lightsout

This team is actually playing at the level that we all expected them to in the off season. Are we a playoff team with Wilkes having the reigns from the start of the season? Probably not. So we look like a competitive team all year and look primed for next season? Absolutely.

The NFL players need to have a code very similar to hockey code. If you do certain things....there are consequences.

Remember when we started looking really good once Brindy showed up? This reminds me of that time lol

We have a shot at this one if the defense isn't absolutely dreadful

Guys, ask yourselves what is more likely. Steve Wilkes, once failed head coach, known good defensive coach influenced McAdoo to make better play calls Or Matt Rhule, known micro manager, confirmed to make the social media department's lives hell, influenced McAdoo negatively.

Woke up and got to work and now that I'm settled, hearing the Canes win to start the road trip is a great way to start the day.

Can I have sex with a sweater? Because I want to. Am I weird or wrong?

I miss Ned's drippy pad setups.

I wanna see what Max is thinking right now. Like "holy poo, this team doesn't fug around" lol

He's the one guy I said we'd probably trade early if he didn't start producing but I'm glad he found his game again tonight. Let's hope he keeps at it. Svech looks primed to finally take that next step. That's going to be interesting to watch this season.

I absolutely love this franchise, these players, this fan base. So much effort from the boys tonight, and the crowd never let up.

There's like two. Not a strong QB class.

Horn is that dude. And if a pass is completed, he's a sure tackler. Exactly what you want at corner.

By far our worst coach. Seifert was bad but we were competitive for most of his tenure. The way the 2000 season ended and how 2001 went just sticks in people's minds. Rhule never had us competitive. We had 3 straight wins once, cool. That's it.

100% agreed. He's that classic "I'll crawl a mile through broken glass for you" type of coach. He is going to liven the team up if nothing else. Seeing intensity again would be a welcome change

I like that he seems like he's ready to finally implement things he has maybe suggested all season but been ignored or overridden on. That level of certainty is often good, unless his ideas are poo and he can't come off of them when they show to be. It'll mean the difference in staying in a HC position, for sure.

This is a big deal because Wilks is a strong defensive mind if nothing else. If he and the OC are agreeing on what needs changing on that side of the ball, that seems like it bodes well for us moving forward. First time I've been excited about this team since 2020.

I absolutely adore this man. Confident, excited, inspiring. No flowery language, just clear and concise. Let's hope he can right the ship, finish this thing out strong. I know tanking is the popular opinion but I'd rather see us compete and build momentum for next season if possible.

Yeah I know it's a bit pretentious. Just really didn't like the vibe of about half of that presser.

That's fair. I just have such a sour taste when it comes to this franchise right now. Maybe I expect too much.

