Eagles @ Panthers

[seanbrock 1,684]

That might have something to do with their offensive line play lol. Even as good as their defense has been,which it hasn't been what it was at it's peak in a couple years, most QB's couldn't win games with that team.

[Packers Dynasty 2010 116]

Stats don't mean shit. The eye test tells all.

The eye test doesn't really work when you're looking through some rose colored glasses.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Sorry this took me awhile, work has been killing me lately.

 

On to my thoughts.

 

That Eagles site is hilarious. There was absolutely a whistle prior to Cam Newton getting planted by two Eagles defenders and that was a really dumb play on their part. They showed the replay and you can clearly hear a whistle. You might still argue it was a bad call, but claiming there wasn't a whistle shows you have an agenda.

 

Not even trying the 58 yard FG prior to halftime was stupid as hell. There was no downside. After halftime, Gano came out and hit three straight 58 yard tries from that distance. He was clearly upset with them not giving him a chance. Changes the last couple drives if he makes that.

 

SteVo mentions Wentz being sacked three times and then never again. A huge factor in that is Luke getting hurt. I'm sure the Eagles still make adjustments, but Luke was literally calling their plays out before they happened. It's not a coincidence that they couldn't do jack shit against our D before Luke went down and after he was gone they started moving the ball.

 

I'm not knocking Mayo, he's a decent LB, but he is no Luke Kuechly, and if Luke doesnt go down, Carolina probably wins this, despite the godawful play from the O-line and the running game and the godawful playcalling from the worst OC in the league.

 

However, I loved Wentz. He made some plays, and he converted the turnovers into TDs, and he didn't make any real mistakes. Him somehow holding onto the ball on the blindside blitz by James Bradberry was a miracle, and him lowering his shoulder to run into Mike Adams at the goaline endears you to your team, even if it makes your coaches yell at you for risking yourself like that. He missed one at the end though, on the 3rd down attempt that if Philly converts it the game is over, someone- I think it was Jeffrey- was somehow completely uncovered in the slot for what would have been the easiest first down he'll get in the NFL.

 

As far as Cam goes, he was the only thing we had working on offense outside of KB. RBs combined for eight yards, Cam had 71 on the ground to go with 239 in the air. Yeah, his accuracy went to shit in the 4th, that was a career high in throws and he hurt himself on what should have been his 2nd touchdown run. I know Romo said he didn't think they'd overturn, but I really don't understand why, there was a clear angle of the ball crossing the goaline with his foot still not having touched out of bounds. Unless I'm misunderstanding the rules regarding the pylon, that was a clear TD the refs chose not to give. But on the dive, he came down on his throwing hand and was slow to get up and after that he lost a lot of accuracy on his throws. So yeah, it wasn't his best game, but I really can't blame him for this one, given that none of the interceptions he threw were even partly his fault, (honestly the one that was called back was the worst throw of the night), and the Eagles knew we couldn't run the ball.

 

We need Ryan Kalil back something awful. Him and Olsen are two of our best run blockers.

 

I hope everyone can now see why Panthers fans hate Mike Shula so much. Run game not working all night and he kept insisting on sacrificing a down to try to run it up the middle, which served no purpose at all. On Carolina's second to last drive, we were marching down the field on intermediate routes with relative ease, and he calls three plays in a row that only have one medium pattern and 2-3 deep routes, like he thought we were out of time or something, with 3+ minutes left. Your best case scenario there is we score quickly, which then gives Philly plenty of time to drive back down the field and kick the GW or tying FG, (depending whether we make the 2 point attempt).

 

Carolina failing to convert 3rd and 1 and then 4th and 1 on the final drive with a 6'6" 250 pound QB sitting in the backfield is a disgrace. All he has to do is call a QB sneak and we get the first. I know you lose 10-15 seconds getting up and spiking the ball, but if you don't convert the game is over. Shula is holding this offense back with his complete idiocy, and he should have been fired a year ago, and as long as he is the OC we won't go anywhere.

