Is this year Riveras best coaching job?

[firefox1234]

If he gets to say the NFC Championship game this season then this season has had to be better....

[stirs]

I doubt anyone would want a 7 win season to go down as their best effort.

 

Now, if they win the NFC or the Superbowl, that will all change

[ed bell]

So many x-factors in much of the criticisms out there.

I do believe he is weak with his game management at times. That is certainly frustrating.

The knock about sticking with a failing starter has some merit, but there is much more involved than simply waving a hand and moving players in and out of starting positions.

I also believe that retirements, Cam's injuries and Hardy's failure to stay on the active roster were huge blows to what this team does to win.

All that led him to one of the things he may be a top five coach at executing: having the team behind him and believing in the staff. I heard rumblings that losing the locker room was possible, but didn't believe that. He's a player's coach and frankly held this potentially ruined season together and suddenly we find this team in the neighborhood of last year's roster.

Rivera seems to be still evolving, I'd really hate to see him dismissed and having another overhaul in the staff after investing the time in developing him from a rookie HC.

Best year? I'd really like to wait until the fat lady sings for this season, so far I'm really impressed that we recovered to find ourselves playing tomorrow.

[PghPanther]

Panthers have found new life with no less that 9 new starting position changes on both sides of the ball..................but it took the 8 game losing streak and injuries to force our staff into such a drastic change.

 

Fortunately for them it is showing signs of promise at a time when they matter the most.............

 

But it begs the question.............

 

Why wasn't this all explored and sorted out earlier in the season?

 

Isn't that the job of the coaching staff to recognize such potential..........before things get out of hand?

 

My gut tells me if they would have done this earlier in the year they wouldn't be up against such a steep learning curve and expectancy that will be required out of these new starting position players in the playoffs........

[Seltzer]

The Panthers lost their entire secondary, receiving corp, and had 4 new starters on the offensive line.

 

And on top of that, Rivera had his franchise DE (and arguably best defensive player) gone after the first game.

 

Despite all the extraneous stuff (weak division, etc.), he led his team to the playoffs. 

 

The NFL is a bottom line business.  I still think last year was Rivera's best coaching job overall, but this year has been a coaching success.

 

Winning tomorrow will make it one of the best overall years in Panthers history.

 

 

[nctarheel0619]

You are discounting multiple things: Boston hurt for most of the time (rookie, learning the defensive system), Bene hurt (rookie, had to learn the system as well), Norwell had to learn the playbook (also a rookie that probably went through strength training to reach potential), Jstew slowly returned to being healthy but had a brief step back (remember the stretch in the season we had no RB), Star was injured, the list goes on and on.

The point I have criticized as everyone else, Ron and the individual players but this has been a season John Fox would have sucked (to the Fox lovers out there). Luckily for us we have Ron as the coach to hold the team together and plus we are fortunate to have DG as GM. This has been a weird season, I am just enjoying the fact that everything is falling in place for a pleasantly surprising run.

 

Only a few of those are correct.  Boston was hurt, that's a legit excuse.  Bene was hurt, but started the season perfectly fine as a nickel and was rated one of the best DB's in the NFL by PFF when he did play before his injury.  Norwell was interesting, because everybody could see how bad Amini was playing.  Jeremy said Norwell looked like someone that should be starting over him, but Rivera was stubborn.  So stubborn that he wanted Amini to start at RT after Chandler went down (guess we forgot about this).  We dogged a bullet with that one, thanks injury Gods.  Stewart is another one I agreed with, problem is, do you think he would be on the roll he is on right now if D-Will would have been healthy?  Thanks injury Gods.  Star wasn't playing good before his injury, so that point in null in void.  All in all, it's extremely obvious Rivera gets in his own way when it comes to personnel decisions.  

[goodoleboy]

So many x-factors in much of the criticisms out there.

I do believe he is weak with his game management at times. That is certainly frustrating.

The knock about sticking with a failing starter has some merit, but there is much more involved than simply waving a hand and moving players in and out of starting positions.

I also believe that retirements, Cam's injuries and Hardy's failure to stay on the active roster were huge blows to what this team does to win.

All that led him to one of the things he may be a top five coach at executing: having the team behind him and believing in the staff. I heard rumblings that losing the locker room was possible, but didn't believe that. He's a player's coach and frankly held this potentially ruined season together and suddenly we find this team in the neighborhood of last year's roster.

Rivera seems to be still evolving, I'd really hate to see him dismissed and having another overhaul in the staff after investing the time in developing him from a rookie HC.

Best year? I'd really like to wait until the fat lady sings for this season, so far I'm really impressed that we recovered to find ourselves playing tomorrow.

 

Very good post. Responding to the bold part.

 

How likely is JR to hire and pay a finished product coach? Fire Rivera and you lose the growth he has taken the past 4 years. Many of the top coaches today are on there second team in the NFL. Fire the staff and replace them with a coordinator or college guy and you start the learning curve over.

[CoastalCat]

Panthers have found new life with no less that 9 new starting position changes on both sides of the ball..................but it took the 8 game losing streak and injuries to force our staff into such a drastic change.

 

Fortunately for them it is showing signs of promise at a time when they matter the most.............

 

But it begs the question.............

 

Why wasn't this all explored and sorted out earlier in the season?

 

Isn't that the job of the coaching staff to recognize such potential..........before things get out of hand?

 

My gut tells me if they would have done this earlier in the year they wouldn't be up against such a steep learning curve and expectancy that will be required out of these new starting position players in the playoffs........

 

Ron liked Bene and Tre, but they were both hurt earlier this year.

[ThPantherFan]

No.

[panthers55]

So far he has faced more adversity than last year. If we win on Saturday then my answer is this year since the ultimate goal is to win in the playoffs. It doesn't matter how many wins you get in the regular season if you exit in the first round like we did last year. If we go further than this is his best job.

[Jangler]

this team could have folded up weeks ago....like Atlanta did. 

 

Kudos to the whole team.

 

 

They are now playing the best of the year and a great time for it. I'd say I feel sorry for the Cards but we owe them an ass whoppin in the playoffs, and tomorrow is almost here,

[pepaw]

I remember Troy Aikman constantly calling 09 John Fox's best year as a coach and it drove me nuts.  The only reason we went on that mini run at the end with Matt Moore was that Fox's hand was forced due to Jake going out for the year. 

 

This year wasn't as obvious as 09 but some of Rivera's personnel choices did not come from his ability to evaluate talent and injuries instead.

[hepcat]

It's too early to say....because as it stands now this might be his WORST coaching year.  They lost 6 games in a row and at times they looked like the worst team in the NFL.  I know Cam had injuries and they lost some other key players to injury and free agency and suspensions, but I have not forgotten how bad this team was a month ago.  7-8-1 is nothing to be impressed about.  The Panthers are lucky to be in the playoffs and if they hadn't made it in, everyone would be calling for his head.  

 

But if that stroke of luck turns out to be a deep run in the playoffs, he could turn it into his best coaching performance.  Otherwise this was a season much like 2011 and 2012 and that's nothing to be impressed about.  Playoffs or not, Rivera should be on the hot seat next year if they lose to Arizona.

[Mad_Scientist_565]

I think you guys are forgetting we played 4 bottom teams in the nfl the last 4 weeks. who is to say what our guys are going to look like against playoff caliber Teams. let's win this Arizona game and then see where we are.