We are no longer rebuilding. We're competing

[trueblade]

11 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Why would 2021 be year 1?

Year 1 of the Fitterer/Rhule regime. Some have questioned if everyone was on board with the rebuild in the Hurney/Rhule regime.

[run-run-pass-punt]

I'm generally optimistic, and I love the aggressiveness of this organization as it currently exists. (on and off the field)

However, the NFL is a humbling league. It doesn't take much to undo things. An injury here or there. A couple of unlucky breaks.

I hope we're a playoff team, but all we are at the moment is 3-0.

[Mistuh Jones]

It's an odd year. We all know what that means lol 

[KB_fan]

27 minutes ago, w280sax said:

The defense is passing the eye test.  The pressure from the front has been great.  With that, we have a legit chance to be a playoff team.

Whether it happens or not depends on getting at least ok offensive line play and darnold continuing to play to his potential.  I thought those were the keys before the season as well but the defense overachieving should take some pressure off the offense as well.

 

I think one thing that is striking me is that we're getting the stops on 1st down, 3rd down.  Not relying on forcing turnovers which can be a bit fluky (very hard to repeat from year to year in leading in turnovers).  The run defense has been eye-opening after several years of being dreadful.

I'll be updating my stats thread on defensive performance on 3rd downs later today... But Panthers still leading the league with a rather astonishing rate of 22% in 3rd down conversions allowed after 3 games.

I just did some digging at Team Rankings (which allows you to look at stats for any given week in a past season by changing the date.... I LOVE that feature!)

Here are what the 3rd down conversion % leaders' stats looked like after week 3 since 2015.

• 2015  Denver 18.7%
• 2016  Seattle 25%
• 2017  Baltimore 24.3%
• 2018  Kansas City 25.8%
• 2019 New England 12.8%
• 2020 Arizona 28.6%

So the Panthers' current performace of allowing only 22% conversion on 3rd down puts us in some pretty great company in terms of dominating, winning defenses:  In the past 6 seasons, only Denver 2015 (sigh) and New England 2019 were off to better starts in terms of shutting down teams on 3rd down.

Defense wins championships baby!

 

Here's Panthers' ranking & performance on 3rd down defense for some past seasons:

• 2003  34.0% (#7)

• 2013 36.3% (#12)
• 2014  42.1% (#21)
• 2015  36.9% (#9)
• 2016 37.9% (#11)
• 2017 37.4% (#12)
• 2018 39.9% (#20)
• 2019 39.9% (#21)
• 2020 49.3% (#31)

 

[Mr. Scot]

I'm still not buying us as a playoff team this season.

A few more winning weeks and I might be ready though, especially against a really good team.

[trueblade]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

I'm still not buying us as a playoff team this season.

A few more winning weeks and I might be ready though, especially against a really good team.

There aren't a whole lot of those on the schedule this year.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, trueblade said:

There aren't a whole lot of those on the schedule this year.

Which is a factor in itself...

[45catfan]

39 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Why would 2021 be year 1? What was 2020? Can’t say Brown and Chinn are part of the rebuild without 2020 being year 1. Was it a full rebuild let’s not waste money on Teddy, Okung, Short, Apple, Weatherly or Roberts, nope, but it was still the start. We just realize Teddy wasn’t our future but the D rebuild was 100% underway last year.

Also, I know I said we wouldn’t contend in 2021 and I meant contend as in SB win. I still think that. I think we’ve shown we can make the playoffs if things break our way but I don’t think we can win it all.

I do think after beating Houston, NO at home and the Jets, it’s a little premature to gloat like you are right. We are competitive but what does that mean? We were competitive last year. We came close to beating GB and KC who were 2 of the final 4 teams, but we weren’t a contender.

I wasn't really referring to you, but I remember a thread being started about it and essentially saying the team was so far behind that 2021 would be the cornerstone ( ground zero, year 1) of the future still too green to compete and that 2022 would be our first competitive team.  

[Panthers Rhule]

11 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Which is a factor in itself...

Yes, for getting into the playoffs.

 

What I love about things as they stand now, we are competing but it's still a rebuild!!!

This roster already looks better than 80% of our rosters have when we weren't in a rebuild. Most just coast with what they have at this point of the season but not the New Panthers, oh no, they are still adding to the rebuild and not with overpaid vets on the decline but with young players who are actually adding to the rebuild. I can't believe we got Henderson for a 3rd today. 

Whether he pans out or not we'll have to see but either way this team deserves and A++ for effort if nothing else. For the first time ever, I'm not only excited for this season but I'm excited for the seasons to come. We have the foundation for a serious football organization. 

[Fox007]

We're still rebuilding it's just we've made it closer to the trophy room section of the construction than we expected to be. Ahead of schedule and below budget!

Edited September 27, 2021 by Fox007

[Jon Snow]

4 hours ago, stbugs said:

We are still rebuilding even with a 3-0 start. The D has come together well, but we are still the second youngest team in the NFL. Playoffs are a bonus but certainly not guaranteed. 

This^ 

They are in no way finished rebuilding this team. They are just getting started actually. 

[SBBlue]

1 hour ago, Mr. Scot said:

I'm still not buying us as a playoff team this season.

A few more winning weeks and I might be ready though, especially against a really good team.

And that's fair.  Our schedule is backloaded. 

This Sunday should give us a good idea.  If we win this Sunday, the math becomes much easier.  Still not a guarantee, but it makes it all the more likely.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, SBBlue said:

And that's fair.  Our schedule is backloaded. 

This Sunday should give us a good idea.  If we win this Sunday, the math becomes much easier.  Still not a guarantee, but it makes it all the more likely.

Fair.

But no matter who wins on Sunday, I lose

[SBBlue]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

Fair.

But no matter who wins on Sunday, I lose

I don't play fantasy.  If I did, I'd probably suck cause I'd load up on Panthers players and we are not a high scoring offense.