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Fire Them And It All Goes Away, The Good and The Bad

Khyber53

By Khyber53,
in Carolina Panthers

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Khyber53 Grand Master

Khyber53

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You know, I am sick of hearing "Fire Gettleman" or "Fire Rivera" because this season we've lost twice the number of games we've won.

Folks, it's idiocy of the lowest order. You want heads to roll and blood to run in the streets because your team is having a bad year. Doesn't matter what happened last year, or the year before, or the year before. Just the right now. Fire 'em, that'll fix it, right?

Wrong. Firing either or both of those guys will start us all over again where we were after John Fox finished his lame duck season. We'll be starting over from scratch with an unknown general manager and whatever coach happens to be out there jobless or begging someone to give him his first head coaching job, And that is a terrible place to be. 

I mean, Norv Turner is out there. Gus Bradley is probably firing up his resume`. Heck, maybe even Jeff Fisher will be on the market. Maybe Hue Jackson will jump ship after a single year at the mistake by the lake. I mean, really? Mike Singletary is out there just waiting for a call, and he might even get Chip Kelly to come along as a two-fer.  Any of those guys sound good? And no, Gruden (the good one) and Cowher aren't coming out of retirement. You might be able to get John Fox to pull a Moose and swing back for a couple of seasons after Chicago, but do we really want to go down that path again?

And fire the general manager? Really? Who have you got on your Roladex? Mine's empty because the only one I know of that isn't working right now is Marty Huerny. He's probably like coming back but his lack of skill with numbers would worry me.

I'm not trying to say don't fire these guys because there are no better candidates out there. I'm just starting with that because it's the easy answer. The real meat of it is this: serious contender teams, the ones that are competitive year in and year out have continuity. They have it in their coaching staff and in their front office. Players negotiate their contracts and play them out under the same management. Coaches stay and the language between the players and the coaches develop, a seniority system emerges and veteran leadership is within the locker room instead of having to be brought in from outside.

Good teams have bad years sometimes. And only two teams make it to the Superb Owl each year, leaving the rest behind. Those good teams, though, they are always in the playoff mix, somehow. New England is always in the tournament, whether they go to the big dance or not. Pittsburgh is often there, too. The Giants, under their previous coach, were there more often than not, and Eli does have two rings. Indy used to be there. Green Bay is almost always in the playoffs. Seattle was the new kid in the group, but then came Carolina. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: We weren't supposed to be there last year. It was a marvelous, wild fluke. We were a year or two early, but we caught lightning in a bottle. Gettleman and Rivera hadn't finished building the team they wanted, but somehow, it just worked. This year, we're still feeling the effects of that long, long season and we're falling behind like a lot of teams have done after the championship. And that's okay.

It's okay because they are still building that team. And our franchise players are just entering their primes. Our aging vets like TD and Olsen are still playing at a high level and next year they should be good to go. And for years after that.

Just don't sell the future out now just because that's the easy answer. This ain't Madden and the reset button in the real world can be the worst thing to hit.

 

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Riverboat Ron Mentor

Riverboat Ron

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I just want a coach that wins 19 games a year, a Super Bowl every year, scores 700+ points a year and pitches a shut out each week. In addition also trades our 1st round pick for the team with the #1 overall and gets all our players to sign for vet minimum. Also he lowers beer prices to free and kick out the smug old psl owners who can't have people standing during the game.

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Khyber53 Grand Master

Khyber53

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30 minutes ago, Riverboat Ron said:

I just want a coach that wins 19 games a year, a Super Bowl every year, scores 700+ points a year and pitches a shut out each week. In addition also trades our 1st round pick for the team with the #1 overall and gets all our players to sign for vet minimum. Also he lowers beer prices to free and kick out the smug old psl owners who can't have people standing during the game.

I could get behind that, too.

 

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Khyber53 Grand Master

Khyber53

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1 hour ago, Jangler said:

Rivera and Gettleman aren't going anywhere. Beyond them, I think anybody can be fired. And tbh Norve Turner would be perfect for the team and the health of Cam.

My only problem with Norv is that Norv really never goes anywhere, does he? He has the most wins for any NFL coach with an overall losing record. And that just about sums him up.

In his long, long career as a head coach, he has just three play off wins and no team he has led has ever made it to the Superb Owl. He was an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys during their second run of Superb Owls, but he never lived up to the resume.

He's one of those guys that his name has been around for so long, you've got to just think, "Man, he's a good head coach." But really, not so much. (I actually thought he was better until I started researching the numbers.)

 

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outlaw4 Mentor

outlaw4

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Right now, things don't look great. Looking ahead, it's much brighter than, say, 2009. Why?

- If Gettleman stays, then this coming offseason is going to be a big test. For the longest time, we were stuck at the dollar store. Now we can afford to keep the nice pieces we already have and bring in better ones than in the past. If we stay cheap, then I will raise doubts on our strategy.

- Changing of the guard. I'm wondering how teams like the Packers, Steelers, Chargers, Saints, Cardinals and even Patriots are going to fare when father time bites their quarterbacks. Some will be built to survive while others will crumble. Other teams will fill the gaps but we have more experience. 

- One less injury, one more good play or one less bad one and we could've been 8-1 by now. It's frustrating that the victories were right there for the taking. In some ways, it's 2014 all over again (especially with the O-line) but it also feels like 2004. Magical SB followed by paying the piper for all the pieces falling in our favor. 

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Saca312 Experienced

Saca312

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No. You don't get it.

All the Gettleman haters are GMs waiting to snag a job. After all, all your armchair fellow GMs are basically Belicheck and know how to make a perfect team for every year.

After all, it's so easy to be a GM and spend money. Just look at the Saints.

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Wundrbread33 Grand Master

Wundrbread33

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I just don't get why we can't have success two years in a row. Why must we be amazing, then mediocre, then amazing, then garbage.

And this spans all our coaching staffs and players. We have never had consistency like the teams OP mentioned.

That's why people never really believe that the Panthers are legit...even when we win.

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