Ten Observations from Last Night

The ultimate proof that I love the Carolina Panthers is in that fact that I was willing to go back and watch that cumbersome pile of crap all over again. Anyone can do this after a win. It takes a special devotion to scrub the shit stains by hand. Anyway:




Observation #1: David Focker is worse than Byron Bell


Yeah, it's true. Believe me, I didn't think it would even be physically possible, but somehow he managed to play even worse than Egor. It doesn't even appear that he's in shape to play offensive line in the NFL. The sack he allowed in the 4th quarter (the last one) he literally just fell on the ground from exhaustion. I have to hand it to Gettleman: He did what was seemingly impossible by finding a downgrade from Byron Bell. Him and Norwell look like they should be in a Saigon Kick video. What a ridiculous situation.




Observation #2: Ron Rivera is a pussy


I know we've established that Ron has reverted back to ultra-conservative thanks to the big contract I helped him get, but Jesus Christ. You take a field goal in the fourth quarter to make a two possession deficit into....a two possession deficit? What's the fucking point? You really think our defense is going to give your offense two more possessions? And did you really think your offense could score two more times? This guy fucking sucks.






Observation #3: Ron Rivera fucking sucks


The Saints are pouring through your defense at the end of the first half, and you leave that final timeout in your pocket? You didn't think it would be more valuable to use near the goal line when your defense clearly had no idea how to adjust to New Orleans motioning Graham out wide? Good job, coach. Go have a Pepsi.



Observation #4: The defensive line is playing better


Yeah, I'm actually focusing on a positive here. The Panthers held Ingram to a respectable 3.3 yards per carry. The biggest difference in the last two weeks seems to be that the defensive line is making more tackles instead of just holding the point. The pressure was pretty decent, for a while, but holy fuck we really do miss Greg Hardy. Addison, who I like as a back-up, is simply getting engulfed most of the time. On one rush, he almost disappeared under the tackle's legs. It was like a video game glitch.



The line is still a shell of what it was last year, obviously, but the last five days have been encouraging. And what a play by Dwan. Maybe we should try him at safety. (That was made possible by an excellent break on the ball from Cason - more on him later)



Observation #5: Stewart can still play ball


Jesus Christ, another positive. Two weeks in a row he's run extremely hard. Unfortunately we seemed committed to a two-headed approach instead of just sticking with the guy who was actually being productive. He's probably never going to stay healthy for an extended period of time, but Stewart is still a solid running back. I'd prefer him as the starter, with DeAngelo as more of the passing down option. But that won't happen because it's a good idea.



Observation #6: What a flat atmosphere for a first place battle


I know the division sucks, but fucking fuck. That was a far cry from the New Orleans battle from 2013. It felt like a preseason game. Hell I guess I can't blame the fans too much. It's hard to get excited when you're ceiling is 8-7-1 and a wildcard blowout loss.



Observation #7: Colin Jones is better than Thomas DeCoud


I think it's only because DeCoud is so horrible. I wouldn't feel a lot better with Jones as the starter, but he does seem to get to the football with a little more zeal. I loved his sack on Brees. It's so stereotypical because he's white, but that really was some relentless effort. And while he's ineffective in coverage, so is DeCoud. A guy Hurney traded for strictly as a special teamer appears to be better than a guy Gettleman signed to be a starter. Ouch.




Observation #8: WHY THE FUCK WAS CASON MOTHBALLED?


Rivera's answer was that the coaching staff had some different things they wanted to try, or some vague shit. But it almost certainly had to do with frustration from the PI foul. He should have at least been the nickel back after that, but we stubbornly stuck with the utterly incapable James Dockery. Look, when you're already short at a position, you can't really afford to be benching players out of frustration. Would it have mattered? No. But it was still ridiculous. He was mostly having a splid game until the flag. Children are running this team.




Observation #9: Olsen the pass blocker?

I counted six different occasions where Greg Olsen was asked to serve primarily as a pass protector, mostly to aid Focker. And helping Focker is obviously a good idea, BUT YOU DONT FUCKING DO IT WITH THE BEST RECEIVER ON YOUR GOD DAMN TEAM! WHAT THE FUCK WERE WE THINKING???!!! THAT'S SOMETHING YOU DO WITH A RUNNING BACK, OR ANOTHER ONE OF THE TIGHT ENDS, OR ANYBODY OTHER THAN ONE OF THE BETTER RECEIVEING TIGHT ENDS IN THE GOD DAMN WORLD.

