Hello CSR! Welcome to Brian Answers, part two of your weekly Panthers fan mailbag for everyone! We’re coming off a confusing last two weeks of Panthers football, so the questions you’ve been asking have been all over the place. Personally, I love it. We’re certainly having a better time this season than in years past. So let’s dive into all your questions and have some conversations! Comment down below with your answers to some of this week’s questions!
TLGPanthersFan: Bad or Mid QBs can have really good games that make you turn your head. Been watching football long enough to have seen it plenty of times. So do you think this is an actual turn around or are we gonna see old Bryce against the Niners?
Its hard to say whether last week was a turnaround by Bryce Young or simply a high in what has been a peaks and valleys career. It is interesting that Bryce Young started to truly come alive after the week 11 bye last year, where this season in week 11 he threw for an all time Panthers passing record in a game. So maybe we just have to wait until week 10 going forward?
Kidding aside, I give props to Bryce Young for playing with some confidence and swagger, and Dave Canales definitely dialed up some intermediate passing looks for Bryce that he was consistently missing on all season. So I want to think that its a combination of a turn around for Bryce and Dave getting on the same page with him at the same time. I think a prime time Monday Night game against another wild card contender in the NFC should shed more light on this.
@WTMealey: Question:Given our youth and inexperience at HC/GM what is your expectation for the next 2-3 years? What does Canales/Morgan need to continue to do or change to make us more likely to be on the higher end of those wins?
I know we’ve been all over the place about the near future for the Panthers the last few weeks, and most of that hinges on whether Bryce Young should be here in the next 2-3 seasons. Given what we saw last week, my expectations right now would be to continue loading up the barracks with smart free agency spending and continuing to build thought the Draft. The Panthers seemed to have landed a heck of a rookie class this year, so building around the nucleus they are developing makes a lot of sense. Now, if they pull the plug on Bryce Young completely, a lot of resources will likely be devoted to finding his successor.
Canales needs to continue developing his playbook and scheme around the young players he has, and continuing to evolve as it goes. One thing I have liked from Dave is he seems to handle adjustments very well during a game, so the next step is not having to make so many adjustments on a regular basis. The opening game script seems to hit more often than miss, but then the momentum seems to fall off a cliff after that. We need more consistency in the first half of games. As far as Dan Morgan is concerned, he just needs to continue adding value in the cheaper waves of free agency and in the late rounds of the Draft/undrafted pool. They are on the right track to building a multi-year foundation, but this has to continue for another Offseason or two.
Pantherblueblood: I had lost faith in XL as well as Bryce only to be served a healthy portion of crow last Sunday. What are your expectations for XL Stat wise for the remainder of this year?
Xavier Legette currently has 24 catches for 264 yards and 3 TDs on the season, so I would say a 1k receiving yards season or 10 TD ending is out. However, I would think 6-700 yards and 6-7 TDs would be very doable if he stays healthy, and would be a great compliment to Tetairoa McMillan at season’s end. Certainly not what you want from a former first round pick, but he can’t control where he was drafted. I think we’ll feel a lot better about Legette’s long term prospects if he can use his size and athleticism to win some RedZone matchups since teams are going to be conscious of T Mac going forward.
facepalmjedi: Given that the Panthers have the 3rd most difficult remaining schedule by strength of opponent and the Buccs have the 27th is the 49er’s game a must win to keep any playoff (pipe) dreams alive?
At this point the Panthers probably need to win 3 games they wouldn’t be expected to in order to stay in the playoff race. The 49ers game is one that is theoretically winnable based on the matchup, though it will not be an easy one. I don’t know if the season is over if they lose, but dealing the 49ers a loss gives the Panthers an edge in the wild card race since it seems the 49ers will be a regular part of that conversation going forward.
CasualFanAlso: Is there a decent candidate that could be inserted into right guard spot available?
I think your questions was more centered around potential free agents, so I will get to that. But the easy answer to me would be to play Austin Corbett at right guard. I know his season has seen its challenges, but a few seasons ago he was a very good starting right guard for this team. I don’t quite understand why the Panthers have such conviction with playing Chandler Zavala at right guard (remember, they did this even before Brady Christensen was hurt, and he only stepped in because Zavala got injured).
The list of free agents still available isn’t great.
