Week 2 Win Against Bills: First Carolina Win Without a TD in 14 Years.

[AppHeel]

We won with this TD yesterday. Just saying.

 

[0115]

holy smokes this board is toxic as ever. and it keeps going down souttth

 

 

[uncfan888]

1 hour ago, ludwig51 said:

Didn't we beat San Fran in 2013 without scoring a td?

Deangelo had a rushing touchdown in that game if I remember correctly 

[Fox007]

2 minutes ago, 0115 said:

holy smokes this board is toxic as ever. and it keeps going down souttth

 

 

Replace board with society and you're fixed.

It's also one of the biggest and most active boards in regards to the NFL so the more people you have the more....well...people you have and people are asshole POS motherfugers.

[Carl Spackler]

Probably should give Buffalo credit for having a good defense that will be one of the five best we'll see this season

If you can beat that defense, which we did, the sky isn't falling

[panthers55]

8 hours ago, Proudiddy said:

I'm well aware of how good the defense is but, they won't be able to carry the offense all season.  I gave Shula plenty of chances during his time here and was hesitant to ever bring out the pitchforks and torches, but enough is enough.  His calls are predictable, he does NOT play to our strengths, and he rarely ever allows our offense to get into a rhythm.  Being 2-0 will afford him more time, but I'm concerned the pressure he is putting on the defense will eventually affect them as well.  He also isn't doing Cam any favors...

Each game is about matchups. We score 23 against San Fran and leave at least 2 scores on the field. We play Buffalo with a depleted offense without 2 probowlers who we counted on heavily in the gameplan, leave 2 TDs on the field again and squeak by 9-3.  Let's see what happens against New Orleans next week. It depends on the matchups like always.

[KB_fan]

15 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

Probably should give Buffalo credit for having a good defense that will be one of the five best we'll see this season

If you can beat that defense, which we did, the sky isn't falling

Yeah, I think the Bills defense could be very good.  And playing against Sean McDermott ain't no joke.  He more than anyone else knew exactly how to exploit our offense's weaknesses, and did so pretty well. 

So, I'm not nearly as pessimistic as many around here.  I think yesterday's very worrying lack of points scored on offense may have been largely a perfect-storm combination of things:  McDermott, Ryan Kalil being out, Greg Olsen injury, very solid Bills' defense (especially against the run.)

In quite a few ways our PASSING offense looked better than week 1.  Cam had some nice throws, KB and Funchess were factors...  Again there were at least two TDs left off the scoreboard.  The opportunities were there.  As Cam said, [with the exception of the 3rd quarter], they were moving the ball nicely much of the game.  Some of the tweaks needed may only be fairly minor...

However, my one concern is that the game is now on tape.  Our coaches are going to have to respond.  They didn't in 2016 after the 2015 week 16 loss to Atlanta and the Super Bowl.  Those losses DID give other teams a blueprint on how to stop our offense most of the the 2016 season. 

Maybe the injury to Olsen could be one of those horrible things that turns out to be something of a blessing in disguise (ala KB injury in 2015).  Losing Greg for at least 6 weeks WILL force a change in our offense.  Maybe it forces Shula & Ron & Cam to change some things, take advantage of new weapons, new opportunities.

We'll know a lot more after next week.... for now, I'm trying to stay pretty neutral and see how the team adjusts to the loss of Greg.

 

[Moorgan]

2 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

We'll know a lot more after next week.... for now, I'm trying to stay pretty neutral and see how the team adjusts to the loss of Greg.

I agree. I thought there were several positives to take away from the game.

That Buff D was no joke, specifically against the run. Kalil being out and the typical McDermott double A gap pressure was bound to disrupt Larsen who woke up not thinking he was starting. That kind of disruption affects the whole line. So with 1 good game and 1 bad game in the books for the Oline, I think we can confidently wait and see. However, our receivers got open quite a bit which was a good thing to see. Yes there were some headscratching play calls and some missed throws and probably too much dancing from CMC. But the offense didn't play horribly and at some points seemed to be shaking the rust...of course some is still there.

Gano did great. And the Defense played lights out. Holding Shady to less than 10 yards is ridiculous. Where's that Bills fan that promised to be back on Monday? Shady this and Shady that. That was an epic containment.

So while yes, there are some concerns, there were plenty of positives too. And if we are going to continue to keep getting Ws while Cam and the offense sorts itself out...I'll take it every day and twice on Sundays.

[grimesgoat]

I know its not sexy, but this is just what Rivera/Shula want.  They held the ball nearly 40 minutes.  They just failed to finish a couple of drives.

This team will not win a lot of games 40-10.  That's not the goal.  The goal is to win 21-6.  Yesterday was pretty close, just a couple missed opportunities down at the goal line.

[panthers55]

Three reasoned posts in a row. I had to make sure my browser didn't jump from the Huddle to another site.

