30 minute window. Literally, the only place anywhere around where it was raining was directly over the stadium, and it was a monsoon for real.

I feel like the magic of 2003 is one of the last remaining Panthers memories I can hold on to during this time in the abyss. My biggest anger at Tepper and the Panthers is the fact my boys have yet to see a competent Panthers team that can even compete for the playoffs, let alone a magical season like 2003. It truly was the epitome of catching lightning in a bottle...

It's a problem that has become epidemic around here... The only thing I can imagine is that with the lack of moderators and overall interest in the site (compared to previous years when the Panthers weren't a dumpster fire), no one stops these threads because they do generate clicks (even if they are nothing more than inflammatory nonsense). Got to drive ad revenue somehow?? I'm not saying that as anything other than to be matter of fact. Maybe it's just a necessary trade-off during an awful period to be running a Panthers message board. Regardless, this place is flat-out embarrassing compared to what it once was, and it still sucks for those of us who remember (and want) this place to be better. All the old-timers that actually kept this place moderated and a place for actual discourse (and some laughs that aren't predicated on stupid attempts at trolling) have left. It's ran by trolls who poo on anyone or anything positive whatsoever. I'm not saying this as hyperbole. If you don't come in here to wallow in grievance and bash everything, you're not welcome... And the thing is, we're 1-12... there is a lot to complain about. But this place has just become toxic for toxic's sake... it's not funny, it's not snarky, it's not insightful... it's just effing trolling... and it has hurt this board dearly, whether the current trolls in charge in Jeremy's absence will admit it... Panthers Reddit is so much better for now. For starters, there is actual moderation, which let's be honest, is a massive step up from Carolina Huddle (at least for the time being) I love this place... I feel like it has been hijacked just like this franchise has been and turned into something SCP would wipe his ass with on a road trip after some bad Chipotle... just like Luke Kuechly, SCP had the foresight to abandon this place when he saw where it was going over the past few years... This place grew organically into the best Panthers message board out there... long before Black & Blue Review (now defunct), before Cat Crave, Cat Scratch Reader, and all the other Panthers-related media and podcasts... Carolina Huddle is unfortunately now a depressing hellscape and a shell of what it once was... I don't see this place getting any better until we start winning and some of the old-timers (with something actually to say beyond trolling) return...

So a rando on this message board's opinion should be more valid than Cam Newton, Nick Saban, Aaron Rodgers, etc. Got it... and do you really wonder why so many old-timers have fled this place? The level of intellectual discourse here is below sea-level...

No one thinks Bryce has the strongest arm in the world, but it is plenty fine to make NFL throws. Of all the issues this team has had, to glom onto to "arm strength" seems strange. Again, my faith in Bryce lays in the fact he's accurate. Over time, that matters more than anything else. What were 99% of Cam's issues? Accuracy. Of course Bryce can't do everything Cam can (although I think he is proving effective as a runner). But in the long-term, accuracy matters more than anything else. It's like shooting in basketball. You want to crucify the kid. Fair enough. Former players, (including Cam) absolutely don't. You're entitled to your opinion, but I give more credence to Cam (and other NFL players & coaches) than I do to your opinion. That's it. I don't know why so many on this board feel the overwhelming need to troll over that opinion. It is firmly grounded in reality. If Bryce sucks that bad, why not find another team in the interim? Why is so important to so many people on this board to have thread after thread crucifying the kid? It's a poverty mentality from a poverty franchise. We need to be better than this, IMO. Or continue to troll and run everyone from the message board just like we want to run off players (and then bitch when they succeed with legit organizations). Then what??

From Cam's own lips. And he even insinuates there's no way he could be successful in this environment. But again, I'm sure all the experts on here know more than Cam (and you know, the other people who have played and coached this sport). We have become a poverty franchise, and this board has followed suit...

Are you mentally challenged? WTF are you talking about here? Jesus Christ... Goes back to the point you can't even come in here and comment w/o relentless trolling... This really has become a clown show for the double-digit IQ members of this fanbase... Y'all have at it... Miserable effing people... and it's not enough to be miserable, you're not content unless you try to drag everyone else into the abyss with you.

LOL. Clown man with a 76 IQ thinks other people are talking nonsense. Do better... for your own sake... or at least let the adults discuss in peace

In what world did Bryce not show indisputable arm talent before the draft? Did you watch college football last year? He was the consensus #1 QB prospect. I'm sorry if that doesn't fit your narrative, but it does comport with objective reality... So, it is revisionist history. I'm sorry if you don't understand the definition. Again, get rid of him! Get rid of everyone!! Will that be cathartic to you? It seems like it would, but what comes next? It's like from the Sopranos... everybody, including Tepper it seems, wants somebody whacked... But what is that going to accomplish? People knock Tepper, but the hot-take nonsense from this fanbase is the same kind of vapid impulsiveness that has led to this dysfunction... I feel confident you have never coached or held a leadership position with that type of mindset, and I'm not being anything other than matter-of-fact. B/c I honestly think if you had, this hot-take wouldn't be your undeniable conclusion that you are proclaiming. The people who magically believe Stroud (or any other effing QB on the planet) would thrive in this environment are not grounded in reality. Pure & simple. So now I will bow out of this toxic place again for a while. Crucify the kid... it changes nothing. And the idea that this mess is his fault is reprehensible in my opinion.

Of course, F Bryce, cut him now!! We have to move on from that midget. Moreover, let's kill him for all the misery he's responsible for... B/c this mentality sure has paid dividends over the past 6 years, hasn't it? Cam is washed- cut him Teddy- game manager- need better Darnold- oh well, those draft picks would have been nice CMC can't stay healthy- ship him out DJ Moore- not a top 10 WR- we can live without him Baker Mayfield- not starter worthy And now we want to get rid of Brian Burns, too. I mean who needs stars to actually win... So yep, based on our track record, I'm sure getting rid of Bryce will solve all our problems. Or, and I'm just spit-balling, we could look at this non-emotionally and from a strategic viewpoint and realize the 22-year rookie QB is about as far down the list as you can be in terms of organizational issues. It's just too easy & too convenient for many fans not to.