Shaq Mason, Cody Whitehair, and Connor McGovern are names that you might recognize, but just looking at the guys not currently on a team, nobody in particular jumps out. The Panthers could possibly look to swipe up a guard from another team’s practice squad, but I really don’t think there’s anybody out there they can bring in with zero experience in the scheme that’s going to fair any better than the guys they have left on the roster.
egon petri: 1) Why do we tend to start out so slowly? Is it a failure of the coaching staff to anticipate how our opponent will defend us? A failure by the QB to recognize coverage or blitzing schemes once the script has played out? Is the overall offensive scheme too conservative?
2) Why do we tend to finish so strongly? Is it halftime adjustments by the coaching staff? Does Bryce get more familiar with the opponents defensive scheme? Or are we just entering desperation mode?
I think the offensive scheme was a bit too conservative over previous weeks, though that also wasn’t helped by Bryce Young electing to throw the check downs as often as he was either. This coaching staff seems to consistently struggle with adjusting in the first half, and I’m not sure that’s going to change. It was interesting listening to Rico Dowdle being mic’d up last week. He spent quite a bit calling for a specific play call which ended up being his catch and run that was an inch away from being a touchdown. I don’t know if that’s just the coaches in the box not identifying potential counter calls to the defense quickly or them taking too long to deviate from the initial game plan.
I do think by the same token, this coaching staff does a tremendous job of half time adjustments, something we could only dream of as fans when Ron Rivera and Matt Rhule were in power. Early in the season I think one could have called it entering “desperation mode”, but recently the defense is also adjusting well which keeps the Panthers offense in the game, hence giving them a positive or neutral game script where they don’t really have to scrap any one aspect of their play calls.
Sirpurralicious: Will Bryce Young ever throw between 200-299 yards in a game this season?
This time last season (Chiefs game), Bryce threw for between those numbers to close out 5 of the last 7 games. So I would say yes, but I’d be happy for him to throw for 300 yards in every game as well!
eastwood66: Why has Jimmy Horn been phased out the offense?
I get why fans are not understanding Horn’s usage, but he really was only used sparingly aside from when the Panthers basically had 3-4 healthy WRs on the roster. Bryce Tremayne seems to have won a lot of trust in this offense as a blocker and complimentary piece, and they haven’t been dialing up a ton of home run shots. I would expect Horn to see more and more snaps as the season goes on, I unfortunately think his rookie mistakes (which happen, I am not blaming him) caused the team to use him more sparingly now. Especially with Jalen Coker healthy. They also tend to use all 3 tight ends as part of the rotation, which means less reps for the depth wide receivers.
Chef: Hey Bri! Give me a player that we’re currently relying on quite heavily that you’d like to see us upgrade before the start of next season?
Ruffian Actual called me out on it, so I’ll go ahead and say Nick Scott, the unsung hero and unrecognized captain of this defense. The Panthers don’t really have a middle roamer/free safety type on this defense, and Nick Scott has done his best at it despite that not really being his strong suit. He’s not under contract next season, so they definitely could look for an upgrade at his position. I would also say Christian Rozeboom, even though I like what he’s brought. He’s best suited as a 2 down linebacker, but when he’s healthy the Panthers basically have to play him almost every snap. Bringing in a young dynamic linebacker to add to the group with him, Trevin Wallace, and Claudin Cherelus would really round out this group.
Irishboy: Is there any part of the coaching staff you feel maybe holding Bryce Young back, or is Bryce exactly what a lot of people are saying on here, and will never be great or consistent?
I said last week I felt the coaching staff should open up the passing attack from a play calling standpoint, and let Bryce Young either sink or swim. Clearly he swam this week. While Bryce is not going to magically have a cannon arm or grow 6 inches, he definitely wasn’t EVERYTHING wrong with this offense in the bad games. I think its a combination of Bryce needing to play with confidence and fearlessness like he did to end last season, and I think the coaching staff needs to call the plays they feel they can win with and trust Bryce to actually execute them. If he can’t, that’s more evidence he isn’t the long term answer. At this point, they should be going for broke trying to make the playoff any way they can. There really is no worst case scenario, if the offense last week was just a flash in the pan with Bryce under center, at least we know there’s something there that can be really good with good quarterback play. But I haven’t ruled out Bryce finding a way to be consistent.
That’s all for his week, Panthers fans! Enjoy Monday Night Football, and KEEP POUNDING!
