tukafan21

Well sure, but that's not at all what I was saying, I wasn't saying we're the only team that ever uses their #1 as a decoy. My point was that I can't remember a team where there is such a talent gap between their top WR and the rest of their WR room, and then said top WR is used more often as a decoy than as an actual pass catching target, particularly in their rookie season such as Nabers last year and then the nothingness behind him in their WR room. Because I don't think anyone can objectively look at the play design and calls so far and say he's been running more routes with the intention of being a target than with the intention of clearing out space for Bryce to dump it off to someone else closer to the LOS. The other difference is when teams allow their #1 WR to be used as a decoy because teams are constantly double teaming them. Then they generally make sure to target them when they get left on an island in single coverage, something we routinely fail to do when T-Mac gets that coverage.

C'mon now, is this a serious comment? The ball was thrown behind him, he made a leaping twisting attempt at the ball while the defender was yanking him down by the jersey. If they don't pick up that flag, not a single person is calling that a drop or a "deep pass bounce off his hands" like that. I've had no problems with people calling out the actual drops that he has had, but far too many people are attributing the uber difficult plays he wasn't able to make as drops, just insane.

The entire OP is about the play calling and results and only mentioned T-Mac one time, in the sense of our offensive struggles only made me more frustrated about our #1 WR only getting a single 2nd half target in a game we were behind for the majority of it. How is that showing my true colors? It's way more of other people reading too much into it and thinking this is all and only about T-Mac for me, but it's not. He just happens to be the player that I specifically was upset by his 2nd half usage, but it had nothing to do with my personal feelings towards him, but that he's our only legitimate WR and he had a single target in the 2nd half after going for 73 yards in the first. To me, that is a very legitimate play calling gripe, the win or particular player aside.

Just quoting myself here to ask the question to anyone else still coming into this thread...... Was anyone actually pleased with today's play calling? Because lost in all this T-Mac stuff was that my initial point of this tread was that the play calling sucked and we should't absolve Canales for it because we had a 200 yard rusher, as that 200 yards was because of a few big plays, not because of great play calling for 60 minutes, which I tried to re-explain here in this quoted post. If that's controversial, then I'm sorry, but to me, it's the very objective truth.

It's not about the storyline, because yea, take away those turnovers and it's a totally different game. My issue is with the game that we did have, the play calling and strategy we then employed throughout the game. Very big difference between them. And like I pointed out with my other post at the top of this page. I do think this thread got away from my original intention, because it wasn't meant to be about T-Mac, it was meant to say we can't be absolving Canales' play calling throughout the entirety of the game because of Dowdle's final box score that was because of a small handful of plays.

Not sure that's accurate, but until he actually caught the ball, I certainly wasn't happy with it, but that one had absolutely nothing to do with T-Mac. Go back to that play pre-snap and I'd have picked any skill play on the field to have wanted us to throw the ball to more than XL on that play, hell, I'd have wanted to run a Bryce QB sneak before throwing it to XL there. He's lost all my faith in throwing him the ball in the end zone, and sure, him making that play has helped, but he's shown nothing in the last year plus so far to say he should be getting thrown passes in the end zone right now.

You know what, these days, yes, that's very true, I won't deny that. Because THE PANTHERS need to do something to earn my fandom back at this point with how bad it's been the last however many years. I've been a die hard Panthers fan for over 30 years now, but even with that, I flat out haven't cared about us for years because of the team's own doing, not because I didn't WANT to be a fan. Drafting T-Mac actually got me excited for the season for the first time in years, but in terms of actually caring about the team, I'm still not there yet because they continue to shoot themselves in the feet at every chance they get.

Also, I think I need to re-iterate that people are taking this thread wrong and as me just complaining about T-Mac. Its intention was that we shouldn't look at Dowdle having 200+ yards and just being happy with the offensive performance today. If he had 200 yards because he had a dozen 8-15 yard runs and then the rest of it was filled in with short yardage stuff, I'd feel VERY differently. Because then it would be about a well called game because we would have been consistently breaking off chunk runs and sustaining long drives because of it. I'll admit I let it get away from me in my responses to people and it's only fed into the narrative that I'm upset about T-Mac. But the original intention was solely about not absolving the terrible offensive game plan and play calling just because Dowdle had an eye popping final box score. 6 plays do not make for a well called game, that's really all my original point was meant to be.

