The obvious and less obvious...

[twylyght]

1) To state that Jake has let this team down is an obvious understatement of epic proportions. In watching yesterday's game I saw a total of two professional caliber QB throws, one of which was a decision to throw the ball away. I saw one other professional play where he had the presence of mind to rally his guys to spike the ball with 1 tick left in the 2nd half.

For whatever reason, no amount of quaterback coaching has changed his mechanics to stop throwing to receivers as if they were 10 feet tall and 3 feet slower in their routes. Early in his Panther career, he was getting away with throws you shouldn't make with unbelievably fabulous results. It would now seem that his body of work extending back to Oakland of last year has shown that his days of being an adequate game manager are now behind him. It also signifies that this coaching staff has grossly underestimated this fact both by keeping Jake on the field as long as they have, coupled with the fact that they have failed to train a serviceable replacement in 5 years' time.

2) In light of this comment, I do think that Jeff Davidson has done a solid job with this offense. Jake's failure has been so prodigious in the execution of this offense that it is making everyone on that side of the ball look bad. I'm seeing our offensive line turning the corner and doing what is necessary to keep Jake upright. I am seeing the running game regaining its bite from last year (even if they are yet to be truly tested in the face of a good defense this year). I am seeing receivers getting open when they are supposed to be open. The TEs are contributing to a degree where they were merely an afterthought in the Henning years.

There is room for improvement to be sure. But outside the QB position, you can ask for little more from our guys. Seeing Steve Smith slowing down time and again in double coverage has become the most gut-wrenching experience for me over the past year of Sundays. How Steve has managed to pull off the plays that he has is beyond me. I would be upset if I were him as well. He could certainly handle his emotion more professionally, but it is certainly hard to argue against his frustrations.

3) Special teams is a catastrophe. If Jake's weekly meltdown were not so Herculean, Danny Crossman would be getting railed like Amtrak. When was the last time we posted any kind of punter pressure. When was the last time we saw our guys in consistent position for coverage after a more than adequate punt by Jason Baker. How many times have we seen a complete breakdown of kickoff coverage to either tackle or return? Even our kicking game is suffering as evidenced by Kasay and Rhys Lloyd's play as of late. How can a coach screw that up?! I would think it impossible, except that Crossman's ineptitude seems so pervasive that it looks like he has cracked the code!

4) A tremendous amount of gnashing of teeth has been made of having so few draft picks next year. I actually think this to be a genius move for Hurney et al as next year's rookie cap is zilch. There are going to be agents telling 7 rounds of incoming rookies that they should use this year to be paid like a #1 superstar. I see a lot of other franchises setting themselves up for financial suicide in light of this next year. Also, I believe that Hurney has done what he can to accomodate the wishes of this coaching staff to provide them the top tier talent that they've requested to either keep or acquire. His only failing in my eyes is providing a promising #2 WR to compliment Steve Smith.

Being a Wake Forest guy, I am secretly hoping that the Panthers will take Riley Skinner next year. Additionally, if Wake can't hold onto Jim Grobe, I hope that the Panthers can benefit from that as well.

5) After a disastrous start, the defense is starting to shine. Though not all of it is attributable to this, I believe that the bulk of this turnaround is due directly to Hollis Thomas. I don't know how much more this guy has in the the tank, but he has been a revelation for our team. I hope that Meeks is taking notice just how important having the big uglies in the middle of our line is important to our success. Thusfar, I would think that he has, and that gives me great hope for our defense. Our corners are defintely not the best in the league, but are definitely more than serviceable with proper pressure from our front four. Our DEs are now able to pull off the stunts and traps that simply died at the lines of bigger O-Linemen earlier this year. Most of all, Beason has been freed up to roam laterally and make the explosive plays that we are accustomed to seeing as fans.

6) My biggest beef is with Julius Peppers. I know that it has been fashionable to lay off of him in the wake of his recent play. However, I am reticent to believe that this is due to him picking up his play. The formula to beat him is this: push him to the outside and keep your hands on him. If you do this, he will simply give up after 3 seconds. As a premiere-league franchise player, this is unacceptable. If you want the notoriety of being a top-tier DE, then you have to be relentless and feared. I no longer see either with Julius Peppers. If he can't dig deep to make it happen in a contract year, then this team doesn't need him and they certainly don't need to pay him for nothing. Players are fine with the paycheck that Steve Smith gets because he is obviously giving his all on every single play. Giving that kind of jack to Peppers is a morale killer for other players and Beason's recent actions are clear indicators of that.

