The Panthers have issued today’s injury report for their Week
3 game against the Bengals and there’s good news—cornerback Donte Jackson
returned to practice and is officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s
game.In other news Authentic
Ian Thomas Jersey , Trai Turner and Da’Norris Searcy are still in
the concussion protocol. Curtis Samuel is still not practicing after his “minor”
heart procedure but is working out, per Ron Rivera. Meanwhile, Damiere Byrd has
graduated from the DNP list and is now practicing on a limited basis. The
Panthers could use his help as a returner just as much as they could as a
receiver. The full list from Friday is below:Panthers injury reportGame
statusOutTE Greg Olsen (foot)WR Curtis Samuel (medical illness)S DaNorris Searcy
(concussion)G Trai Turner (concussion)DoubtfulNoneQuestionableCB Donte Jackson
(groin)Practice statusDid not participate in practiceTE Greg Olsen (foot)WR
Curtis Samuel (medical illness)S DaNorris Searcy (concussion)G Trai Turner
(concussion)Limited participation in practiceWR Damiere Byrd (knee)CB Donte
Jackson (groin)Full participation in practiceNone Practice StatusDid not
participate in practice = 0% of a player’s normal repetitionsLimited
participation in practice = Less than 100% of a player’s normal repetitionsFull
participation in practice = 100% of a player’s normal repetitionsGame StatusOut
= Player will not playDoubtful = Player unlikely to playQuestionable = Uncertain
if player will playMonday Morning Optimist: The Carolina Panthers are rewarding
their fans for having hope Fans of the Carolina Panthers have spent years
selling themselves on the idea that ‘this year’ would be the year that a long
standing team weakness would suddenly become a strength. Every season has opened
with the hope that a new undrafted free agent could be the next Steve Smith,
that the likes of Byron Bell could truly fill the shoes of Jordan Gross. The
hope has never truly been that a knight in shining armor would come riding out
of the forest in our moments of distress so much as that leadership would notice
there was distress in the first place. Too many games have ended with banal
press conferences that left no impression upon the viewer that anybody making
decisions was aware that there were decisions to be made. That all stopped when
Ron Rivera fired Mike Shula and brought in Norv Turner as the Panthers’
offensive coordinator.Turner’s hire may have hardly moved the needle, as he was
brought in to run essentially the same offense that Cam Newton had been in for
most of his career, but it seems to have done enough. Rivera has always believed
that his teams were good teams that were very close to being great. He was
confident in and loyal to his guys (Shula, McDermott). Losses Youth
Torrey Smith Jersey , from this perspective, were generally
failures in execution or bad luck. Never you mind the legions of Panthers fans
screaming from their couches about stodgy offensive philosophies or zone
defenses that gave premier wide receivers softer cushions than a Bed, Bath, and
Beyond. For the most part, Rivera may have been right.The fans should get their
credit, too. This season so far has shown patient game planning and a
willingness to play to the strengths of the existing personnel in a way that
Carolina hasn’t in years. It has shown an ability to slide help to various
members of the offensive line while still having play designs that could be
successful. The system may have been fine all along, but an upgrade on the
coaching staff was necessary to help it — and Newton — reach their
potential.So http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dontari-poe-jersey ,
again, Turner’s arrival in Charlotte may not have shaken the earth, but the
difference he provided has been critical. Maybe that validates Rivera’s lack of
public concern over his team at a time when fans, also somewhat rightly, were
clamoring for heads. Rivera was loyal to people who were so close to being what
the team needed. Fans were frustrated with having been so close for so long.
That is born out by what Rivera has accomplished in his career as a head coach.
He has put the Panthers in the playoffs in four out of his seven years so far.
Three of those teams won over 10 games. Those kinds of records don’t happen by
accident.I’ll continue to gripe all I can about conservative calls on 4th downs
(though Rivera is making me proud in 2018), but the fact that Chris Clark has
walked into Bank of America stadium off the streets and done, with significant
assistance Jarius
Wright Jersey , a serviceable job at left tackle proves that the
fans and the coaches were right all along: the Panthers have spent a long time
being in the vicinity of greatness. They really were just one player (or maybe
one coach) away.Why isn’t this a bad thing? Rivera should be lampooned and run
out of town by mobs carrying buckets of hot tar and bags of chicken feathers
with Marty Hurney close behind him. After all, he is the guy who preached
loyalty. He stood by Shula for years when all the arm chair general managers in
the world could plainly see that the former offensive coordinator couldn’t hack
it.In the NFL that should be damning. By the all of the logics the league has
taught us they work by, that should be his end with the Panthers. Rivera should
have been fired after failing to make the playoffs in 2016. He then should have
been hired by the Browns or the Chargers or the Titans so that he could prove
himself to be the same man to team after team after team. But Ron Rivera is not
Jeff Fisher. He is not John Fox.Rivera’s failure to move on from Shula should be
countered by the simple fact that he did move on from Shula. He may have
actually learned. His renewed risk taking, measured as it may be, is a sign of
actual evolution as a coach. He might should have been fired years ago, but it
would be silly for us to call for his head this year.The only NFL decision maker
who has proven capable of change and adaptation over the past couple of decades
is this guy named Bill Belichick. Rivera isn’t exactly Belichick, but he has
taken a step in the right direction. He doesn’t have to step very far.Turner’s
hire moved the needle. The Panthers have optimized their talent and a weak free
agent class to create a surprisingly robust depth at offensive tackle. They have
gone through a laundry list of receiver transactions looking for better and
faster guys. The safety position tried to bury themselves alive and the Panthers
signed Eric Reid in the middle of a lawsuit against the NFL. It seems that the
team’s leadership —be it Rivera Authentic
Da'Norris Searcy Jersey , Hurney, or David Tepper— knows that there
are decisions to be made to elevate this team. They finally tried. Look at them
go.