The Dowdle Mirage - Play Calling Problems

[tukafan21]

Also, I think I need to re-iterate that people are taking this thread wrong and as me just complaining about T-Mac.

Its intention was that we shouldn't look at Dowdle having 200+ yards and just being happy with the offensive performance today.

If he had 200 yards because he had a dozen 8-15 yard runs and then the rest of it was filled in with short yardage stuff, I'd feel VERY differently.  Because then it would be about a well called game because we would have been consistently breaking off chunk runs and sustaining long drives because of it.

I'll admit I let it get away from me in my responses to people and it's only fed into the narrative that I'm upset about T-Mac.

But the original intention was solely about not absolving the terrible offensive game plan and play calling just because Dowdle had an eye popping final box score.  6 plays do not make for a well called game, that's really all my original point was meant to be.

Edited October 5, 2025 by tukafan21

[Basbear]

[Newtcase]

There’s no conspiracy here, they pivoted to a heavy rushing attack after Bryce turned the ball over twice and it worked.  Bryce continued to be hit or miss even after settling back in.  Bryce has got to play better for downstream players like T’Mac to eat.  
 

 

[jfra78]

I have a feeling when XL caught that TD, you were cursing atyour tv

[tukafan21]

9 minutes ago, jfra78 said:

This guy is a tmac fan first 

You know what, these days, yes, that's very true, I won't deny that.

Because THE PANTHERS need to do something to earn my fandom back at this point with how bad it's been the last however many years.

I've been a die hard Panthers fan for over 30 years now, but even with that, I flat out haven't cared about us for years because of the team's own doing, not because I didn't WANT to be a fan.

Drafting T-Mac actually got me excited for the season for the first time in years, but in terms of actually caring about the team, I'm still not there yet because they continue to shoot themselves in the feet at every chance they get.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

48 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

Hence my point

A player who is more of a home run threat shouldn't be getting 23 carries as you're then banking your entire game on him breaking off multiple big runs.

Take away those two huge runs and we get completely blown out today.  I realize you can't just take away plays, but if 2 plays are the reason you won a game vs getting blown out, maybe you need to re-evaluate your game plans as that's not sustainable, especially against even halfway decent defenses.

Take away the two turnovers Bryce had and we also have a different story line.  I do t think it works like that. 

[tukafan21]

2 minutes ago, jfra78 said:

I have a feeling when XL caught that TD, you were cursing atyour tv

Not sure that's accurate, but until he actually caught the ball, I certainly wasn't happy with it, but that one had absolutely nothing to do with T-Mac.

Go back to that play pre-snap and I'd have picked any skill play on the field to have wanted us to throw the ball to more than XL on that play, hell, I'd have wanted to run a Bryce QB sneak before throwing it to XL there.  He's lost all my faith in throwing him the ball in the end zone, and sure, him making that play has helped, but he's shown nothing in the last year plus so far to say he should be getting thrown passes in the end zone right now.

[strato]

I mean poo, you really don’t want to force the game into Bryce’s hands when he is a turnover machine, if you don’t have to. 
There will be other games for T Max. 

[tukafan21]

1 minute ago, Pejorative Miscreant said:

Take away the two turnovers Bryce had and we also have a different story line.  I do t think it works like that. 

It's not about the storyline, because yea, take away those turnovers and it's a totally different game.

My issue is with the game that we did have, the play calling and strategy we then employed throughout the game.

Very big difference between them.  And like I pointed out with my other post at the top of this page.  I do think this thread got away from my original intention, because it wasn't meant to be about T-Mac, it was meant to say we can't be absolving Canales' play calling throughout the entirety of the game because of Dowdle's final box score that was because of a small handful of plays.

[tukafan21]

19 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

Also, I think I need to re-iterate that people are taking this thread wrong and as me just complaining about T-Mac.

Its intention was that we shouldn't look at Dowdle having 200+ yards and just being happy with the offensive performance today.

If he had 200 yards because he had a dozen 8-15 yard runs and then the rest of it was filled in with short yardage stuff, I'd feel VERY differently.  Because then it would be about a well called game because we would have been consistently breaking off chunk runs and sustaining long drives because of it.

I'll admit I let it get away from me in my responses to people and it's only fed into the narrative that I'm upset about T-Mac.

But the original intention was solely about not absolving the terrible offensive game plan and play calling just because Dowdle had an eye popping final box score.  6 plays do not make for a well called game, that's really all my original point was meant to be.

Just quoting myself here to ask the question to anyone else still coming into this thread......

Was anyone actually pleased with today's play calling?

Because lost in all this T-Mac stuff was that my initial point of this tread was that the play calling sucked and we should't absolve Canales for it because we had a 200 yard rusher, as that 200 yards was because of a few big plays, not because of great play calling for 60 minutes, which I tried to re-explain here in this quoted post.

If that's controversial, then I'm sorry, but to me, it's the very objective truth.

Edited October 5, 2025 by tukafan21

[jfra78]

8 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

Not sure that's accurate, but until he actually caught the ball, I certainly wasn't happy with it, but that one had absolutely nothing to do with T-Mac.

Go back to that play pre-snap and I'd have picked any skill play on the field to have wanted us to throw the ball to more than XL on that play, hell, I'd have wanted to run a Bryce QB sneak before throwing it to XL there.  He's lost all my faith in throwing him the ball in the end zone, and sure, him making that play has helped, but he's shown nothing in the last year plus so far to say he should be getting thrown passes in the end zone right now.

I have a feeling XL will have more tds on the season than tmac

[jfra78]

Just now, tukafan21 said:

Just quoting myself here to ask the question to anyone else still coming into this thread......

Was anyone actually pleased with today's play calling?

Because lost in all this T-Mac stuff was that my initial point of this tread was that the play calling sucked and we should't absolve Canales for it because we had a 200 yard rusher, as that 200 yards was because of a few big plays, not because of great play calling for 60 minutes.

If that's controversial, then I'm sorry, but to me, it's the very objective truth.

You could have complained about the play calling without bringing tmac into, but you always show your true colors

[tukafan21]

2 minutes ago, jfra78 said:

You could have complained about the play calling without bringing tmac into, but you always show your true colors

The entire OP is about the play calling and results and only mentioned T-Mac one time, in the sense of our offensive struggles only made me more frustrated about our #1 WR only getting a single 2nd half target in a game we were behind for the majority of it.

How is that showing my true colors?

It's way more of other people reading too much into it and thinking this is all and only about T-Mac for me, but it's not.  He just happens to be the player that I specifically was upset by his 2nd half usage, but it had nothing to do with my personal feelings towards him, but that he's our only legitimate WR and he had a single target in the 2nd half after going for 73 yards in the first.

To me, that is a very legitimate play calling gripe, the win or particular player aside.

[Aussie Tank]

1 hour ago, csx said:

This is 100% about the OPs favorite player not being the hero today. You don't need to read any deeper.

Asking Bryce to pass more and go deep more is a recipe for losing. 

Another game where TMac had a deep pass bounce off his hands that were advertised as vice grips