Icege

Tremble is the only current TE on the roster that I see being a total package for the Panthers. Ian Thomas is a liability when blocking and has had issues with running the wrong routes since he came into the league. Arnold isn't bad, but I'd like to have two TEs that can catch and block.

Now that the All-22 is finally up on game pass, I'm spending my morning with Bojangles and coach's film for the last 3 games. Going to zero in exclusively on the OL.

I see that @ncfan and I have another to join us on the Linderbaum bandwagon. Welcome, brother.

Wtf i see shaq smash the rb close to a safety on mills and commercials started back up

poo. What happened to CMC??

Go for it!

Chuba isn't going to be stealing playtime in this offense if he can't catch.

DJ eating tonight while Aikman is drinking.

I want a 12+ play drive that takes 8+ minutes and results in a touchdown for the Panthers.

Shaq almost got there. Great contain by the defense to get off of the field.

Read option with Sam in the redzone!? Let's fn goooooo

Sam making a play with his legs and DJ makes up for the dropped pass on the previous down! TMJ getting himself a touch!

A bad no call by the officials followed by a special teams gaffe would have me dreading the following drive, but this defense is so good I'm even keel. As I typed this Donte, Shaq, and Burns just showed me why i believe in this team

We've been getting excellent production out of the front 4 while the back-ups have been doing well also. Nixon was said early on to be the steal of the draft (though Trey Smith might be the guy on that one), Roy as mentioned earlier basically stuffed the Aints by himself on a drive, YGM is a young guy with a high ceiling that flashes at least once a game, and Haynes has developed into a great rotational pass rusher. Best part for me? All but two of those guys (Jones, Fox) are draft picks and we have two young guys that we've invested draft picks in to potentially replace them with (Hoskins, Johnson). Fingers are crossed we can build an OL in a similar fashion!

OH IT'S TIME BAY BAY

I thought we would see more of Christensen and Brown on the field with the starting unit.

Mitchell Schwartz is going to be an interesting guy to look at should he decide to play next year. He'll have had extra time to recover from back surgery and was playing well up until going down. Wouldn't mind bringing him in to compete if we can get a fair deal put together for both parties.

Can't help but wonder if Matt Rhule sold Phil Snow as a Dick Lebeau-esque type of guy to Tepper to appeal to the Steelers background.

Keep in mind the rule of 10: If something goes well, 1 person hears about it. If something goes poorly, 10 people hear about it. That's what we're seeing here. The position with the most questions is the OL. While some still want a long term LT, for the most part a lot of the early criticism leveled at Erving has not seemed as warranted as that leveled at Elflein. Erving has given up a couple of plays, yes, but has otherwise done very well. Elflein, on the other hand, has been noticeably bad. He loses more than he wins, and is at his best when being asked to combo block. Hopefully Elflein heals quickly from the hammy. I'm eager to see if Daley or Christensen can earn the starting position, especially should the injury look to be nagging.

Smart move. Hammies are super tricky and with the 2021 IR rules that allow unlimited player returns so long as they miss games, Elflein can be given time to get healthy without being forced to play thru it or take up a spot when he needs to rest. Also a great opportunity for Daley to show whether or not he can start or if Christensen is able to be a quick study.

Going to be fun to see how the team travels. If the defense can continue to suffocate the run and force the rookie to deal with our pass rush + coverage then the offense is going to get their chances with the ball to put points up. If the Texans defense is as sus as the stats show, we should be in for a good night.

Looking at the first play now and Ramczyk isn't even on the field because he's their starting RT, not starting DT. #70 is the DT lined up over Elflein who makes the tackle. That defender is Ryngo. Ryngo, as you stated, made the tackle according to the gamebook. Don't let your sympathy for scapegoats get your goat on this one. The dude is bad and has scored as the weakest player on the OL two weeks in a row now. Is he everything that was wrong? No, but he is at best a quality back-up interior lineman. The man had 23 snaps and nearly a third of those snaps he lost (and lost bad). If he's on the field, that means you're going to be having him get blown up at least once every set of downs. The turnover you're referencing was also a missed chip block by Terrace Marshall Jr. Look at the play design: the DE is covering the TE to Moton's outside shoulder. Further outside is the blitzing DB. Moton takes the DE since the TE free releases. TMJ came in motion and barely gets a shoulder on the DB as he's releasing to the flat. It's one thing to blame last year's record exclusively on Teddy, Shaq for the contract Hurney gave him, etc etc... but Elflein has been bad. Is he losing us games? No, but he is losing drives for the team. I hope he succeeds too, but he hasn't shown much to make me believe that he'll be a consistent presence on the OL.

Very interested to see this as my eyes/gut tells me that Terrace Marshall Jr is getting a bulk of his usage on 3rd downs. Watch it be CMC tho

Some key things missing from your recollection: That season's OL was Oher-Norwell-Kalil-Turner-Williams/Remmers. Remmers was a sieve, but the OL itself was super solid. Oher was also due to start at LT the following season after a Super Bowl bound 2015, but had a career ending concussion in the preseason. Kawann Short was set to potentially hit free agency, which meant that the team needed a pass rushing DT more than an LT as Oher already fulfilled that role and Williams was already showing that he could start at RT. The defense lost Josh Norman to free agency, Charles Tillman to retirement, and Benwikere had an injury that ended up changing the course of his career. The cupboards were bare at CB. Olsen was Cam's security blanket. Gettleman had success drafting "insurance" for TD & KB in Shaq & Funchess seeing that the team made the SB the year he drafted them. He tried again the following season and horribly failed. Thank goodness for 2017 when he netted probably one of the best drafts in franchise history. As mentioned earlier, this was under Jerry Richardson, David Gettleman, and Ron Rivera. Different head coach, different general manager, and different owner. The franchise itself isn't sentient. It goes the direction that leadership points it in.