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Chuba is a better back. Chuba shows just as much patience---you can't argue that one of Chuba's strengths is patience before choosing his hole and exploding through it. Dowdle is patient, but lots of times he's too patient (hippity hop with his feet) and hits the hole a little too late which minimizes his yardage on those plays. He's a good change-of-pace back, but he's not a legit starter. He's not built for that.

Dude, Chuba hasn't even been in on the regular this season, but we know what he can do because we've seen it already. Dowdle isn't built to be an RB1. Sure, he's been productive, but his stats were passed against some sketchy run defenses. I told someone earlier this season that Chuba could have done it just as well, but of course this is dependent upon him being healthy. If you're suggesting that Dowdle was almost as good as Chuba today, then that's not true. Chuba was the better back today, and he's the better back over time.

I was actually going to start a thread like this, but Bryce-centric, as I never thought Canales was going anywhere (or Evero after what the defense is putting on the field this season). That being said, I wasn't going to say that Bryce s fifth year option is essentially guaranteed. I think that it's getting there, but the remaining games do matter. I still think that he needs a healthy dose of competition. Perhaps Drew Allar if he falls enough. But I don't think Bryce is going anywhere before 2027. He's inconsistent as fug, but it is what it is... including maddening to watch from week to week. You never know what you're going to get.

It was a reasonable bet, but not one that you bet the farm on though. You know why? Because you never know what Panthers team you're going to get. That's the reason why I always thought that we had a chance of winning (even if slight on a normal day). You can't know which Panthers team (and which Bryce) will show up on any given Sunday. That's why you leave bets like you made alone pertaining to this team. The Panthers are still playing hard. That's a testament to the HC and the players.

Chuba should be in running these runs, not Dowdle.

This is somewhat of a hot take. For all the draft capital that we spent on potential pass rushers in rounds 2 and 3, we still need another one. We go long stretches allowing opposing QBs much comfort. We need an A-list pass rusher that the opposition needs to think about on every play.

Dowdle ain't been doing poo between the tackles when other teams commit to the run. Chuba can at least fall forward. At least

Rico did his job when Chuba was injured, but he needs to be the RB2, not the RB1 (and his body isn't built for the pounding anyway if we look at history).

The problem is that we need to allow one of them to get into a rhythm...and that needs to be Chuba!

We're missing Number 8 today.

Defense has to get it back

Legette looked like he got open on that pass out

This isn't a hot take. I just think that some of you forgot. Chuba is healthy now, and it makes a damned difference. The right back is under contract for the longer term.

Run run run. Still undue pressure on third down.

Run run pass. It just makes for undue pressure on third downs.

Run into the pile on second down

We do that poo a lot, especially at inopportune times.

That was the most explosive play I've seen from an RB this season.

And, I'd add that I don't remember a towel over his head being a big Huddle thing, or a thing at all here. Maybe on Reddit or something... Who would get really upset to the point where they wanted to kick Cam to the curb because he put a towel on his head or pouted when he lost? You need to take that poo to Facebook.

Yep, not the smartest play call. It's evidence that Canales is trying to be cute, or that he simply doesn't believe in the RB or line to get the job done.

I mean, it's really a dumpster fire that very few national analysts are talking about. Bryce is fool's gold cloaked in a few games won on the strength of Rico Dowdle and the defense. Canales appears like a schizophrenic coach because of Bryce's incompetence, and Dave's knowing (and fear) that Bryce is highly prone to effing up on any given play that he has to let the pigskin fly, notwithstanding if the box is stacked or not, but especially when the box is stacked, and there's little that he can do but hope for the best and maybe get lucky.

I think Canales knows what identity he wants for the team (I think), it's just that he is hamstrung by Bryce. He won't make the tough decision to ditch Bryce, likely due to higher-ups. Bryce has been on thin ice in my damned mind for two years. Every season, the question of axing him by the trade deadline looms large (again, in my mind). There is absolutely no way we should've come into this season without a plan B (and I'm not talking the Red Rifle). Canales should've been banging the table for a plan B. I mean, it's just his job on the line.

I thought I saw Chuba pause slightly, as if he was going to throw to Sanders, but maybe the DBs already had the play diagnosed and blew it up.

If they pick up Bryce Young's fifth year option, it will tell us that they are clueles as it pertains to management of personnel and running a damned franchise. It would be nonsensical. His body of work doesn't warrant picking up his option, and it doesn't even rise to the level of making a decision based upon desperation, because there are arguably bench players that can do just as well and maybe even better. I can't explain how profoundly incompetent that picking up Bryce Young's fifth year option would be. It would simply be wrong. Anyone that can't see that is idiotic.