panthers55

How about Joe Namath and Jonny Unitas off the top.of my head.

Seems the obsessed folks or maybe butt hurt fans are those who expected Sam to come in here and light it up day 1 as if he was an all pro before he got here. Anyone who figured he would be great right ahead don't have a clue. Those who think we should dump him now are even more clueless.

You obviously don't know much about football and changing systems. Even great QBs who changed systems often struggled their first year.

So how many did he have with the Panthers in 2020.? Your dislike for Darnold is obvious but to make the assertion that Teddy was better than Darnold at this point for the Panthers is really stretching it.

He may be in his 4th year but any casual fan knows that when a QB changes systems the curve is steep at first. He benefits from playing in the league but has to start over with a new team and new offense. By all accounts he didn't learn much in New York and may have had to unlearn quite a bit. The point is Teddy had a huge advantage yet didn't look that great. So to expect Darnold to come in here and fire it up is realistic at best.

Teddy came from this system and had experience with Brady and produced ok results. Darnold is new to the system and is still learning the offense. He is a rookie in this system and didn't have much good experience in New Jersey. Teddy was who he was but Darnold is still learning and growing. As to which one is better, how many long drives did Teddy have to tie or win at the end of the game. I don't remember any. That is all you need to know.

I think Rhule is a big running guy and after letting Brady do it his way, Rhule is helping him make some tweaks. I wonder if Brady likes that or not...

Based on his running in the redzone and on broken plays you could make a case that he might be able to pull it off.

I think you are right. Maybe using more play action.

If you include all of the 50/50 balls in the game yesterday plus all of the ones actually caught plus the ones that were dropped you would have a lot more than 25. There were at least 5 or 6 drops of balls where the receiver was all alone and just dropped it or it bounced off him. With all the tight coverage yesterday just about every ball was a 50/50 ball and we really didn't win many of those. So I can't see that they made all of those considered catchable or the number would have been higher.

Reminds me of another time when we revamped the offense to feature the run game. Led the league in points and had the best offense in the league. Of course our QB was a big part of that. Don't know that Darnold can do much of that.

Again the premise is that we had guys drop 8 catchable balls meaning they hit them in the hands and should have been caught. So if our guys had caught the balls that weren't contested or thrown behind them but right to them in the open field then he would have gone 25 out of 41. That ignores I saw several more that could or should have been caught. Especially if DJ and Robbie make the catches we have seen them make repeatedly. Catchable doesn't include those where defenders made plays or the receiver had to make a tough catch. Receivers can either make a QB look better than he is or much worse. Yesterday they did him no favors. Darnold didn't play well but neither did the whole offense. I actually think Darnolds last drive may reap benefits beyond temporarily staving off the loss.

I think he was saying that Sam isn't going to his hot reads and taking what the defense is giving him. I heard him say on another interview that often the first read is open but he doesn't take it and looks for a second or third which allows the pressure to get there. When the blitz comes he isnt seeing the field and who he can throw it to who is open but trying to evade the rush and throwing it away.

That is coach speak for Brown either isn't quick enough or doesn't have the stamina to start and play the majority of snaps. Last week he only played special teams.

Do we have much choice? The issue isn't whether they are the best option, but why are they the best option we could find and why did we pay them as starters.

That is exactly what I was thinking. I have no issue with Rhules rationale if we had signed them as backups and paid them as backups. But as you said don't expect them to start each week and pay them as a starter and then talk about versatility. You need that for depth since you don't always have the luxury of having a backup at every position. But your starters have to be quality guys who can do the job. And obviously we dont.

I am not going to characterize Darnold or box him in with comparisons. So far he has been a pleasant surprise and I am looking forward to see what happens. He surpassed where I thought he would be at this point.

Just gonna be there yelling and rooting for a win. I think the home crowd will help pull out a win.

You have to judge the contract in. Totality. Of course we can afford them all next year. The first year of a new contract are usually cap friendly if 3 years or more. Not so much with 2 year deals. The bigger task is juggling everything so you can pay your core and add veterans to fill gaps not covered by rookies and guys on their first contract. You hope you become the team everyone wants to play for and you get some hometeam discounts.

So you think that GMs and coaches actually tell you what they are going to do with personnel? How many times have Rhule or Fitts said positive things and then the player gets traded or waived? How about use some logic. It makes no sense to say that we aren't going to retain this player when you just traded for him and need him to play for you. What Fitts said was that bringing in the last 2 CBs won't affect the Jackson contract. That doesn't mean he may not change his mind if Gilmore balls out and Jackson regressed. We can sign whoever we want. New Orleans has proven that a cap ceiling can be manipulated a dozen ways. You are trying to establish how things will go months from now when things are very fluid and will be. We have a cap guy who worries about all this. I love fans who act like they know what is going to happen based on rumors, news stories and public announcements. Unless you are an insider you don't have a clue. We all know that, now you need to admit it as well.

You are making a lot of assumptions about our salary cap next year which aren't necessarily true. First off new contracts are cap friendly year 1 and even 2. So Gilmore wouldn't be that expensive until 2023 or 2024 if we extend him. Secondly whether we pay him or not depends on how good he does. If he returns to probowl form of course we will make efforts to pay him. What we have learned is that we need at least 3 corners who can start in this league. Will Gilmore be a keeper or a one year rental? Truth is it hasn't been decided at all. But this season will tell us all we need to know

We all have learned that many times these trades and pickups don't always work out so the proof is on the field. Still you have to give Fitts credit for swinging for the fences trying to help us weather these injuries. He is doing his job and getting Rhule the guys he needs to compete. Now it is up to Rhule and his team to coach them up and scheme some wins.

Look like our portion of his cap hit is right at 6 million. He is a free agent in 2022. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/stephon-gilmore-9820/

Since he was put on the physically unable to perform before the season started, I assume he cant play before week six.

Let's see how he does in practice before making any proclamations about how soon or how often should he play. Hopefully he can move on it without discomfort. Then he can see about running and cutting, etc. Doubt he would play much on Sunday unless it was as a decoy