Really like what Dave is building

[Snake]

We are 3 year in with DG and some things are becoming apparent. This team has a identity, its a Offense that grinds time and scores points, then its a Defense that attacks and causes turnovers. Both help each other out and both are Physical, punch you in the mouth and laugh as you bleed squads. Funchess and Shaq were perfect picks for this team and its style of play. No only does Carolina now have 4 imposing receivers to catch the ball imagine how teams dbs are going to feel when KB and Funchess start blocking them. Stewart will have a wall of blockers inside and out to run behind. Then you think oh well we will just bring a LB/SS in and thats when Ginn is going to make you pay. No LB/SS is going to keep up with Ginn and no DB is going to out muscle KB and Funchess, everyone say it MISMATCH. Honestly I could talk about mismatches all day with this offense but lets just say Shula better nut up because he has weapons now to do almost anything.

 

 

Now to defense. Was Shaq a luxury pick? sure but its a luxury im glad we got and will have down the road. What can this kid not do honestly? I really see him splitting time with another LB his first year because of learning curve and weight but he is still going to make big plays because thats just what he does. Its almost crazy to think of his scoring potential with the ball in his hand. He was a good RB in collage and now think of WRs and RBs trying to tackle him running down the field. Crazy huh? Add him to a defense that can already shut down any Offense without his help and you have a making for one exciting unit. After Shaq lets not for get we added a Vet in Tillman who may be old but his savvy and can create turnovers when give the chance and UDFAs like Brian Blechen and Garry Peters who make plays and play smart and you also have a next man up attitude.

 

I just cant say enough of how important it is to have a GM that can give this to you and how Carolina has never had this. 6 years from now expect us to be doing the same thing with a few SBs to talk about because teams that draft well and play well win SBs.

 

 

 

[heelinfine]

We are 3 year in with DG and some things are becoming apparent. This team has a identity, its a Offense that grinds time and scores points, then its a Defense that attacks and causes turnovers. Both help each other out and both are Physical, punch you in the mouth and laugh as you bleed squads. Funchess and Shaq were perfect picks for this team and its style of play. No only does Carolina now have 4 imposing receivers to catch the ball imagine how teams dbs are going to feel when KB and Funchess start blocking them. Stewart will have a wall of blockers inside and out to run behind. Then you think oh well we will just bring a LB/SS in and thats when Ginn is going to make you pay. No LB/SS is going to keep up with Ginn and no DB is going to out muscle KB and Funchess, everyone say it MISMATCH. Honestly I could talk about mismatches all day with this offense but lets just say Shula better nut up because he has weapons now to do almost anything.

Now to defense. Was Shaq a luxury pick? sure but its a luxury im glad we got and will have down the road. What can this kid not do honestly? I really see him splitting time with another LB his first year because of learning curve and weight but he is still going to make big plays because thats just what he does. Its almost crazy to think of his scoring potential with the ball in his hand. He was a good RB in collage and now think of WRs and RBs trying to tackle him running down the field. Crazy huh? Add him to a defense that can already shut down any Offense without his help and you have a making for one exciting unit. After Shaq lets not for get we added a Vet in Tillman who may be old but his savvy and can create turnovers when give the chance and UDFAs like Brian Blechen and Garry Peters who make plays and play smart and you also have a next man up attitude.

I just cant say enough of how important it is to have a GM that can give this to you and how Carolina has never had this. 6 years from now expect us to be doing the same thing with a few SBs to talk about because teams that draft well and play well win SBs.

I've been just as critical of Shula as anybody. But just like many of us have defended Cam for not having the weapons he needed, I'm anxious to see what Shula does different if anything, now that he has more weapons also.

[Roebling]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves and say we are going to have multiple superbowls in 6 years... But other than that, yes. I agree. The ironic thing is, two of our biggest question marks, in my mind, are our trenches. Something Gman harps on.