So our pass play calling doesn't need to be drastically improved? I'm sorry, but it's clear as day that it does, Bryce sucking aside, the play calling has been garbage.

Also, again, I know I keep bringing it back to T-Mac, but it's because he's our only legitimate WR right now. If Coker was healthy or XL didn't just suck, I'd be saying the same thing about their lack of usage too. Just right now, T-Mac is the only one to complain about not getting more work, which in itself, is proof that it's a legitimate complaint, as we don't have anyone else worth arguing to get more looks right now.

I could and would be able to accept that if it weren't for the amount of times T-Mac has single coverage and Bryce never even looks his way after taking the snap and before throwing it. It means the play call had him as a pure decoy and/or the 3rd or 4th read and Bryce rarely gets that deep into his progressions. Now, is that on the play calling or Bryce making bad pre-snap reads, that we'll never know as we don't know the exact play calls. But my best guess is that's more on the play calls than Bryce's pre-snap reads, as how do you read T-Mac getting 1 on 1 coverage and then ever even look his way before attempting a pass to someone else?

I get it, but again, while I know it all comes back to T-Mac because he's who I'm saying needs more targets, I'd be saying the EXACT same thing if we had the exact same player as T-Mac, but he didn't go to Arizona and I wasn't such a huge fan. If we had a weapon like him, and then had the same game plans and play calling as we've had so far, I'd be saying the same stuff, 100% of it, not one difference. My frustrations come out as anger about T-Mac's usage, but it's really just frustration over Canales and his crap play calling. Yes, we won, but we also did it where our best player got a single target in the entire 2nd half when we were losing for most of it How does that make any sense? Winning doesn't absolve the coaching staff of terrible decisions for me, sorry.

100% But again, I know I keep going back to T-Mac needing more targets, because he does... My frustration is more about the overall play calling than my guy not getting more looks. If we were throwing downfield more to XL, Brycen, Horn, the TE's, whatever, I'd be more accepting of T-Mac's lack of targets. But when his lack of targets are then creating more 1 and 2 yard rushes, or 5 yard passes that hit the ground before even reaching the target, then it's an entirely different issue for me.

Am I frustrated at T-Mac not getting more looks? Of course, but I'm not upset at him not being the hero. I'm frustrated at Canales being a fuging pussy with his game plans and play calling, Bryce deficiencies aside. Call the game like an NFL coach, when the QB fails, put in the backup who at least has an NFL level arm at 85 years old. 5 games in and Bryce has 1 game over 200 yards this year. While this was also our first game with someone who has rushed for over 73 yards, so it's not like we're running it great on the whole either.

Honestly, then let him go out there and fail miserably, I'd respect Canales more than I do right now. If you call those plays and he just proves that he can't make those plays, then that's on Bryce and gives Canales the ability to bench him again. But instead, he calls a terrible game to try and hide Bryce's deficiencies. Which yes, I can understand why he would do that, because ehe knows Bryce sucks, but that's also how you end up in the situation of Bryce tricking people into thinking he deserves another year, just like he did last year. Call the game like a real NFL coach, if then the QB sucks and it causes you to get blown out, so be it. We're watching a high school football team out there. Your QB can't throw the ball, so you just run 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense and hope you get lucky with the RB breaking loose a few times a game, and if not, you get blown out. Are you people really enjoying watching that kind of football?

I didn't say it was an unimpressive 200 yard game. I'm saying it was a poorly called game Those are two very different things and can exist at the same time.

Don't count the final drive of the game where we just needed a first and then kneel downs, and we had 10 drives today. Of those 10, we had drives of 4, 29, 13, 26, and 4 yards. Half of our drives today went for under 30 yards. That's because if Dowdle wasn't making an explosive big play, we were just running the ball into the back of our OL and doing nothing, while at the same time having Bryce dink and dunk the ball to our TE's and RB's for minimal gains. That's my issue here, our game planning and play calling is terrible and if we're not busting loose for a big play, we're doing absolutely nothing.