Here's a quick breakdown of the kind of man/owner Tepper is, from what I gathered based off his conference today. This will be long. He starts looking like a man who is defeated. I get the feeling he views this as a defeat, on a personal level. When asked why he made the decision now, he consistently avoided a direct answer beyond "this felt like the time". Again, see point one. Tepper accepts responsibility and then IMMEDIATELY distances himself from decision making for player selection. There's a conflict. He wants the disappointment to stop. His posture noticeably shifts during this point from the start of the press conference. He comes more upright. He's confident in what he decides to do, but he absolutely cannot accept the failures of people he hires wholesale. Partly fair, at least. Tepper doesn't want to talk future. Again, he's hurting. He wants to focus on right now because the decisions to come have him terrified. Understandable but weak in the way he communicated it. VERY nervous when talking about the reasons for firing Rhule. Gets fidgety, doesn't get too direct. Him mentioning the fans is telling. He's either clueless and got tired of the boos so he made the call based on that, or his reasoning is purely about him. He wants to not seem influenced but I think we all know he was. If it was about winning, he would have fired Rhule in the offseason. Tepper avoids speaking directly on his past remarks in reference to Rhule and the 5-7 year plan. He tries to fish out progress and "getting over the hump" but in truth, our progress was one offseason, an improved but still troublesome OL and an offensive philosophy about a decade too old. The "hump" is bad personnel decisions. He knows that but can't say it, again, because he doesn't want take the loss there. Speaking on Wilks, he is more confident speaking to his reasons for the appointment. Not a lot of choices anyway, so he was confident there and it shows. Wilks is absolutely the best man in the building currently. But again, his response betrays his demeanor when asked about his reasoning for firing Rhule and his refusal to look at the future. As owner, he has to be thinking of the future some and for him to just avoid it is troubling. He speaks to the progress we've made and he's not wrong on any of it. Again, this is a confidently answered question. But he's anxious to say it and get it done because he knows the fans are holding his feet to the fire and he's an impatient guy. He wants this to be a quick turnaround and he's seeing it isn't. When asked about Snow, he immediately put it on Wilks. Either 1) this was entirely a Wilks call, which is fair to defer to him or 2) he's throwing this in his lap and Wilks should be pissed. I'm hoping it's the first one. Tepper knows we're screwed this season. He says he has confidence in Wilks but EVERYTHING he said before those final words shows otherwise. Again, he can't say the season is over and I know that but you're seeing Tepper's feelings a lot here. Tepper being questioned on his patience. Tepper takes this as "slow to act" and the way he approached the question shows it. This is about ego. Tepper addressed the opposing fan takeover of BoA and then again doubled back to say "that's not the reason"....sure guy. He also confirmed Wilks made the decision to fire Snow. Fair enough. Tepper for the first time gets REALLY anxious here. He wants to walk off. His head and eyes go nuts for a sec while the GM question is asked. He then explains team resources have to be used wisely. And again, avoids the future. Once more I get it, but no reassurance that he's considering it is concerning. He falls back to getting over the hump. I am officially considering this as "this is taking too long and we're stagnant before I get blamed for being slow to act". He actually looks calm as he says a balance of HC/GM making roster decisions is needed. Big change from the past and you can tell that's something he has come to terms with. First time he's admitted to being wrong (though obviously he didn't say those words). Getting over the hump means winning. If there isn't season to season improvement, he's not happy. Good. Why the fug was this hard to say until the 5th time it was brought up? Asked about Fitt, he avoids. Future scary. Asked about what he has learned about being an NFL owner. Maintain patience. Watch resources. Get the feeling he allowed Rhule and Fitt to be a little too careless there. Probably pissed at what we've done with the QB situation and him saying as much would be reassuring. Get the feeling the patience and resource management comments here are directly about the QB decisions. He tries to say that he didn't want to be too quick to demand change and make change but didn't want to sit on it too long. He's unsure of himself here. He almost looks like he's asking the reporter about it moreso. He really doesn't like being questioned on his decision making. Doubles back on all the comments about resource management and patience and says "sometimes you gotta take risks". Gets a touch hostile. He's officially done taking questions, he just wants this over. He basically says "I'm not hiring college coaches with no NFL coaching experience again" without saying it. He really doesn't want to have to regret his words later so he's so vague. Tepper avoids rebuild talk. Get the feeling he's not about trading good players for future value. Again, laser focus on right now with blinders to the future. Not necessarily a good thing. Tepper ends a bit frustrated. He heard the criticism and he hates it, but he knows why it's there. He's proud of the Charlotte work. He's proud of Charlotte FC, and should be. But it seems like everything but the Panthers is his focus and pride. Tepper is disgusted at Scott Fowler for holding his feet to the fire on reasons why he made the decision to fire Rhule. Very hostile. Absolutely hates being questioned on his decision making once again. My conclusion: Tepper is a man hold who just wants to be recognized for the positive and absolutely does not want to give details on any of the negative or his reasons for making decisions to correct those things. It's the classic "look at all I've done for you" tactic. I'm not convinced he cares about building the Panthers into a winner. He wants there to be steady progress so people keep showing up but if we have a coach who is perpetually a wild card contender then he's satisfied because that'll keep fans satiated enough to show up. Sure winning cures all, but if his focus is winning he sure seems clueless at how to get there and damn sure doesn't want to be portrayed that way.

Dundon is a god send as a fan. He knows what he doesn't know and hired people to make those calls. Then he sits back and watches. If poo goes sideways, he lets the guys figure it out and they have. He doesn't insert himself but I'm sure if we had sustained problems he'd be talking to his people and making changes that everybody feels are best. Tepper is a man child who doesn't like being questioned on his decision making. Huge difference.

IMO, TMJ and Shi these last two weeks, with limited snaps, have shown some flashes of being steady and contributing if given opportunity. Of course, the top three targets are Robby, CMC, and DJ. Need PJ to spread the wealth, see what we got.

One of two things absolutely will happen. 1. We suffer this season as we have been. Maybe steal a win or two more, look bad doing it. 2. We actually start looking better. Maybe we don't win much, but we look better and play better and it's more entertaining at least. If it's the latter, then Rhule's philosophy and influence over his coaches was the problem. If it's the former, we have a problem with schemes, coaching, bad players, or any combined thereof. We need this season to be over so desperately. And Tepper needs to never be involved with football again.

So he showed up at the end of the game and I still hate Robby Anderson. DJ, Marshall, Smith in the slot. Robby has to go. He's legitimately our worst receiver this season of the four. Nothing he has minus being a little faster than DJ, which DJ makes up for with being more aggressive and more explosive. Marshall had a contested catch that Robby 100% doesn't snag.