hepcat

Simple David does LA

Hurts dropped because of his size but honestly I think he's playing over his ceiling right now. I expect the Eagles to come back down to earth eventually. They have a STUPID easy schedule this year. They remind me of the 2015 Panthers feasting on bad teams. At least the Panthers played some decent teams that year. Go look at the Eagles schedule, it's a joke. And RE: Fields. It's unfortunate what's happening to him in Chicago but I can't say he had any sort of proper development plan by his team. He would probably have the most success under Mike Shula and Ken Dorsey in Buffalo. If Dorsey gets a head coaching gig I bet he takes Shula as his OC, and a QB like Fields could have success in a true read-option offense.

Lol you might be right but also that’s not saying anything when your other QBs are reject clowns from the butthole teams of the NFL. We’re the new toilet bowl for the butthole team’s turds.

Facts. It’s evident the Panthers shot NO shots at QBs in the NFL draft under Matt Rhule until this year, despite the desperate need for a franchise QB. They should have drafted Fields or Jones in 2021, taken a shot in Jalen Hurts in the 2nd round in 2020, just anything to have a rookie QB in the mix. Rhule’s tenure was a textbook example of how NOT to build an NFL team. It starts with the QB, and you go from there. You keep taking shots at QBs until you get one IN THE DRAFT. Arizona isn’t a great franchise but they drafted a QB in the first round two consecutive years and they’ve had better records than us.

I’ve been a Panthers fan too long and watched way too much football to be optimistic about a season where the head coach was fired in week 5.

Unfortunately I can’t say I agree. The players are checking out faster than johns at an hourly motel.

he’s just saying what everyone already knew. Richardson didn’t have the dirt!!!

Phew well at least we’re gonna lose this weekend and end this charade lol

It’s also been reported that Stafford did not want to play for the Panthers

Nice, we probably have some mutual friends then. I knew a dude from my HS who were pals with him too, went golfing with him. Two former Panther players went to my HS too. He was one Panthers player I always thought I could have been friends with if I ever met him because I'm a musician too but I moved to Austin haha

Stew was a great resource for Panthers inside info when he was on the team. Smart and transparent guy.

are you familiar with the term "tank commander"

How is it weird? What he's said and what he's done have been two different things. He has talked about having smart people in the building to make the football decisions but he's obviously had a hand in every decision. This was his handpicked coach, GM, and staff, and he said he was even involved in the QB moves. An owner with literally zero actual football experience should not be making these decisions. He just needs to get out of the way. He did say he's going to consider consultants for the coaching search and that's the most encouraging thing I've ever heard him say, it'll just depend on who those consultants are. If it's Marty Hurney, I'm out.

Got nothing but respect for Fowler for that article. Tepper needs to come down off his high horse. It's gonna take a village to fix this team. He's not going to end up being the savior. He needs to understand that.

Lol, I believe the guy though. I literally went to high school with 2 former Panthers players and keep in touch with a buddy from my grade who is friends with other former players on the team. He golfs with a prominent former RB on the reg. I don't have as good of a pulse on the team anymore since I don't have any second hand connections to the team anymore, but inside info is like a disease. Once it's released and it spreads, it's hard to put it back in the bottle. I don't like to talk about what these guys tell me unless it's actual news.

And all of that could have been accomplished in a written statement. If it was so obvious that Rhule needed to be fired did he need to get up in front of the media and patronize us with his poor attitude about it?

Haha I’d be VERY surprised. I don’t see more than 1-2 more wins on the schedule

Aside from turning the Panthers into perennial losers and unceremoniously jettisoning the best QB in franchise history? he just comes off as an arrogant narcissist who doesn’t fit the kind of person who should own a professional sports team in the Carolinas. A Pittsburgh personality rubs southern people the wrong way.

Is he though? I thought those rules were only for players and coaches. Jerry Richardson went like 10 years without giving a press conference.

Mr. Tepper, The optics of the press conference you gave after firing Matt Rhule were quite ugly. You were cagey with your responses, and contentious with reporters who had legitimate questions concerning the team's performance, personnel attrition, and failed construction projects. I think I speak for all fans when I say, that press conference was not what we needed right now. If you are not going to be transparent and amicable, giving a live press conference reflects poorly on you and the entire organization. I suggest issuing written statements in lieu of live press conferences going forward. That way you can have professional public relations people proofread your statement to make sure it says everything you want it to say, and avoids pissing off the fanbase more than we already are given the team's 18-35 record since you bought the team. Maybe after the team has some success under your ownership, a live press conference would be more appropriate. A simple suggestion for you going forward.

I don't think Rhule ever had a chance. He wasn't cut from the right kind of cloth to be an NFL head coach. Sean Payton gave a great interview on Colin Cowherd's show yesterday about the differences between being a college head coach and coaching in the pros. He mentioned in college, the responsibilities go way beyond just coaching football players. You have to talk to the parents of the players, you have to recruit, you have to deal with boosters. You're not really as much a football coach as you are a people manager. And maybe Matt Rhule is good at those things. But one thing is abundantly clear, he's not a good football coach. In the NFL, you have to be more of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in your field. Whether that is offense, defense, quarterbacks, special teams, etc. Matt Rhule was not a SME in literally anything football related, and he was poor at identifying people who were. His job wasn't to manage the social media, the training room, or to put ping pong tables out. His job was to coach NFL football players on football related matters. He failed.

Personally I think Tepper should have forced Rhule to go down with the ship and fired him in December since I don't believe there's any hope for the season now or later. The staff is 80% Rhule guys so I don't know what will actually change now that he is gone. But I don't think letting Wilks have a shot as the interim head coach is at bleak as it appears. He has the respect of both former and current players and is well-liked in the organization. His defense might run actual NFL caliber gap alignments and cut out the "college crap" that Snow ran. He's not being set up for success being thrust into the captain's chair on a sinking ship, but there are many worse options for interim head coaches out there. All that said I think the only reason Tepper fired Rhule now was that the fanbase had had enough. The stadium was empty for the 49ers game because every fan knew it was going to be a blowout loss. Unless Tepper fired Rhule, the stadium was going to be empty. It's still going to be pretty empty, but at least there might be a few fans who show up with the hope that things get better now that Rhule is gone.

I don’t love hiring a guy like Dan Quinn either but I don’t think we can expect to jump up to Super Bowl contender right away with the next coach either. The team is a mess from the top down, all the way up to the owner. A guy like Quinn could be good to have for 3 years to steady the ship and at least bring the team back to the middle of the pack. It could be akin to what happened to the Rams with Jeff Fisher. He was a similar type of coach to Quinn and the Rams were at least flirting with a .500 record under him. Then you go get your real long term coach after the mess is cleaned up. I don’t know if this team is a good situation for a first time head coach in all honesty. Tepper is obviously an arrogant narcissist who is hard to work for. Anyone he gets is going to have to have enough of a spine to tell Tepper to back the f*ck off and have the credentials to back it up. Quinn could do that. He might not be the long term guy, but he could at least pull us out of the depths of hell. If that’s settling, it’s better than what we have now….

It all runs through Tepper and that’s the biggest problem. He’s clearly too involved. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s a mess. It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. These are bleak times to be a Panthers fan.

Oh great another thread about a topic talked about yesterday