 

Most Panthers fans that I know do not feel like we deserved to win this one, but we still had a chance to steal it at the end despite all the awful unforced errors we had, (gifted the Eagles fifteen points, for starters. Edit: One of those TDs wasn't unforced, Cox is a beast. Just to be clear). I just hope Luke is okay. If that truly is a 3rd concussion, he should retire for his own good, although its probably too late at this point.

 

Update on Luke: He is completely fine and does not have any symptoms. They caution that sometimes it takes 3-4 days for symptoms to show post-concussion, but he may have dodged a bullet.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Thanatos

[Thanatos 2,847]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/panthers-identified-perpetrator-brutal-fan-192155751.html

 

Goddamn shitty ass Philly fans, always being assholes.

 

Oh, wait. Sorry.

 

Panthers forum is on it. I'm sure someone knows that piece of shit and where he lives.

 

Edit: They got him already.

 

The older guy was a Panthers fan too, young guy is just a complete POS. Young guy's wife and daughter were at the game with him too, way to set an example, son. He was standing all game and the old guy asked him to sit down, whereupon he turned around and called the guy a faggot, a geriatric asshole, and a number of other names.

 

Twitter thinks the old guy called him a spic in return, which then somehow justifies being punched in the face. He clearly just tells him to sit down.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Thanatos

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Good analysis of the game, Than. Looks like we saw everything the same way.

 

And great to hear they got that prick.

[seanbrock 1,684]

I think sometimes people confuse fantasy football with real football as far as the criticism of Cam goes for any kind of performance against the Eagles. What QB is going to put up a perfect stat line with no running game and a center or a guard getting pushed back into his lap when he drops back to pass?

[Thanatos 2,847]

Cam is a polarizing athlete. People love to see him fail because his arrogance and his showboating make them feel good when he screws up. It's gotten kinda ridiculous, tbh. He's a great QB. Does he have his flaws? Absolutely. He tends to think he can make any throw even if he doesnt step into it, and the crazy thing is he's right a lot of the time. His arm is a cannon.

 

I do think you have a point there, someone who didn't watch the game sees 3 INTs they're going to assume Cam had a bad game.

[BwareDWare94 723]

By his standards he did but Philadelphia had to scratch and claw to keep him from completing the comeback. The Eagles possessions post 28-13 were dreadful

[Thanatos 2,847]

Perhaps, but it wasn't because of the 3 INTs, I guess was my point. None of those were on him, the only one even arguable was Fletcher Cox's bullrush up the middle. Cox was a force of nature all night, that wasn't some measly nobody who was blocking him either. It was Trai Turner, a damn good O-lineman and Cox made him look like a college player trying to stop a pro.

 

He may not have had a great game, but when your RBs give you eight yards on the ground, (to Cam's 71, I might add), it's gonna be a long night for any QB against a good D-line.

 

And the fact that the Eagles never had to commit to stopping the run in order to stop the run, means that their depleted secondary was able to hold on because they were able to give them help instead of needing to blitz to get pressure or run-blitz to stop the ground game.

 

And yeah, despite all that, Carolina still had two shots to win the game late. Against arguably the best team in the NFC. We need to get our ground game going and we'll be fine.

[OSUViking 505]

Is Matt Kalil still starting?

[Thanatos 2,847]

Yes he has. Prior to the Eagles game, he had really started playing well, did not give up a pressure vs the Patriots or the Lions. I don't know how he did vs Philly, but I think he may have done alright there, too, most of Philly's pressure came up the middle.

 

Where Matt is having the most problems is run-blocking. Without Ryan there to direct them, the entire O-line is having a rough time run blocking.

 

Jeremy, (the Panthers photographer who runs the Panthers forums), posted gifs of every one of Jonathan Stewart's runs. It's real easy to look at his stat line and assume he was horrible, but watching all of his runs in isolation, there was a grand total of one run where he took the wrong cut. Should have had 5-6 yards and instead only had 1. Other than that he made the right play every time there was simply no where to go.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Matt Kalil has never been that bad. Honestly he just bulked up too much and the injuries piled up. His great rookie year he was probably the skinniest starting NFL OT I've ever seen. Once he put that extra bulk on he started struggling and getting injured