Praise for Mingo

[CRA]

12 minutes ago, WhoKnows said:

We also had a bunch of pro bowlers in their prime those playoff years. I still can’t believe someone in here would downplay the talent on that 2015 team.

yeah, it's a weird one for me. The "see we can win without top tier  WRs just look at 2015". 

we won with a MVP QB caliber performance by one of the most unique players in NFL history at his peak paired with a stellar D.  A D that featured multiple future HOFers, Panther Ring of Honor members, former Pro Bowlers, etc.    2015 should never be mentioned as an example of why the 2023 team can find success. 

I mean, I'm not looking to knock the team.  Folks just taking us to places too far for me. 

[Ricky Prickles]

I was most excited about the Mingo pick. I get the feeling he is going to be a very good one. He also seems tough as hell as well which I love.

[Donald LaFell]

7 hours ago, Untouchable said:

Other Interesting Tidbits:

- Nolen Smith was a player we were watching to pair with Burns in the draft for 39th until he went 30th

- Stephen Sullivan is really pushing Tremble for TE3

How is Thomas firmly TE2 

[Wolfcop]

2 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I mean, to be completely fair we could have our best roster in several years and still pretty much suck. 

It is all a guessing game at this point, but I foresee some struggles early and a run late in the season. I predict we will all be excited for the future at season's end. Whether that means we did enough to make the playoffs or not, I don't know. There are too many variables right now, but I think there is a legitimate reason for optimism with this team.  

[CRA]

Just now, Wolfcop said:

It is all a guessing game at this point, but I foresee some struggles early and a run late in the season. I predict we will all be excited for the future at season's end. Whether that means we did enough to make the playoffs or not, I don't know. There are too many variables right now, but I think there is a legitimate reason for optimism with this team.  

I think a slow start seems to be easy assumption.  Rookie, new schemes, Frank's history.  I think after the bye week we start making some strides of it all coming together. 

and get to around where Vegas has the over/under at.  7ish.  

[Jon Snow]

4 hours ago, OldhamA said:

Ah. This answers why they panicked and overdrafted DJ Johnson in the third round. 

I knew it on draft night. They really wanted Nolan Smith. If I were a betting man I would put money on that they tried to trade up to get him but didn't get a partner or an offer they could afford.  

[DaveThePanther2008]

9 hours ago, rayzor said:

i think it was kind of obvious that the jets weren't in evaluation mode to the degree that we were. they schemed. we didn't. we had no need to. 

this is one of the things i hate about preseason games. it's rare that both teams have the same objective. one of the many things that made belichick such a punk was that preseason games were treated the same way as regular season games, which isn't fair to the team who is just wanting to do some evaluating.  it was dangerous and they came after cam big time. 

repeating myself, we were shut out and blown out because the jets were in it to win and make up for a loss in the HoF game and for looking bad in the joint practices. jets also had to make it look good for hard knocks. 

we should have been better, for sure, but let's not pretend that the jets weren't much more motivated to look better than we were to look good against the other team.

This is a very good point.  It doesn't excuse the O-line from looking so bad but evaluation over score seems to have been our direction and not the Jets.

[pantherclaw]

Never in the history of the Panthers franchise has any preseason game been so overly criticized. 

And there have been worse games. 

[top dawg]

17 hours ago, rayzor said:

i think it was kind of obvious that the jets weren't in evaluation mode to the degree that we were. they schemed. we didn't. we had no need to. 

this is one of the things i hate about preseason games. it's rare that both teams have the same objective. one of the many things that made belichick such a punk was that preseason games were treated the same way as regular season games, which isn't fair to the team who is just wanting to do some evaluating.  it was dangerous and they came after cam big time. 

repeating myself, we were shut out and blown out because the jets were in it to win and make up for a loss in the HoF game and for looking bad in the joint practices. jets also had to make it look good for hard knocks. 

we should have been better, for sure, but let's not pretend that the jets weren't much more motivated to look better than we were to look good against the other team.

All true, but our starting O-line better look like a group of competent vets Friday evening, whether stunted or not (play on words, made up verb intended).

[rayzor]

35 minutes ago, top dawg said:

All true, but our starting O-line better look like a group of competent vets Friday evening, whether stunted or not (play on words, made up verb intended).

yes, there will be no excuses.

[stratocatter]

Ultimately you want players with a strong enough game to have success even if the other team knows what is coming and we just don’t have that or if we do, they haven’t had enough time together to show it  

I am not sure about stunts but think they aren’t really game planning and need to be practiced in live conditions too. So the team needs to get that worked out. It is probably a good thing in the long run, being tested like that. It is a practice game after all. 

I believe there is a head in t(e sand type of rationalization from fans why they couldn’t move the ball and couldn’t keep the other team from doing it. 

 

[NorthTryon]

19 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

I knew it on draft night. They really wanted Nolan Smith. If I were a betting man I would put money on that they tried to trade up to get him but didn't get a partner or an offer they could afford.  

They did a really good job of concealing it/edited enthusiasm for Johnson, because on the Blueprint footage they were standing pat watching boards and rejoiced when the several teams before them didn't take DJ. They started high-fiving to turn that pick in to announcers. 

[Davidson Deac II]

16 hours ago, pantherclaw said:

Never in the history of the Panthers franchise has any preseason game been so overly criticized. 

And there have been worse games. 

Its actually amusing.  

 

[Jon Snow]

6 hours ago, NorthTryon said:

They did a really good job of concealing it/edited enthusiasm for Johnson, because on the Blueprint footage they were standing pat watching boards and rejoiced when the several teams before them didn't take DJ. They started high-fiving to turn that pick in to announcers. 

I watched the draft room live that night whenever they cut to the Panthers There was a lot of activity that didn't make the Blueprint in the Panthers draft room. Fitterer was working the phone before Nolan went off the board and when his name was called his expression told me he was not happy about it.  I'm not saying they weren't going to take Mingo had they pulled off getting Nolan.  But Fitterer wanted Nolan pretty bad. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Jon Snow