[Proudiddy]

I'm just saying, it is extremely concerning that 2 weeks in, with the weapons we've added, with the infusion of speed, quickness, and YAC ability we've added, that we are struggling offensively.  The offense was supposed to evolve, yet, we're essentially the same as ever under Shula.  Sure, McD knows our tendencies and all, but we should've had an advantage just in the wrinkles we supposedly added for guys like CMC and Samuel.  He wasnt here all offseason, while we were talking about "evolving," wo some substantial, noticeable changes shouldve been made.  Furthermore, Shula still has us burning through timeouts early in each half because he's so indecisive and incompetent that he doesn't get the play in until 8 seconds left in the playclock.  It is ridiculous and truly is holding us back.  I love defensive games.  I love dominating another team's offense...  but with the weapons we have, namely Cam, even a rusty Cam, we should not be held without a TD.  

Also, thanks to TN05 for my first POO reaction since it was implemented lol.  It was a good run.

[w280sax]

The last game we won without scoring a TD was week 2 in 2003 against TB when Kris Jenkins blocked a Martin Gramatica XP to send the game to overtime at 9-9.  The panthers won on a Kasay FG 12-9 and then soared to the Super Bowl.  (I'm not saying we are definitely going to the Super Bowl based on that, just that it is almost guaranteed.  )

I believe yesterdays win brought the Panthers all time record in games that they did not score a TD to 3-25.

I believe this was only the 2nd game in which neither team scored a TD that the Panthers have ever been involved in. The Panthers also won in 1997 at Atlanta by a score of 9-6.

 

[Proudiddy]

1 hour ago, Moorgan said:

I agree. I thought there were several positives to take away from the game.

That Buff D was no joke, specifically against the run. Kalil being out and the typical McDermott double A gap pressure was bound to disrupt Larsen who woke up not thinking he was starting. That kind of disruption affects the whole line. So with 1 good game and 1 bad game in the books for the Oline, I think we can confidently wait and see. However, our receivers got open quite a bit which was a good thing to see. Yes there were some headscratching play calls and some missed throws and probably too much dancing from CMC. But the offense didn't play horribly and at some points seemed to be shaking the rust...of course some is still there.

Gano did great. And the Defense played lights out. Holding Shady to less than 10 yards is ridiculous. Where's that Bills fan that promised to be back on Monday? Shady this and Shady that. That was an epic containment.

So while yes, there are some concerns, there were plenty of positives too. And if we are going to continue to keep getting Ws while Cam and the offense sorts itself out...I'll take it every day and twice on Sundays.

Again, I take nothing away from our defense.  And I am doing my best to not take away from theirs either...  but, with our weapons, we should never be held scoreless.  Sure, there are some tough games here and there where it's a possibility, but it shouldn't have happened yesterday.  And even against San Fran, we just struggled...  so, the first two weeks just feel like the offense has embodied fitting a square peg into a round hole.  It's not so much what the defenses are doing to us, but it is how we are hindering ourselves, and that is beyond troubling.

I'm not focusing on the negative.  I have been all over the positives as well, but this thread is bringing attention to something that may or may not be a major problem.

[Moorgan]

3 minutes ago, Proudiddy said:

Again, I take nothing away from our defense.  And I am doing my best to not take away from theirs either...  but, with our weapons, we should never be held scoreless.  Sure, there are some tough games here and there where it's a possibility, but it shouldn't have happened yesterday.  And even against San Fran, we just struggled...  so, the first two weeks just feels like the offense has embodied fitting a square peg into a round hole.  It's not so much ehat the defense are doing to us, it is how we are hindering ourselves, and that is beyond troubling.

I'm not focusing on the negative.  I have been all over the positives as well, but this thread is bringing attention to something that may or may not be a major problem.

I agree that there is cause for concern. But I think a lot of things are being masked and then generalized and so all of the poo gets thrown at Shula. He, obviously, had a few issues yesterday that aren't exactly new issues. So yes that's cause for concern. But I don't think anyone really knows what the issues are exactly. As with all things in life, it's likely a bit more complicated.

Could it be a combination of all these issues:

Shula doesn't script plays before the game?

Shula is slow in getting plays in for an unknown reason?

Equipment issues (at home no less)?

Cam stutters (which was new to me)?

Olsen isn't there to be the play calling fixer (also new to me)?

**Ryan Kalil unexpectedly not there to adjust to the McD double AA gap pressure and make adjustments and/or running out of time to make adjustments?

Potentially poor placement of play clock in BoA (hadn't thought of that one before Gannon suggested it)?

Seeing as how the line played so well in week 1 and in all of preseason and then a bunch of different things happened in this game but we still had more overall production tells me that we overcame a bunch of adversity against a damn good defense who will have likely schemed for us better than any other team this year. So while there are still negatives, I think we actually progressed in some ways. Defenses were still largely preoccupied with what CMC was doing or potentially doing. CMC missed a huge block on one play (not sure about others). But he will get better and better as he learns the pro game.

And finally, McD built a defense here that he couldn't beat.

** I personally think this is the biggest issue from yesterday