7) Lastly is attitude. This mostly applies to the offensive passing game, but it is evident elsewhere. It has been the trend over a few years now, but this team is the whiniest team I have seen in recent memory. Bad calls happen. Good teams shake it off and leave the judgement of bad officiating to be handled by the league or the masses of public opinion. Bad teams whine about it. Don't get me wrong. I understand that part of it is gamesmanship. But when that attitude of "being screwed" seeps into the psyche of your team, you lose your mental toughness of dealing with adversity. That stems directly from coaching and I think exactly that when I see John Fox complaining like he does from the sideline. Find a better way to work that aspect of the game, and have your players shut the hell up and get on to the next play. When you do that, you have assumed control of your own destiny where you can control it. Once you do that, you have fixed the attitude problem and are ready to make the leap to being an elite NFL team.

[Munkey]

I take it you're awaiting the "Kick-ass" movie release.

[twylyght]

I take it you're awaiting the "Kick-ass" movie release.

Meh. Lukewarm on it either way. Just like the pic. Girls in catholic shool uniforms toting 9mm with silencers.... mmmmmmmmmmm

[CRA]

as far as your beef with Peppers......he has played the exact opposite as your claim the past few weeks and his continued his pass rush and pressure even if not getting to the QB w/ his first move. Peppers has been great in 4 out of 6 games this year. Not saying he is worth the $ but no DE is worth that......but that ain't Peps fault as he doesn't write the checks. Seriously, how do you hate on Pep's play right now?

[twylyght]

as far as your beef with Peppers......he has played the exact opposite as your claim the past few weeks and his continued his pass rush and pressure even if not getting to the QB w/ his first move. Peppers has been great in 4 out of 6 games this year. Not saying he is worth the $ but no DE is worth that......but that ain't Peps fault as he doesn't write the checks. Seriously, how do you hate on Pep's play right now?

I suggest a DVR and a rewind button

[RazzleDazzle]

The is a movie called Kick-Ass?

[CRA]

I suggest a DVR and a rewind button

I do...Pep played w/ great effort against the Eagles, Bucs, Skins, and Bills. Maybe you should hit the rewind.

Dallas was vintage Pep going at 80%.

[twylyght]

I do...Pep played w/ great effort against the Eagles, Bucs, Skins, and Bills. Maybe you should hit the rewind.

Dallas was vintage Pep going at 80%.

I rewatched the game last night with that being one of several key things to look at. I call em like I see em. No matter how I wish it weren't the case, it simply is.

[PuntJake]

this thread is simply a collection of stuff that has already been said. most of it by me. i called jake out last year going back to the oakland game. funny how so many are jumping on the last season bandwagon. i selected the puntjake name in january. not this year after he started playing so badly. many here thought we'd win 12 or 13 games. what a joke. i saw it coming even before the draft, training camp or preseason.

just glad everyone else is starting to catch up!

[Demerize]

"2) In light of this comment, I do think that Jeff Davidson has done a solid job with this offense. Jake's failure has been so prodigious in the execution of this offense that it is making everyone on that side of the ball look bad. I'm seeing our offensive line turning the corner and doing what is necessary to keep Jake upright. I am seeing the running game regaining its bite from last year (even if they are yet to be truly tested in the face of a good defense this year). I am seeing receivers getting open when they are supposed to be open. The TEs are contributing to a degree where they were merely an afterthought in the Henning years."

I wholeheartedly disagree! If the OC is calling the plays for offense... and Jeff = OC then it's his job to know what his players can do. Jeff didn't get the memo that Jake has trouble passing... in particular going long but he should probably rule out Medium passes and some short passes. The Bills game was just one of the example of his poor play calling. In the 2nd half we were running the ball fine... so what do we do?!? Well you saw the results.

[Guild]

Your power of observation is almost mystical.

I was blinded by the success and lucky breaks we had last year and spoke out in Delhomme's favor previously. I'm glad that some people aren't as clueless as myself.

[twylyght]

this thread is simply a collection of stuff that has already been said. most of it by me. i called jake out last year going back to the oakland game. funny how so many are jumping on the last season bandwagon. i selected the puntjake name in january. not this year after he started playing so badly. many here thought we'd win 12 or 13 games. what a joke. i saw it coming even before the draft, training camp or preseason.

just glad everyone else is starting to catch up!

I haven't been monitoring the board terribly closely, but I have yet to see anyone break down the defense, the OC, front office draft picks for next year and attitude to the degree I have. If so, sorry for stealing your original thoughts. I'll try not to step on your toes in the future

[Guild]

yay double post

[twylyght]

"I wholeheartedly disagree! If the OC is calling the plays for offense... and Jeff = OC then it's his job to know what his players can do. Jeff didn't get the memo that Jake has trouble passing... in particular going long but he should probably rule out Medium passes and some short passes. The Bills game was just one of the example of his poor play calling. In the 2nd half we were running the ball fine... so what do we do?!? Well you saw the results.

Sometimes a leader's job is to deal with the lesser of evils. The extent to which we moved the ball in SPITE of Jake's poor play should be evidence to the contrary.