The 2023 Carolina Panthers

I'm struggling hard to find explosive plays on this roster. If the line gets it's shit together and if Young is as advertised, I can see an efficient offense that subsists on a diet of 7 yard passes and 4 yard runs. This makes you functional and competitive, but ultimately, it's just a pass-centric version of the conservative run heavy offenses that David Tepper hates. One thing I like is bringing the TE back into the offense, and I'm bullish on Hayden Hurst being a late bloomer at the position (Olsen had a similar career arc). An offense featuring a receiver TE has some legitimate mismatch options. If all else fails, this is something Reich can lean on.


The defense should be good, maybe even very good, but the depth chart is depressing all of the sudden. I don't even recognize the names of some of the 2nd string linemen. The corners are injury prone and the nickleback is really a linebacker who got pushed into position limbo by an idiot college coach (lol at his Nebraska debut), so this secondary can unravel into an unmitigated disaster much quicker than people realize. With all of that being said, I love the late addition of Justin Houston. That guy is still an awesome pass rusher. This unit will make life miserable for quarterbacks, I'm just hoping the corners get lucky with health for once.


Special teams look good enough, I guess. Hekker being awesome helps. That dude had a legitimate role in a few Panther wins last year. Pinero was much better after the ATL debacle, but kickers are so volatile that who the fuck knows. At this level, that position is truly all about confidence. As for the return game, it seems like they've settled on Blackshear as the game manager option. That's fine. Get what you can get and don't fumble the ball. If you don't have a true difference maker, this is the next best thing.



Based on what I've seen so far - a small sample size but it's what we have at the moment - short yardage will be a major issue on both sides of the ball. Being anxious about 3rd and 1's isn't the hallmark of a contender. Can you remember being anxious about a short yardage situation in either of the Super Bowl years? I can't. Those were opportunities, not chores. Converting a yard or stopping a yard feels like a chore this year. Not great.




13th ranked defense, 21st ranked offense with an easy schedule.





Sounds like a 7-10 team.

 

Olsen was playing for those Lovie offenses and specifically Mike Martz- who mostly hates tight ends. Hurst was was in Baltimore and lost his job to same draft class TE Mark Andrews so its not like the opportunities haven't been there. His numbers in Cincy were roughly the same as the CJ Uzomah he replaced.

Hurst is going to be closer to Chud O Shockey than Chud O Olsen that's an improvement- a useful one really- but the guy ain't gonna do an Olsen glow up? or is that already too old slang?

 

If we stay extremely healthy, then 7-8 wins.
We are a couple injuries away from 4-5 wins and making Chicago very happy next draft day
Brian Burns, not sure if he is gonna pull a "new contract" holdout or not. I had heard he was not practicing. Been traveling a bit, hope that is resolved

 

Andrews is a great player whom Baltimore basically discovered by accident. I don't really hold that against Hurst. He was always going to be a long term project when the Ravens drafted him.

 

I think that if either stays healthy, Marshall and Chark represent good chances at big plays. And we're not going to be shy about running it on third and short, it's what our line is built to do. I think we're looking at a 8-10 win team right now, but that's largely because we have better coaching than last year and I'm counting on Young to not screw things up.

 

It's not really the run blocking of the line that concerns me, although this line is very overrated in the eyes of most national analysts. I think McAdoo's 1927 Princeton Tigers offense helped hide some of it's flaws. Icky in particular has looked like dogshit in this system, but I know we all want to write of bad preseason reps these days, so we'll just ignore it until it's week five and he's one of the worst left tackles in the league.


My bigger concern is smaller backs who run better out of shotgun. We were spoiled when Cam was at the height of his powers and Tolbert was humiliating liberal husbands, but it's actually very hard to convert short yardage runs from shotgun. Maybe this team goes under center and hopes Sanders can break a tackle, but that's never been his M.O.

 

expecting the Defense to be very very good...

Start off 2-0, manage to win 6 out of the remaining 15 games on the 27th easiest schedule... and win the division.

Would be cool for Young to beat the Texans & the Colts

 

Starting 2-0 would be great, but I'm thinking 1-1. Mainly, I think the Falcons will be better than anticipated and the Saints worse. We really need to steal one of Seattle, Detroit, Minnesota, or Miami. I think that after the bye, we should be feeling pretty good about our first three games against Houston, Indy, and Chicago. If we sweep those, then playing Dallas at home becomes winnable. If we're still floundering then I think they will steamroll us. But if we go 3-1 in those games, then we get a visit to Tennessee (Loss) and then trips to New Orleans and Tampa. Neither of those trips scare me, and then we get Atlanta at home. Six wins over that stretch of eight games is very much a possibility, and historically Reich's teams finish well. So if we can take one of our last three, and Tampa at home is just begging to be taken, then we're going to finish with seven wins after the bye, maybe eight. That's why we need at least two wins going into the bye--to put us in position to win the South against the Bucs in week 18.

 

"#Panthers coach Frank Reich informed players today he has decided to hand over play-calling duties to OC Thomas Brown, sources tell me, @MikeGarafolo and @RapSheet. Brown, 37, is highly regarded. Now, with Carolina 0-6, he’ll call the shots for No. 1 pick Bryce Young."