We good, right (offense)?

[Cali Cat]

I will admit, I don’t have the ball knowledge that you guys have and I cannot breakdown games like y’all can. 

But first team offense looked okay?
At least the second drive?

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, Cali Cat said:

I will admit, I don’t have the ball knowledge that you guys have and I cannot breakdown games like y’all can. 

But first team offense looked okay?
At least the second drive?

I would say this--obviously, we have not seen enough to know how good we will be--but I think the difference between good and possibly great rests on the shoulders of three people--and you are right to rely on these guys for insights--I would say, however, that there is a lot of pessimism and skepticism right now, understandably.  This may sound crazy, but those three people are TMac, Young, and Sanders.

TE:  If Tremble and Sanders can step up, and I expect them to do so, we could have another dimension to the offense that we have not had for some time.  I think Bryce, who has become better at his progressions and checkdowns, will benefit.

WR:  With TMac and what seems to be an improved and maturing Coker, Young has WRs he has not had since arriving.  He relied on AT, and AT is a third-down slot WR at this point.  If XL develops into what he can be--you could argue that in one year, Young has 3 WRs better than his best WR in years 1 and 2.  

OL:  Hunt and Lewis have made a huge difference, but C is still an area where we could improve.  HOWEVER, Mays was strong at the position at the end of the season last year.  I think we have 2 serviceable centers.  Key to the OL is that Ickey continues his development, and I expect him to, and Moton stays healthy. On paper, Brady Christensen, Mays/Corbett, Zavala (who played at a starter level at the end of 2024) are pretty good backups.  The OL is probably as good as it was in 2003, when the Panthers went to their first Super Bowl.

RB:  We have had former first rounders Stewart and Williams (Double Trouble) in the backfield and it worked well.  Now we have RBs who are a notch below that level, but with a better OL.  Dowdle and Hubbard are a strong combo (both 1000 yard rushers last year) and Etienne is a serviceable third down option who can catch passes.  As Young improves his progressions, a checkdown RB is important, as is a TE--and I expect us to be better in these areas.

The only real question mark is QB.  Bryce has 8 solid (not great, just solid) games under his belt, but that improvement was probably based on his OL.  XL did not help much, and Coker came on midway through the season out of necessity.  Now Bryce has weapons instead of check downs--he has to step up and get them the ball.  I saw two good signs Friday--1.  His fade pass to TMac was on the money and a good read, and his slant to TMac (dropped) was an excellent, confident pass.  He is starting to develop swag.  I hope he can stay healthy and keep progressing.  If so, the offense goes as he goes.

 

Edited August 10 by MHS831

[CarolinaLivin]

Yeah man we good. (No offense taken)

[Khyber53]

I think we really need to see more before we have any sense of how we're going to be. I want to be optimistic, but what I saw out there was just first preseason game effort and capabilities. Nothing to write home about and nothing that's going to win many games.

They didn't look horrible when the 1s were in there, just kinda, well, pedestrian. Tet made that one catch everyone is raving over, but otherwise he was meh and had the rookie drop in the endzone. XL was doing nothing before getting ejected. Our TEs were doing meh. Offensive line didn't have the push and were showing how just missing one of the starting guards hurt. Bryce looked more poised, but it's about time he did. 

And I know that it was a vanilla game plan called by the OC rather than the HC. I understand there were a lot of moving pieces just trying to find their places and paces. It's just the first preseason game and nothing should really be taken from it. We don't know what the coaches were trying to see and why they called certain plays. It's all just evaluations on their end.

But it's evaluations on our end, too. And for that, they still get an incomplete. 

(And don't get me started on the defense, which really doesn't look any better imo.)

 

[NAS]

They looked fine

1. it was mostly against their backups

2. Credit to Bryce but he still had to hold the ball and go off script on a couple of snaps because none of his reads were initially open.  
 

3. i want to see more individual separation from the WR and the TEs 

[TD alt]

If Bryce is good, then we'll be good. We ostensibly have enough firepower to be good. Between receivers, TEs and RBs, there are presumably enough legitimate receivers to move an offense effectively. 

We still have to base things off the regular season though because that's when we'll supposedly be putting forward our best and facing other teams' best. It's more difficult to judge the first team if they're playing against the second team. But looking at the end of last season and the acquisition of T-Mac and presumably Renfrow this season, we should be able to move the ball. "Success" is largely going to depend on Bryce.

[Icege]

Starters look good as does depth at RB + WR. Should the OL stay healthy and somebody begin to separate themselves from the rest of the guys in the TE group then the offense should be good to go.

Had some execution errors last night but that's what preseason is for: working out any issues before the games count towards the record. 

[NAS]

Is it too much to ask to see wide open receivers running down the field? 

[TD alt]

52 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

They didn't look horrible when the 1s were in there, just kinda, well, pedestrian. Tet made that one catch everyone is raving over, but otherwise he was meh and had the rookie drop in the endzone. XL was doing nothing before getting ejected. Our TEs were doing meh. Offensive line didn't have the push and were showing how just missing one of the starting guards hurt. Bryce looked more poised, but it's about time he did. 

You're like a tough crowd for a stand-up comic, but I understand the sentiment. But still...The first team offense didn't play that much. Even though they didn't, McMillan still had 43 yards (which would've been about  50 yards and a TD if the rookie had gotten his head around). I think that's more than just "meh." I mean you say X didn't do much, but he was only in for 6 snaps, two or three of which were run plays. I mean, he was blocking when he got thrown out. And I haven't seen the TEs legitimately be used in the regular flow of the offense since Greg Olsen left, so of course it's easy to say "meh," but were they blocking well? But again, it's not like they were in for a whole lot. Just looking at the box score, there weren't that many opportunities to shine for some of these guys, Bryce only had 6 attempts.

On an off note, because it was so little, that's why I'll never understand why people think it's of paramount importance to get those snaps in. Training camp and preseason practices are much more important, particularly for starters.

 

Edited August 10 by TD alt

[frankw]

As of right now TBD. We'll get three more series from the starters next Saturday.

[Icege]

Re-watching the all-22 and there was a chunk play to be had on that first third down where third-string LG Carter gave up quick pressure. TMac was set to come open deep over the middle. Bryce looked like he was going to dump it off to JT when the pressure came but had to pull it down and go.

[nogoodbum]

Good, nah, better, maybe. one good series in a preseason game is not nearly enough to wash the past.

[Greatman77]

I think we will be respectable this season. Anything better than that, will depend on some young players development (and minimal injuries).

[Davidson Deac II]

Are we good on offense?

Ask me that around mid october.