coffee

Yeah, on D, no pass rush makes that almost inevitable. It doesn't matter how good the back side of the D is. Almost any QB in the league can find a rcvr if he's not pressured. Hopefully, that will be Priority One this offseason and we'll also see progress from last year's draft picks. On O, it does seem that we almost don't have a plan when we get behind schedule. I know sacks and penalties derail many drives for all teams, but it seems like getting behind the sticks is almost a guarantee that on 3rd down we'll need 11 yards and do a check down pass to get 3 of them. So, what's the solution?

Yeah, I'd think so as well. He's only one year removed from fielding history's worst D. I would think it would just be Rooney rule or kicking the tires at this point.

I have no issue with this at all. His first year went fairly well despite lack of talent on D. Second year, his D was stripped of talent just to put all focus on building the O around Bryce. Then he lost Derrick Brown, Shaq, etc. Absolutely no chance to succeed with that. This was the first year with a slight chance and we moved up to middle of the pack despite no pass rush and weakness at LB. Now, I would expect to see (1) attention to D in free agency, (2) growth from last year's draft picks, and (3) nice improvement in our defensive rankings next year. If (1) doesn't happen, I'll be questioning Dan Morgan. If (2) and (3) don't happen, then I'll be wanting Evero's head.

In January 2014, I posted this on another forum. Seems like it fits again: Do you remember cheering for the rain? Trying to sleep after “The no-call”? Do you know who needs to "Ice up, son"? Remember pleading for .500? Thinking there’s no catching the Saints? Punting to Buffalo and knowing how it was going to end? Do you remember how you felt about Kalil’s ad? Or the fan’s follow up? Gruden’s interview with Cam? Do you remember Clausen being the steal of the draft? Will you ever forgive Mel Kiper? Did you cry as Jake said his goodbyes? Do you remember the game that cost Gruden his job? As fans chant “Luuuuuuke,” do you still hear “Moooose”? … “Hoooove”? Do you recall changing the diaper? Paddling the boat? Being happy just hearing the name Smoot? Do you recall the day when it hurt to say “Keep pounding,” and you felt you’d lost a close friend? Did you hunt the net for Bojangle’s commercials? Have you seen a Cajun’s bare butt? Do you remember the sunken feeling when Smitty was caught from behind and didn’t get up? Sports Illustrated’s prediction? Were you angry at Janet for stealing the spotlight? Does “X-Clown” still give you chills? Do you sing the wrong words to “Day-O”? Whenever you hear “He Hate Me,” do you also hear Rosinski finishing the sentence? Did you like Seifert a little less when he let Walls’ streak of games-with-a-reception end? But nothing compared to letting Steve go, right? Do you remember that invincible feeling you had when we won the first game of 2001? Do you recall who our division rivals were? Do you remember thinking “Just wait ‘til Bazooka’s healthy”? How about that weird grin you got watching Kevin Greene fire up the D? Or being undefeated at Ericsson? If your answer is “no,” we happily welcome you as a new fan of our beloved team. Trust me, we’ll be happy to explain all of these and more to catch you up. For the rest of you, it’s been entirely too long since we were alive after week 17. But every question that you answered “yes” to makes this all the sweeter. Welcome to the playoffs.

I don't meet the criteria in any way and couldn't go even if I did. I just wanted to say what an awesome and generous thing to do! You should have one requirement, however. Whoever gets them needs to promise to come back home with laryngitis.

Well, quite frankly, yours is a fine theory as well except that we are no longer getting worse as a team. Quite the opposite. And we would've been MUCH better off if we'd spent the resources on a better team than on yet another QB. If you go back to almost any recent QB and do the math in your head, we'd be a better team with that QB and having spent the resources on the team around him. How would you like to have, say, Baker Mayfield as our QB, CMC as our RB, and Brock Bowers as our TE? That's the type thing we've given up by listening to everyone say we need to move to yet another QB.

Since Tepper, we've tried every way imaginable to get a make-shift QB and hope he turns out OK. I want off that merry-go-round. At this point, I'd rather just keep building a better team around the QB. We are certainly not there yet, but making nice strides. If that makes Bryce passable, we go with him. If not, we'd have made this team appealing to a proven QB that's fed up with their current team. Either way, yes, pick up the option.

Packersfan has been here quite regularly and quite cordially over the past few months. Also, I understand your point about being "screwed on draft position" because of making the playoffs. It is somewhat valid. But it sure doesn't seem that one draft pick solves much. However, a mentality of "we're the best in our division" does seem to help. For years, the Lions had both the magnificent Barry Sanders AND repeated high draft picks. It never amounted to anything. On the other hand, the perennial winning teams ALWAYS have "bad"draft spots but win anyway. I think we as fans can tend to get too wrapped up in the draft positioning and lose context of what matters in the real world. That is, of course, understandable because we get so into and excited about the draft and our new draft picks. But developing a winning mentality seems to bring the much higher success rate.

