TD alt

I hope Bryce balls out. Wouldn't bet the farm on it though. Morgan has to be practical though. He was placed into a situation where he was compelled to give Bryce a long look. There really haven't been any more practical options due to who has been available at the position. The Panthers had already put their chips in with Bryce, so putting more chips in by borrowing against the future and stacking on that by borrowing against the future without really having the requisite draft capital was a nonstarter. We could either dump Bryce and go dumpster diving for known and unknown JAGs at the position, or take out chances and let it play out with Bryce and hope for acceptable returns. Due to what looks like some good moves in the draft and free agency, it appears like we're finally getting into a position where we can take a swing again if need be without destroying the core of the team. I understand that you'll believe it when you see it, but Dan is gonna move on if Bryce can't cut it. There are too many professionals lives and careers tied to Bryce to simply accept the status quo.

Dan isn't stupid. He's being positive and diplomatic without explicitly saying that if Bryce isn't good enough that he won't be extended. It's all on Bryce, y'all. This season is sh¡t-or-get-off-the-pot time.

Well hell, maybe it was the Observer one that I'm thinking about. Sorry, y'all.

ladypanther probably doesn't remember, but when I was green young Huddler here, I got upset about being trolled, and she basically told me to "chill out" in so many words or that I wasn't gonna make it here taking things so personally. Well, I reflected on it, observed and learned the culture, and here I am after all these years. So, in a way, y'all can thank ladypanther for my decades of, sometimes provocative, content.

It used to be connected to the Panthers web site. They got tired of all the "bad spiritedness," and decided to shut that sucker down. They gave us a heads-up though. In the meantime, Jeremy started the Carolina Huddle and was allowed to tell people on the old one that there was a new place that we could go, so the Huddle was born and thrived.

Someone gave this thread one star, & yet it lives on...

Good response. In reference to your second paragraph, many Huddlers are just haters when it comes to certain people.

Anything is possible, but neither guy was as special as Luke whose superpower was diagnosing plays pre-snap. He was the best to ever do that. I'll argue with anyone who tries to tell me otherwise. But if Morgan, whose reputation for hard hits and high production, and particularly Beason, who was markedly more productive than Morgan than Morgan, hadn't caught prolific cases of the injury bug, they would've certainly been in legitimate Hall of Fame discussions. With the injuries, they're in "the best to never make it" discussions. Luke's injuries did not knock his career of kilter. Luke was simply more consistent during his playing career than both Beason and Morgan, and, like I said, he had that uber-ability to diagnose plays which transcended even many if not most or all of his fellow Hall of Fame brethren at the position (i.e., he was on another level).

I mean, I don't think being sub .500 has anything to do with it. A good draft is 2 starters and good depth. Three or more starters and you've obviously excelled. On an off note, I've heard plenty analysts say this past week that you draft a QB when you want one, not when you need one, and they said that good GMs have not only said that, but they've proven that. So, QBs are probably an exception to that rule.

Oh, the high expectations after a draft. Keep your expectations low, people. Darin Gantt's latest "Ask The Old Guy" gives life to one of those lessons about pro football reality as a fan: "Rasheed Walker was a three-year starter at left tackle for the Packers, so Freeling is going to have to work. Hunter's got another big 'un in front of him in Bobby Brown III and a different kind of defensive tackle in Tershawn Wharton. Chris Brazzell II's got a lot of traffic at his position. Zakee Wheatley has to be better than the chronically underappreciated Nick Scott, and Sam Hecht is a fifth-round rookie at the hardest position on the line to play, who probably doesn't have immediate positional flexibility, and a solid free agent addition in Luke Fortner in front of him. "Fans generally love their draft class as soon as it arrives, because there is no evidence to the contrary yet. Once guys get on the field, the reality begins to creep in, and the seasoned among you remember that if you get three or four good players out of a draft, that was an amazing draft." https://www.panthers.com/news/ask-the-old-guy-things-looking-up-after-the-draft-monroe-freeling-luke-kuechly-bryce-young-derrick-brown Don't get crazy. Winning the draft (or the offseason BTW) on paper always leads to good feelings and great expectations, especially when you seemingly succeeded the season before, but let's remember that the Panthers are very much a work in progress. Team building takes time. If we get a couple of starters out of the draft, it's a good draft, but three or four would be an amazing draft, and anything more than that is actually sensational--even if entails a few multiple high end rotational players along with three starters. Moreover, kind of within that same vein, the coaches have to let the kids off the chain. Remember the coach-speak of past coaches about competition that is anything but because coaches have their notions about veteran experience? Not saying that they're necessarily wrong, but sometimes I think their reluctance to put the young guys out there is based somewhat in dogma or possibly fear because big stakes are on the line (e.g., their jobs). It can be frustrating to say the least, but the coaches are supposed to know best. Again, I say all of this so that we can remember to temper expectations and keep them within the realm of reality. It's like telling your mind to think of it as something akin to under-promising and over-delivering. Leave room to be pleasantly surprised for the best case scenario, but be cognizant that that rarely happens. I would think at this point, most of us should be able to recognize growth when we see it, and sometimes that growth doesn't manifest itself in the form of immediate supremacy, but a setting of the stage for long term dominance for years to come. It seems like we're on track for an emergence by 2028 or 2029. We still have huge questions, but by 2029, hopefully we will take our seat at the table of the perennial contenders in the NFL.

I should've referenced our current HC and, by extension, GM. I have been explicitly skeptical of Canales and his TE usage early during his first regular season in Charlotte. I will also note that Morgan wasn't really in Charlotte during Greg Olsen's career either.

TEs before day 3? We ain't 'bout dat life!