Our LT is eh, and man I miss Hardy. That guy and Johnson coming at you from both sides was just damn frightening. I mean, holy hell. Now, we have a few solid depth DE's, but we need a force on that side, especially with our questionable secondary. But, our team manages to hide our abysmall secondary because of its ability to pass rush and stop the run. Let's see how it works out this year. If Johnson goes down, we are in for some trouble. He is, in my mind, the second best defender on our team. 

[Snake]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves and say we are going to have multiple superbowls in 6 years... But other than that, yes. I agree. The ironic thing is, two of our biggest question marks, in my mind, are our trenches. Something Gman harps on.

Our LT is eh, and man I miss Hardy. That guy and Johnson coming at you from both sides was just damn frightening. I mean, holy hell. Now, we have a few solid depth DE's, but we need a force on that side, especially with our questionable secondary. But, our team manages to hide our abysmall secondary because of its ability to pass rush and stop the run. Let's see how it works out this year. If Johnson goes down, we are in for some trouble. He is, in my mind, the second best defender on our team. 

 

While good points every team has holes somewhere in the NFL and most team that were bad as us take more than 3 years to rebuild much less be productive. If our draft pans out like last year we will have multiple SBs in 6 more year. While CJ going down would be bad its not going to cripple this team. Its why I talk about the next man up because we have one of the better DT combos in the NFL and we also have a young DE that improved at the end of the year. Add that to the fact we address some issues of CB and Dline in UDFA we could have solid depth. If not we are no worse than last year. Thats what l Like the most is if all fails we are no worse off than last year.

[KJ89]

It excites me in a completely sexual way.

[*FreeFua*]

Funchess isn't much of a blocker right now, hoping this is something they can fix.

Funchess is a 6'4" finesse WR. He'll tell you himself he has "sneaky speed" and the cut ups don't lie. Funchess can catch a 5 yard pass and turn it up field in a hurry as well. I'm really, really excited about Funchess. He's a legit deep threat who can move like someone much smaller than him. Funchess' stats suffered due to bad QB play, there were many times Funch would win deep or across the middle but Gardner would either already be running or zoned in elsewhere.

Can't wait to see this kid play.

[Mother Grabber]

he is just getting knee deep into his 3rd season, actually.  Not even 2.5 years yet.  It's amazing how much he's turned this team around in such a short time.

[IamSoClutch]

Funchess isn't much of a blocker right now, hoping this is something they can fix.

Funchess is a 6'4" finesse WR. He'll tell you himself he has "sneaky speed" and the cut ups don't lie. Funchess can catch a 5 yard pass and turn it up field in a hurry as well. I'm really, really excited about Funchess. He's a legit deep threat who can move like someone much smaller than him. Funchess' stats suffered due to bad QB play, there were many times Funch would win deep or across the middle but Gardner would either already be running or zoned in elsewhere.

Can't wait to see this kid play.

He's probably not much of a blocker as a TE but as a wr he's going to eat most rbs

[Squirrel]

This team has overachieved the past two years.  This years team is a lot better than either of those teams.  We will be able to actually compete against Greenbay if we face them this year and not get blown out. 

[gettlemanjack]

[Kyle82]

[KB_fan]

I was just looking at Panthers' updated roster and I sorted the list by years of experience and then did some quick calculations.

Among the 86 currently on our roster (counting the 10 new UDFAs, and the 5 new draftees), the team averages 3.8 years of experience.

 

20 (23%) > 5 years

44 (51%) 2 - 5 years

22 (26%) 0 - 1 years

 

[Obviously the 53 man roster will have quite different percentages..., I'll revisit these calculations come the fall...]

 

I'm very optimistic given these numbers.  We're neither too old (high salaries = cash-strapped, injury-prone) nor too young (inexperienced) this year.  There's a solid core of good to excellent roster members who have worked together and "jelled" for 2-3 years as well as some promising newbies.  This looks like it could be the sweetspot in terms of experience.  So I'm hoping we can capitalize on what looks to be a very promising few seasons ahead!

[mc52beast]

4th and 10...

Shula: run up the middle

[nctarheel0619]

Dumb question, does anyone have where Dallas's management stated they wanted Shaq?