Turns out the Raiders and bucs are kinda good.

[Jeremy Igo]

Raiders and Bucs are kinda good and this young inexperienced team kept it close into the 4th quarter. 

 

cool.

[hepcat]

Turns out Christian McCaffrey is really good too

[Jeremy Igo]

2 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Turns out Christian McCaffrey is really good too

Who told you that?

[LinvilleGorge]

But the Bucs got beaten easily by the Saints. Honestly, I think the Bucs and Saints may have just been massively overrated or the Saints may have just plain had a bad game last night. With Brees and Brady, I get it. Father Time is undefeated. Those guys looking like shadows of their former selves can't be seen as surprising at their age. But it was surprising to see Marshon Lattimore and Malcolm Jenkins out there looking like Dante Jackson and Tre Boston. Then again, Jenkins is a 32 year old DB so Father Time might be nipping at his heels too.

[hepcat]

Just now, Jeremy Igo said:

Who told you that?

Mike Shula’s 4th grade gym teacher 

[Jeremy Igo]

Just now, hepcat said:

Mike Shula’s 4th grade gym teacher 

Journalistic note. in the future that person is called

sources

[hepcat]

In all seriousness, this is the first time Gruden has faced the NFC South since he got back into coaching and I have to think he brought out his best stuff to beat the Saints especially. When he plays the Bucs I bet the Raiders play another great game. 

[CRA]

Saints are a completely different offense w/ Thomas IMO.  If he was on the field the Saints win.  

[BPF]

My original prediction was 3-5 years before we would see a return, but now I'm bumping that to 2-3 years. Not a huge fan of moral victories and don't like to assume things based on other teams performances, but we have some real positives in the realm of coaching I haven't seen in so long I thought they were not legal in the game like halftime adjustments and running an offense that isn't fully centered around one singular player. That's my Monday morning optimism for your Tuesday morning, thank you for stopping by. 

[Ricky Spanish]

Just now, BPF said:

My original prediction was 3-5 years before we would see a return, but now I'm bumping that to 2-3 years. Not a huge fan of moral victories and don't like to assume things based on other teams performances, but we have some real positives in the realm of coaching I haven't seen in so long I thought they were not legal in the game like halftime adjustments and running an offense that isn't fully centered around one singular player. That's my Monday morning optimism for your Tuesday morning, thank you for stopping by. 

I honestly think we ramp up improvement much like the 49ers did. 

Granted they would have taken a huge step up in year two had Jimmy not gotten injured so early in the year. 

Regardless, I think we look much better next year, around 8-8 and potentially in the wildcard race (Though not necessarily at the top of it).

The fact our coaching staff has made halftime adjustments two weeks in a row is mind boggling to me. I can't remember the last time we went into halftime down and I thought we would be able to claw our way back to at least compete. 

[Ricky Spanish]

2 hours ago, Ricky Spanish said:

I honestly think we ramp up improvement much like the 49ers did. 

Granted they would have taken a huge step up in year two had Jimmy not gotten injured so early in the year. 

Regardless, I think we look much better next year, around 8-8 and potentially in the wildcard race (Though not necessarily at the top of it).

The fact our coaching staff has made halftime adjustments two weeks in a row is mind boggling to me. I can't remember the last time we went into halftime down and I thought we would be able to claw our way back to at least compete. 

OK so I actually just looked this up:

Under Rivera the Panthers lost 26* games in which they held the lead at any point in the game and only came back to win 17 times:

Blown Leads:

Comebacks:

So there's that.

[Waldo]

LOL @ the Saints. I don't know if this is the year they fall off of the cliff but I wouldn't be surprised if they turn it around. It's still early in the season folks. 

As far as the Panthers are concerned, I'm not propping them up but allowing them to prop themselves up. Some good, some bad and way too much ugly. Yep it's early but this year is still looking like a marathon in patience. Let's see what the team looks like this week missing our only great player. I think that's a great test for the rest of the roster. I hope they can make the most of it. 

16 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

The fact our coaching staff has made halftime adjustments two weeks in a row is mind boggling to me. I can't remember the last time we went into halftime down and I thought we would be able to claw our way back to at least compete. 

This has been the best part of 2020 Panthers football. It's a huge positive of the new staff and the reason I think the team will improve throughout the year. Actual adjustments, what a game changer. 

[Peon Awesome]

People will spin the narrative however they want to support their opinions. Of course Tampa Bay and Oakland are garbage teams because somehow Carolina, the worst team in the league by far, came within a couple plays of winning/forcing overtime against them.

Oakland was 1 game out of a playoff spot last year, is a young team primed to improve and added some exciting draft picks. They might not be world beaters but they're at least a fringe playoff team. And people were ready to crown Tampa Bay as NFC favorites after their offseason. 

The point is, the Panthers are doing as well as we could realistically hope given the circumstances and have turned each game into a fun and competitive matchup in the 4th quarter against 2 teams that should at least be in the playoff conversation. Even if they go 0-16 like this, there's reason not to be so doom and gloom around here. Let's hope they keep making strides 

[ickmule]

Too early to really know.  After about week 5 we will have a much better feel for who is what.