Eazy-E

It seemed early on Frank and co were really high on Stroud and most of the media was thinking we were going that direction. When we got closer to the draft and after pro days, word got out that David and Nicole “fell in love with Bryce” and things started shifting toward Bryce being the pick. Coincidence, or more evidence of a meddling owner who doesn’t listen to the people around him that actually know football?

Would having a stud WR be nice? Yes of course. What it won’t change is Bryce’s accuracy throwing down field. He’s yet to connect on a deep throw so far even when our current receivers are open.

Sanders is an upgrade over Foreman. Hurst is an upgrade over Ian Thomas. TMJ went from WR2 down to 4. So besides losing DJ Moore we upgraded at every other position. Being this bad lands squarely on giving up / expecting to much from a rookie QB.

We weren’t the worst team in football last year and traded up to take a QB with the first overall pick. That QB has gone on to have an abysmal start to his career and the team on offense looks worse than it did at any point last season. Normally you make a trade like that if you feel like the QB is the missing piece but in stead it looks like we’re starting a multiple year rebuild except we no longer have the draft assets needed due to said trade up. Rookie or not, I don’t think anyone in the Panthers organization expect Bryce to come out looking worse than Pj Walker or Sam Darnold because if they did they never make that trade.

Let me ask you this. Everyone used to talk about how DJ Moore wasn’t a true number or wasn’t worth a big contract etc (I personally really liked him and his skill set) It seems the front office felt a QB was more important than a dynamic receiver. So how is it that we upgraded at RB, TE1 and our WRs minus DJ Moore (we cut Shi Smith who caught passes and scored TDs for example) yet are significant worse on offense. Was DJ Moore really the reason why we were able to throw for more than 150 yards in a game?

The Panthers had an even weaker cast outside of DJ Moore last season but were still able to move the ball through the air. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t this historically bad.

I’m not saying he’s a world beater but what changed between last year and now? The coaches and the guy throwing the football. Just about everyone agrees we upgraded our coaching staff so that just leaves the QB.

You kind of have no choice if you ever want the opposing defense to stop suffocating you at the line of scrimmage. Chark and Thielen didn’t fluke their way onto an NFL roster and TMJ averaged 17.5 yards per reception last year which is further than 90% of Bryce’s completions this year.

Im a little surprised they didn’t just call it defensive holding because you could argue that ball was uncatchable. It was a bad throw but I’m glad he at least attempted it.

If you go back and watch some of those plays we had a guy running deep routes but Bryce didn’t make the decision to throw that direction. Same thing happened against the Falcons once he missed his first two deep balls. You have to take risks in the NFL. Guys aren’t going to be streaking wide open down the field like they do in college. Henderson had good coverage on Olave but Carr still threw one up and his receiver made an amazing play. I have yet to see Bryce take that risk.

Sitting Bryce isn’t all of a sudden going to make him accurate throwing the ball down the field. He has yet to complete a deep pass. The Falcons realized that which is what allowed Bates to sit on the second interception and why the Saints stacked the box and tried to take away everything underneath. It’s not like both games were blow outs allowing our opponents to pin their ears back and come after the QB. Bryce just didn’t threaten the opposing defenses what so ever. And don’t give me the no weapons BS. There are teams with less to work with on offense and none have looked this inept passsing the football.

Attempting to throw deep on third down and possibly getting intercepted isn’t a bad play. The net result is basically the same as punting but at least the deep pass has to chance to result in something positive for the offense. Bryce has barely even attempted to throw up a prayer in the first two games. Why? I have no idea.

Losing DJ Moore didn’t completely destroy our passing offense. Our WR group outside of Moore is better than last season and yet the likes of PJ Walker and Sam Darnold were able to produce. So far Bryce has not be able to complete passes more than 15 yards down field. He’s had guys open and either missed the throws or didn’t even attempt the pass. That part of his game has been terrible so far and our passing offense is going to suffer until he shows he can make those throws at the NFL level.

By all accounts Bryce has had no problem learning the offense. Based on what we are seeing on the field, it looks like he is physically unable to execute it…. and our opponents are recognizing that.

Yes, it’s very alarming. The Texans top to bottom are a worse overall team and drafted the other QB. That QB has been markedly better in an overall worse situation. Anyone trying to sugar coat that is being delusional.