On this day: July 28 in recent Panther's history

[KB_fan]

Thanks for all the positive feedback on yesterday's "On this Day" thread.  Based on that, I'll continue...

July 28, 2011

• What turned out to be fantastic news for the Panthers.  Bears are shopping Greg Olsen and:  Rumor: Greg Olsen, TE Bears...WTF?!??

Opinion was divided: 

Rags: "Omg yes please Omg"

Ivan the Awesome:  "Just signed a TE, why the fug would we trade for another TE?"

Young Panthers89 wasn't too confident in Hurney:  "i have a feeling hurney is going to do something really really dumb"

Others news:

• Greg Hardy slightly injured in motorcycle crash
• Speculation on Cam Newton's contract

This exchange feels a bit like 2015!

Think Cam will holdout over guaranteed $$?

Nope, he wants to play now and we will be more than fair, as shown these past two days.

even if he does get it all guaranteed, it's still a bargain compared to what other teams have gotten stuck with in the past.

Glad our QB doesn't holdout on us and accepts a fair deal.  And yes, compared to many teams, we've gotten a bargain - both in 2011 and again this year.

 

More later today from 2012, 2013, 2014 as I find time.

[FuaMeOnce]

I think we will look back, and probably do now, at that Olsen deal as one of the better moves Hurney made. I don't like to only think of the bad things associated with him. Although many of us do.

[KB_fan]

From July 28 2012

Some Training Camp Notes also Training Camp 7/28 (Day 1) Twitter Updates

I was struck by how Luke showed so much exciting promise right from the start.... A few comments from various threads:

- The Carolina Panthers opened their 2012 training camp Saturday night at Wofford College with excitement, intensity and some interesting notes.  Second-year head coach Ron Rivera made no bones about rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly after practice, saying the former Boston College Eagle is much further advanced than almost any first-year player at the position he's ever seen.

- Rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly picks off Derek Anderson. Welcome to the NFL. Based on what I saw in the camps at Charlotte, Kuechly has a gift for knowing where to be.

- Kuechly looked smooth as well. Effortless.

- Kuechly: Like Joe Adams, this guy looks like he already gets it. Had a laser focus on the ball carrier or whoever he was covering.

- Jon Beason: "We're not treating Luke (Kuechly) like a rookie and we don't expect him to play like one either."

[dpm0409]

- Kuechly: Like Joe Adams, this guy looks like he already gets it. Had a laser focus on the ball carrier or whoever he was covering.

 

Joe didn't "get it" in the end unfortunately... 

Grouping these 2 in the same category seems a little silly today.

[KB_fan]

I'll post some tidbits from Training Camp updates from July 28, 2013 shortly, but first:

from July 25, 2013, a thread with rankings of our position groups.  How odd to remember it was only 2 years ago that LT was not our greatest concern.  We miss you Jordan Gross!

But while LT was solid, RT (Bell!) was a concern, as were the guards.

The OP in that thread, Icege gave a "plus" grade to the OLine:

OL +

Ryan Kalil coming back instantly makes the offensive line better. Silatolu showed improvement as the season went on as well. Kugbila could be quality depth until he's ready to contend for a starting position. I am concerned about the tackles though, especially RT. Gross can still play, but will Byron Bell finally be able to take the roller skates off?

Dex gave the OT group a B, but the OG group a C+ 

and UDogg thought the guard position was our greatest worry.

 

Obviously, we're still trying to build a solid OLine.  Thank goodness we still have Kalil and glad we seem to have improved at guard with Norwell & Turner.  I think there's hope at RT with the drafting of Williams and also Remmers' pretty solid play at the end of last season. 

But it's nice to remember that even with some real OLine concerns in July 2013, we still went 12-4.  

------

Update:  A similar thread on position group ratings from a few days later expressed considerably more alarm about the OLine as a few days of camp revealed weakness:

Position Group Trending:  http://www.carolinahuddle.com/boards/topic/88855-position-group-trending/

 

[KB_fan]

July 28, 2013 training camp:

7-28 Camp Thread

Carolina Panthers Training Camp Update

Quite a lot of love for LaFell & Ginn... however note the "BUTS" re: would have been sacks

 

Anthony Ballard ‏@PantherPride864m

Cam rolls out under pressure hit Lafell on sideline. GREAT location on the ball. great catch

James Dator ‏@James_Dator4m

Ginn with another deep catch, but Hardy would have sacked Cam

Joe Person ‏@josephperson3m

Ginn with a long catch, beat Thomas.

Bryan Strickland ‏@PanthersBryan1m

WR Brandon LaFell letting his presence be known with pair of nice catches for big gainers from Cam Newton over course of three snaps.

James Dator ‏@James_Dator30s

Cam is throwing well today. LaFell and Ginn most impressive receivers today

Jeremy Igo ‏@CarolinaHuddle1m

Lafell with a nice catch BUT Cam would have been sacked by Luke #PanthersCamp

Carolina Panthers ‏@Panthers2m

WR Brandon LaFell continues to shine, making a nice catch in double coverage. #PanthersCamp

That excitement proved pretty warranted as LaFell & Ginn combined for 10 TDs and nearly 1200 yards...

BUT, not all Training Camp excitement pans out:

There was a lot of praise & excitement too for Barner.

 

Jeremy Igo ‏@CarolinaHuddle14s

Barner getting praise from Cam. This guy has me excited. No hesitation in hitting the hole fast. #PanthersCamp

OnlyPantherFan in Maine wrote:

If we finally found our Sproles in Barner I will be one happy fan. I really think this kid can be a lethal weapon for us. Great value in the 6th round. 

And Captain Morgan added:

I know his college offenses was a great system, but with his numbers and his speed, how in the hell did he drop to us in the 6th?  I love our draft this year.  I think we got incredible value with Barner and Klein.

 

And some training camp pessimism is fortunately very wrong.  There was a lot of concern about Nortman, including this memorable comment by Promethean Forerunner:

"Sooooooo... how's our kicking game going? I've accepted Nortman will suck forevermore but how do Linberry and Gano look?"

 

Thankfully Nortman doesn't suck, and Gano was awesome in 2013 and pretty darn good last year too...!

 

[KB_fan]

OK and now for 2014:

1st a thread I missed yesterday:

July 27, 2014 we signed Fozzy to replace Tyler Gaffney: http://www.carolinahuddle.com/boards/topic/102736-panthers-sign-fozzy-whittaker/

Quite a few reacted "Meh."  Others loved his name.  But it proved a pretty good signing and he was greatly needed with all our injuries.

And then, speaking of Gaffney, it was a year ago today that our FO goofed, and the dreaded Pats stole Gaffney off waivers:

Pats claim RB Tyler Gaffney off waivers

A tough lesson.

 

Some were trying to hold out hope for our Tackles - "might not be as bad as we thought"

Jeremy's response proved a little too true:

"You all just pray that neither of those guys gets injured. Because if either does.... ugh"

Yup. UGH is about right.

 

From Jeremy's Training Camp notes, it doesn't seem to have been a very memorable practice.  My vote for the best picture and comment of the day from Jeremy was this:

There is one thing you absolutely cannot teach a quarterback, and that is height.

 

So true! Just love it.  And to think of Cam + KB + Funch + Olsen all together on the field at the same time... BRING IT!

[Mr. Scot]

I remember the day of the Greg Olsen trade very, very well.

[KB_fan]

Back to the topic of the anniversary of the 2011 Greg Olsen trade, glancing again today at PFF's projected depth chart for our offense, I was reminded that they rank Greg as the best player on our offense.