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The offensive talent around Bryce is certainly subpar, but the bigger issue has been the coaching and scheme. Reich stubbornly refused to adapt his offense when it was clear nothing was in sync and working. That scheme wasn’t putting any of the players in a position to succeed, not just Bryce Young. Thomas Brown has been implementing a more diverse scheme featuring more pre-snap motion, less static route combinations, and more play under center. The playbook has been opened up to include more routes further down the field. The end result is an offense that is less predictable and does not allow defenses to sit on everything within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. It’s not surprise we’ve seen improvement from Bryce and the unit as a whole over the past couple of weeks, actual results not withstanding. It simply doesn’t seem so difficult for everyone anymore. Does all of that mean Bryce wasn’t part of the problem earlier in the season? No. He wasn’t playing well. But he was shellschocked. He wasn’t getting consistent protection and so he wasn’t trusting his line when it was giving him a good enough pocket. And that led to timing and footwork issues where he missed reads and makable throws. You can tell Bryce is trusting his line and what he’s seeing down the field more and the timing between him and the WRs is finally synced up on a more consistent basis. Does all that mean he’s going to pan out as a franchise QB? Who knows? But he certainly finally showed the skills that got him drafted 1st overall. It remains to be seen if he can build off that. It’s clear to me that that coaching was a bigger part of the problem than the talent on the roster. As someone posted, it’s a “workable” group of players. Were they ever going to threaten to go deep in the playoffs? No. But in a terrible NFC South, they could compete for a .500 record and a division title. Instead, you had maybe the worst overall coaching job I’ve ever seen. Now that that scheme is helping the players out, you see something resembling competence.

I’ve been a Bryce believer for most of the season, but I’m starting to come around to the idea that he’s part of the problem. It’s tough to judge because his worsening play over the past few weeks may be due to him being shellshocked and lacking confidence due to playing on”hard mode,” having to deal with poor pass protection, bad receivers, and an offensive scheme that does nothing to help those receivers get open. But now that Reich is gone and we’ve seen more pre snap motion and more diversity in route combinations, I see him missing plays I think he should make. The optimist in me thinks he’s better than he has shown and it is partly due to “David Carr syndrome.” But I think I’m out on him being a franchise QB. I think his best case is a serviceable starter if everything comes together perfectly—improved players around him, improved coaching, he himself improving.

To these laymen eyes, it looks like Bryce was showing improvement until the Colts game and then from there he’s regressed. During that initial set of games, I saw some flashes that he could overcome his physical limitations. He showed some great anticipation and he was accurate in the middle intermediate range part of the field when given time in the pocket. Sure, he missed some reads here and there, but he’s a rookie and that’s to be expected. But from there on, he looks shell shocked and the talent and schematic deficiencies around him have caused a crisis of confidence. His footwork wasn’t “textbook” before, but it’s worsened, and that has exacerbated his ability to deliver the ball where it needs to go. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, but when he is set, he has enough power to play in this league. But now that the offensive line has somehow regressed to below the already poor level he was dealing with earlier in the year, the footwork has gotten even more inconsistent. And now teams really know how to clamp down on this offense. There is no threat deep, partly due to lack of WR speed, partly due to lack of pass protection to allow for deeper route to develop, and partly due to Bryce’s arm strength. As a result, the Bryce is playing on super hard mode, whereas before he was only playing on hard. It’s really tough. He’s not blameless, and his deficiencies reinforce problems elsewhere on the roster to result in the poor overall performance we’ve seen from the Panthers offense. But the bigger issues for me are the talent and scheme around him. I think the problems start there.