It shows you the utter incompetence of Mike Shula. He's not even creative enough to find a way to keep our athletic, flexible tight end in the route combination while also helping out an undermanned offensive line. I couldn't fucking believe my eyes with that shit. And this shit Rivera mentioned about trying "spread it around"....why? WHY? You have like three good players on offense, why would you not want to get the football to your best players? Because you're an idiot, that's why. Jesus, Mary and Joseph - and Patrick Duffy. Because why the fuck not throw him in?






Observation #10: This team sucks


I saved the most obvious for last. That last month has been reality crashing down upon our oversized heads. 2013 was great, but it was a sugar rush of success that we couldn't realistically duplicate. We all knew it. This is what we got, Folks. A good year every 4-5 years, with mediocrity filling in the spaces. It's an OK tasting burrito that's cold in the middle. Take it or leave it.








Some other stuff I left out like Cam being ass in a can for another week, but everyone saw that. I don't know what to tell you about that. He looked great for six weeks, hopefully this is just a funk he'll get out of.

 

Clean House. Fire Gettleman. Fire Rivera. We don't need to fire Shula... just have the short bus stop picking him up in the mornings. It's gonna suck getting beating beat by the Falcons twice but maybe that will be enough to keep that cucks job for another season or two.

 

The longer I stayed last night the more pissed off I got. Finally said fuck it and left after 3 qtrs and went and pounded 4 dble IPAS at WoB. If I had ran into Gettleman I would have beaten that fat fuck senseless. Colin Jones was flat out balling last night making at least 2 great plays I can remember. Jerico and Kelvin both dropped passes. The offensive line play is so fucking bad Gettleman ought to have to justify in the media what the fuck he was thinking during the offseason. Gross's replacement is not in the southeast much less on this roster. How the fuck can Cam do anything when he's running for his life. Cams agent needs to go to the fat man and flat out say FUCK YOU, get me a NFL caliber line or expect to franchise me because we are not staying. DBs were playing so far back and Brees was hitting them so quick they were eating 8-15 yards on the last drive of the first half. It was very telling when the teams ran off the field the boo's were VERY load. That's the first time in 2 years they heard that. Agreed Rivera is a bean picking pussy. BOTH coordinators had better be getting their resumes in order because both sides were not worth shit. But like a lot of you said this falls 95% on Gettleman. Salary cap issues are a part of it but fuck me we have no chance at ANYTHING until we get the oline and DB situation fixed. Before the season all the talk was on the WR turnover. That never bothered me as much as what the o-line was going to be. Our worst fears have been realized. This line sucks. College lines are better than this shit. I'm not even sure I'd keep them on as backups

 

I almost went but I ended up staying home instead. Wise decision on my part.




I'm pretty good at identifying the right games to attend. I haven't attended a Panthers loss since 2009 (4-0 over the last five years). If you can be selective, you want to pick a game where you know they can at least be competitive. Driving home after a shitty loss ruins the whole experience. Wasn't feeling the vibe yesterday.

 

I'm left handed... Can I play LT? I can at least get in the way for 2 seconds.

 

It slipped my mind when I was making this thread, and I'm sure it's not news to anyone here, but Ed Dickson is horrible. He's worse than Hartsock. Thankfully it seems we finally gave up on him after that last drop.




Also, on the pass to Brandon Williams that was obviously not a TD (wtf refs, jesus) it probably would have been a touchdown had Cam not waited forever to throw the ball. It was a good call - the Saints were playing run - and he was open very early in the play. It reminded me somewhat of the bounce pass to Hartsock in the '12 Seattle game, although not nearly as awful.

 

Lots of work needed obviously...but we ain't doing shit without OTs. At least 2. We need Hardy but who knows what happens there. Cam is playing really bad right now. Somebody really needs to coach him to stop holding the damn ball. No one I can tell has the balls on this coaching staff.

That dude at LT last night was man handled. Felt bad for the kid.

I seriously cannot recall a defense being so good on 1st and 2nd down and then ALWAYS giving up the 3rd and long. I mean ALWAYS! It is maddening stuff. That is directly related to no Greg Hardy IMO.

To start hopefully we can just focus OL next offseason and go from there. I know, the secondary is god awful and we need WR weapons too but gotta start somewhere.

 

I'm sick of watching Cason back 9-12 feet off mediocre WR's and saying, there you go, have the first down.


It's worse than the shit we were trying to get rid of years ago.


You want a TE to help block, use Williams. Its not rocket science. Replace Olsen with one of the WR's you were thinking of using.


I really don't recall the OLine being that horrendous last night even tho we all know they are. The playcalling and execution is just bizzare.


There were chances for this team, we cross the 50 and just shit the bed constantly.

 

Truth is they could put Jerry Rice in there, it wouldn't matter when the ball is nowhere near him.

 

yiu motherfuckers obviosly dont see the bitches dropping catachable balls or the linemen being blocked into my ass...