9ers. Totally useless fact: We've faced every NFC playoff team in the postseason before and the top 2 seeds in the AFC.

I don't care how we got it. We did vastly better than I expected this year. We ended the Bucs streak. We have both a playoff notch and a division champ notch in our belts that will matter for the rest of our history (and how we got it won't). Though likely one and done, the fans get a home playoff game and we get a team that will next year feel they have playoff experience. NFL Radio etc will no longer be using us as the standard when they refer to "the worst team in the league." If Chris Myers mentioned the playoff implications one more time, I'd have exploded. I was one of those watching for that reason, yet I was sooooo sick of him saying it after almost every play. From day one, I've considered ATL our biggest rival but, man, we need to send them a fruit basket or something. In ONE YEAR, they've given us THREE dramatic victories against them (including two thrilling overtime games, a shut out, and a game where we set a passing yards franchise record). They also beat the Bucs when needed and beat the Saints when needed. They sure made themselves hard to hate in the last 365 days. Pretty sure I'm up to the task, though.

In the spirit of this thread, I give you Kevin Donnally slowly moving us from the 19 to the 49 while a Fox was spontaneously combusting on the sideline.

Yes. It would mean our worst case scenario is a three-way division tie and we'd have the tie-breaker.

Weird question that I'm sure some of you will hate: I don't know the legalities of this. If the Steelers lose, they're eliminated. Doesn't that put Adam Thielen out there with no strings attached? Wouldn't we be able to bring him in for the playoffs? He wanted to go out with a bang and he already knows the system plus has a great connection with Bryce. I sure would feel better about TMac/Coker/Thielen as our top three and let Legette sit more/all out if we were going to have any shot of making noise postseason.

How strange. No one wants the NFCS Title. (1) The Falcons have done everything imaginable to give it to us. (2) The Saints stink but have done everything imaginable to keep it from us. (3) The Bucs spent half a season in each role. (4) We keep shooting ourselves in the foot when it's right there for the taking. Ironic that the end result will come down to all four of these factors this weekend.

Ahh. Sorry. I missed it.

How so? This is all based on the situation after Sunday's games.

A box popped up on Facebook, then disappeared. So I can't post a link. It said it's possible for the NFCS to have a 3-way tie (which is correct). In this case, with ATL, TB, and us at 8-9, we'd have the tiebreaker. If so, it means we could back into the playoffs even losing our last two games. Of course, not likely because ATL needs to win out including against the Rams, and TB would have to lose to Miami. But I'm just curious if the 3-way tiebreaker info is correct on this.

So, does that count as yet another game-winning drive?

It feels like Vegas is basing this more on the remaining schedules rather than on the Bucs being the better team. If so, I agree that we have the tougher schedule and that the question of who's better is an undetermined wash at this point.

I agree with all three sides. (1) It's too early and too bipolar to know where we are. It feels like we've come off of two wins but we've actually had one shocker where the pieces fell our way and one bye where Jobu accepted our KFC. (2) However, here's what gives me optimism: The fluky wins were not all fluke. In each we had parts that clicked. And different parts in different games. That appears to imply a need for a tune up to click on all cylinders rather than a lemon that starts occasionally. (3) If we need an HOA pres, I'll be content with WhoKnows. For now, I agree with Mr. Scott's earlier post. I'll be happy if we sneak into the playoffs even if we're one and done. That is better than what I thought we'd have this year and would set the stage for future growth.

A quick recap: November 30 at 1pm our situation was: The Bucs are a full game ahead of us, PLUS holding the current tiebreaker, PLUS having the easiest remaining schedule imaginable. We've just had a humiliating defeat, lost our winning record, and are walking into a "guaranteed loss" against the NFL's best team. After stepping through the bye week looking glass, we get to walk into our next game knowing: A win will mean that, even in the worst case scenarios, we are assured of still being in the playoff race through the last game of the season. We're tied with the bucs... No, wait! We're a game ahead of the bucs... No, wait! We're a game ahead PLUS holding the current tiebreaker. Yeah, I'll take a bye like that anytime.

So, I hear there's only one team in the NFCS with a winning record. Can't remember which team. Maybe someone can look that up.

Best timed? Yes. I always hope for a late season bye and it was perfect this year. Also, likely the best bye we've had. At least I don't recall another where Panthers fans were able to have that much shockingly good fun watching the bad guys lose, nor one where it moved us atop the division. Despite the lows, this season will always hold some of our all-time favorite Panther memories: There is, of course, the (not just one, but TWO) shocking upset games, Our Black Friday best bye ever Not just sweeping, but completely shutting out the Falcons in one game and setting our passing yards record against them in the second game, Rico's insane two-game stretch, even calling his shot before Dallas. Crazy bi-polar season.

I think a W this week and the rest of the games is squarely on our shoulders and depends on it we can get on the same page answering one vital question: Do we try to convince our guys that they are 17 point underdogs for each game? OR Convince them that, despite the uniforms, the opposing team is actually the Atlanta Falcons?