Cam Newton has unmasked this entire football team.

[PhillyB]

It's tough to quantify things like credit and blame. You can't bake a cake and take back the eggs. How do you assign credit and blame in an interlocking, mutually-inclusive system where success in one area is built upon success in another? You can't, which is what makes assigning responsibility for losses so elusive in most cases. Is it scheme? Is it execution? How do you judge the one against the other when they're both contingent factors?

Cam Newton's injury has removed a shroud that's been covering the team for the past year and a half. His absence has revealed several things with unadulterated clarity:

1) Mike Shula is terrible and was only ever good because he had Cam as a quarterback. Judging coordinators is as elusive a prospect as any, but those three gut-runs with the game on the line are the types of qualitative data you can actually use. Scheme aside, that's evidence of god-awful situational playcalling. It was there last year, but Cam's excellence on top of lucky breaks masked it. Mike Shula has to go.

2) Ron Rivera is a below-average head coach situationally. He is an above-average leader of men and developer of character, which is important in a coach and should not be undervalued, but he's always made poor decisions when the heat's on. Cam Newton's excellence as a quarterback has kept him out of many of those defining moments, but Ron is not strong enough as a head coach to help mask deficiencies in scheme or personnel, which is what good coaches do. Ron Rivera needs to be heavily evaluated moving forward.

3) Derek Anderson is awesome... as a backup. He's never been starting material and he never will be. The Great White Hope might be scruffy and steely-eyed and businesslike and carry a mean lunch pail, but when the game's on the line he makes questionable throws. Cam Newton makes everyone around him better, Derek Anderson is a really, really good backup quarterback who's well-liked and can be relied upon for a few plays. Derek Anderson needs to work on his decision-making so he won't turn the ball over next time he subs for the reigning MVP.

4) Dave Gettleman is an excellent general manager but he committed a huge judgement error in our secondary. He was dealt a tough hand with a ton of guys coming up for retirement, and I get the Norman situation cap-wise, but those aren't the problem. Rolling into the season with our current personnel without properly testing them was the problem. Assuming the pass rush would make up for their lack of experience was the problem. Cam Newton's transcendent talent was good enough to mask deficiencies last year and his absence now is exposing the roster as woefully insufficient to compete. Dave Gettleman needs to serious consider some bye-week trades if he wants his team to be viable in November.

 

The good news is I had to try to come up with more than four bullet points and it was a stretch. There's a ton of talent on this team. The offensive line is pretty awesome, our backs are okay considering Stew's been out, our receiving corps is world-class, and we've got a good defensive core to work with. The bad news is that Cam's absence has exposed our biggest weaknesses as our very foundations, and those are both the hardest things to convince people to address and the most difficult things to replace.

A good start would be firing Mike Shula tomorrow morning. If that happens I think Cam rolls back in this week, prepares the team, elevates their play, and leads us to a win against New Orleans. Here's to hoping.

[MVPccaffrey]

I guess i'm the last person on this board still defending Shula.  It wasn't but a year ago he orchestrated the NFL's top scoring offense with Ted Ginn JR. as the top WR.  

There were 4 inexcusable, egregious turnovers tonight, and maybe only for one he was even partially to blame.  If we had a healthy Cam we would have had no issue putting 30+ on the scoreboard.

 

 

Gano has become a problem, it should be mentioned.

[Mr. Scot]

The question becomes who do you replace him with. I'm assuming Proehl.

But reality is I don't see Rivera firing Shula.

[Toolbox]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

The question becomes who do you replace him with. I'm assuming Proehl.

But reality is I don't see Rivera firing Shula.

Dorsey.. and yes rivera will not fire him now not after all of the other times he clearly should have fired him.

[SmokinwithWilly]

This FO if far too loyal when it shouldn't be. Shula needs to go without question. We went from an unstoppable offense to one of the most inept, predictable, poo shows in the NFL. You can only get better when you admit you have a problem. Shula is our problem. 

[SportsCrazie4172]

Can we mathematically still win out the NFC South?

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, SmokinwithWilly said:

This FO if far too loyal when it shouldn't be. Shula needs to go without question. We went from an unstoppable offense to one of the most inept, predictable, poo shows in the NFL. You can only get better when you admit you have a problem. Shula is our problem. 

FO doesn't hire and fire coaches.

Rivera does.

[truthjuice]

But somehow, it's all Cam's fault because he ride his segway back home and wasn't in the stadium tonight with earplugs and sunglasses. 

[Zithers]

Why fire Shula? He called a fine game. If DA doesn't float it into double coverage or if he secures the ball, we have virtually a 100% chance of winning. The two three runs up the gut drives did totally suck ass though (coincidentally our first and last drives). I don't know how that last 3rd down wasn't a play action.

[beastson]

Between 1-2, Panthers fans need to just call it how it is

Ron is not a good HC. He's not. He's had 2 winning seasons, the years Gettle made player acquisitions. That makes it clear, we win cause of the players not the coaches. He refuses to make coaching changes when he should, like now because frankly he doesn't know who to turn to and put his trust in. Your title is what people on here been saying for a while now on the offensive side of things, Cam Newton and without him...

[Toolbox]

1 minute ago, beastson said:

Between 1-2, Panthers fans need to just call it how it is

Ron is not a good HC. He's not. He's had 2 winning seasons, the years Gettle made player acquisitions. That makes it clear, we win cause of the players not the coaches. He refuses to make coaching changes when he should, like now because frankly he doesn't know who to turn to and put his trust in. Your title is what people on here been saying for a while now on the offensive side of things, Cam Newton and without him...

 

Yep there's a reason why he was nearly fired twice..

[SmokinwithWilly]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

FO doesn't hire and fire coaches.

Rivera does.

I get that. But how do you sit in the front office and trust Rivera's judgement right now

[MVPccaffrey]

Even Belichick got shut out starting a trash QB.  At home.

Anderson isn't trash but he played pretty close to it tonight, 3 game killing turnovers negates his passes to a mostly open Olsen.

[greghardy'sAK-47]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

The question becomes who do you replace him with. I'm assuming Proehl.

But reality is I don't see Rivera firing Shula.

It isn't that big of a question when you actually face reality and realize he's not even a mediocre offensive mind.