It's not even about Bryce hitting those deeper passes, it's that we just don't even attempt them enough to make a defense alter their play calling. Then you add in how infrequently he is able to make those passes on top of how little we attempt them, then yea, teams are never going to leave 2 high safeties against us as it's wasting a player for nothing. Again... all why I can't stand our play calling and game plans.

Hence my point A player who is more of a home run threat shouldn't be getting 23 carries as you're then banking your entire game on him breaking off multiple big runs. Take away those two huge runs and we get completely blown out today. I realize you can't just take away plays, but if 2 plays are the reason you won a game vs getting blown out, maybe you need to re-evaluate your game plans as that's not sustainable, especially against even halfway decent defenses.

Look at me crazy all you want, but we had 6 plays that went for 162 yards but only 256 on our other 59 plays. All I'm trying to say is this game is another perfect example of why we shouldn't look at wins or final box score yardage totals and absolve the coaching staff of a terrible game plan and/or in game play calling. Those 6 plays were great, credit to Dowdle and the OL for making them, they're the reason we won the game. But 6 plays out of 65 shouldn't absolve the team of really not looking that good on offense today, if you need 6 specific plays to say your offense looked good over the course of an entire game, then you did not have a good game offensively, sorry.

We're the only team who can draft a stud playmaker who is used more as a decoy than a playmaker. The Giants had complete poo around Nabers last year but peppered him with targets all season long, they didn't use him as a decoy.

I know full well this post is about to get poo'd into oblivion, but I think it's important to not look at final box scores when judging how a game went, especially in regards to play calling and game plans. A friend of mine was giving me poo for how I can complain that we didn't throw to T-Mac more when "you won because you were just riding the hot hand with Dowdle." So I just went and looked at the play by play and he had 162 of his 206 yards on just 6 of his 23 carries, which means he had 44 yard on his other 17 carries, or just 2.6 yards per carry. That's not riding the hot hand over the course of a game, that's a player having a handful of big plays, partially due to some poor tackling, and thus having a final box score that jumps off the page. This is why T-Mac's lack of targets in the 2nd half bothers me so much, because what the hell were we actually doing out there? It means the overhwelming majority of our play calls ended up in a minimal gain or dink and dunks to our lesser pass catchers who combined for 125 yards on 22 targets, or a measly 5.7 yards per pass attempt. So yes, full credit to Dowdle for having a career game, but his end box score doesn't tell the story about the entire game and the issues with out play calling.

T-Mac not having a TD yet has nothing to do with the other guys around him and what they're doing, it's 100% because we haven't even tried to get him one through 5 games. Sure, it's hard to knock them on the times we've scored, with a bunch of TE TDs, the Renfrow TDs, XL, and some rushing ones. But through 5 games, I think he has a single red zone target in I think the 2nd game where Bryce tried to throw one up to him in the corner from the 5 yard line but somehow threw it behind him and the ball never even reached the goal line. That's also my frustration, how do you have a red zone weapon like him and not try a single jump ball in the end zone through 5 games. It would be one thing if he never had the opportunities, but I'd say we've had a good 20 snaps from inside the 10 yard line so far this year, another dozen or more from the 10-20, but we still haven't thrown that end zone jump ball to him one time. It's baffling to have that kind of weapon and not even try it one time yet. And yea, I owe my obsession with him, but I mean, I went to a non football school, he was our best player in school history and my favorite Wildcat. So yea, I'm admittedly and knowingly a little obsessed with him now that we've drafted him, and I want to see him succeed. But my own hang ups aside, he's on pace for 1,200 yards and we haven't used him correctly yet this season, he's lead us in receiving each week and he's still used as a decoy more than a target. Make it make sense?!?!?!?!

An NFL level QB?

Sure, can't fault that thinking But when you still throw it 30 times in a game, more than 8 should be going to your best player when nobody else can crack the 31 yard mark and said best player caught all 6 of the catchable targets. This is basically the same argument as the people who weren't upset with us not opening up the playbook in the big win agains the Falcons. Just because we won, doesn't mean our coaching staff called a good game and thus they aren't absolved of criticism. Winning in spite of your coaching decisions isn't a good thing.