Panthers fan here. I wanted CJ Stroud and so I’m disappointed the front office picked Bryce instead. That being said, I’m still a long term Bryce believer. I don’t think he necessarily has elite QB potential, but I do think he can be a good QB in the league. He just needs time to adjust. Right now, the Panthers have a bunch of deficiencies that cascade and feed back into one another. The offensive line is missing their two starting OGs. Their replacements have performed very poorly. And juggling personnel on the line adversely affects the remaining starters because they don’t have the same trust and practiced communication with replacements. Without that continuity, the offensive line has been poor in both pass pro and run blocking. Frank Reich has been too conservative in early downs and has called too many run plays on 1st down that consistently fail due to predictability and lack of execution by the line. This means lots of long yardage to gain pass plays for Bryce. But the line hasn’t consistently given him time. And then the WRs on the roster outside of Thielen have struggled to consistently separate. So Bryce has nowhere to go with the ball before the pass rush gets to him. Given the struggles in the run game, Reich has called a lot of screen passes to try to replace some of the running. And Reich has not opened up the playbook much for Bryce to throw downfield. Whether this lack of trust is warranted or not is up for debate (I don’t agree that it is). All of this adds up to an offense that is easy for defenses to game plan for. The defense can crowd the line of scrimmage with little care for defending deeper portions of the field. Bryce has not been blameless in all this. There have been missed reads. There have been poor decisions. He has been tricked by disguised coverage looks pre and post snap. He has not protected the football. But he’s a rookie who is adjusting to NFL defenses and game speed. He’s still figuring out what “NFL open” looks like and what windows his arm will allow him to fit the ball into. I think he has enough arm strength to succeed in the league even if he doesn’t have a cannon, but currently he’s not trusting it because he’s thrown some interceptions and he’s hesitant to fully test what he can and can’t do. He’s got to keep making mistakes to learn and grow what is and isn’t open for him. But he’s doing all this in a terrible offensive environment—a poor line and middling WRs combined with offensive scheme and playcalling that mean he’s playing in “hard mode.” And there are signs he’s improving. He had two bad interceptions against Detroit, but when the Panthers started to call plays further down field, and the offensive line held up in pass pro, he showed some nice ability to work the middle intermediate portion of the field. He’s had some throws where he demonstrated great anticipation. He’s also shown some of the improv scramble, keep his eyes up, and find the open WR ability that helped make him the first overall pick. It’s simply too early to tell if he’ll get things figured out. But for those of us who have watched every snap, it should be clear that he isn’t the biggest problem on Carolina’s roster. And don’t let any Panthers fans tel you he is—that portion of our fan base knows little about football and will complain about anything.

Roster certainly has its flaws, but you have to produce results. And even with deficiencies in rim protection, for example, I still feel the roster is good enough to have made the playoffs. Despite improving by 10 games each of the past 2 seasons (23 wins to 33 wins to 43 wins), you simply can't get the doors blown off like they did in the play-in game two years in a row. Sure, you could say to not put so much weight on only two games, but when the stakes are high you have to have your squad prepared for the game and make the necessary in-game moves to give the team a chance to win. And by losing by so much each time, it's clear he isn't that guy. It's not good enough to mold a team into a borderline playoff team. We need a guy who can get us over the hump and make us a consistent contender.

This guy is the saltiest guy I've ever seen 🤣

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As he secures the catch to convert the 4th down lol. Just dropped the 3rd down to raise the stakes for himself ha

That Simmons kid is doo doo. How do you drop that ball?

He definitely holds the ball too long at times. I don't think you can fault him that much for it tonight. In this case, I think it has less to do with processing and more to do with his receivers not getting open often enough.

I don't have any particular horse in the Sam Howell draft stock fight, but I don't know what you want him to do tonight. Carolina's offensive line is getting worked at the line of scrimmage and he no longer has that great stable of skill position players he had last year to get open quickly. While we're on the subject, Carolina's defensive line is getting worked too. Top 10 ranking definitely premature.

https://www.tarheelblog.com/2021/7/9/22568312/unc-recruiting-2022-five-star-center-jalen-washington-commits-tar-heels-hubert-davis First five star commit for Hubert Davis, if I'm not mistaken.

Just watched Tenet for the first time. Now my head hurts.

I'm all for rules that prevent games from dragging out long into extras during the regular season. Not sure what the best way to do it would be, but this is not the way to accomplish it. Heck, I'd prefer ties to this nonsense.

Agreed. They had a great game plan for how to attack the Zags on offense. Then their players came out and executed at a super high level. Hit a ton of shots and killed it on the defensive end. It was about as good a game as you could play.