Peter King on Matt Rhule

[NAS]

Matt Rhule, coach, Carolina

The Panthers hired Rhule in January. Then, Luke Kuechly retired (and four other defensive starters were jettisoned), Cam Newton was released, and Greg Olsen was traded. Season started. Christian McCaffrey has missed four games with a high ankle sprain. Defensive tackle Kawann Short is gone for the year (shoulder); left tackle Russell Okungmissed two games with a groin injury.

Carolina, 0-2 with McCaffrey and 3-1 without him, was typically competitive Sunday in a seven-point loss to 5-1 Chicago.

In a recent conversation with Rhule, he left no question about why the Panthers’ season didn’t go down the drain with the early adversity. His message: If you’re on my team, you’re a starting player in the NFL. That’s how they’re coached.

“You want to have a team that the players know you trust them,” Rhule said. “I want our guys—I want [backup running backs] Mike Davis and Reggie Bonnafon, I want [backup tackle] Greg Little, I want [backup defensive tackle] Zach Kerr—I want them to know that, like, we trust them and we believe in them and they’re here for a reason. At the same time, there’s also a standard in our organization for how a starter plays. If you go in there to be a starter, we expect you to do your job and play really hard and play to our standard. The more you do that, the more I think it becomes contagious. I think a part of it is, we practice like a college team. Our twos [second-teamers], we expect our twos to get reps. When practice is over, the two offense stays out and runs through the script one more time. I expect our coaches to coach our twos and our threes.

“I believe in that because at the college level, you’re trying to develop freshman and sophomores. You want them to stay engaged. I look at this level and I say, ‘What’s the difference?’ There isn’t one, really. It’s football. If we can be a place that develops young players, if we can take undrafted free agents and rookie players and develop them, then when they’re called upon, they’ll be ready. I’m sure other teams do that. I’m not saying we’re revolutionary. But it’s what I know from being the son of a high school coach and a college coach. We’ve come here and done this. So our twos, when they’ve been called upon, have gone in and they’ve really done a nice job for us.”

In his first three games as the McCaffrey heir, Davis, a waiver pickup from the Bears last year, rushed 45 times for a 4.9-yard average. In the two games without Okung at left tackle, the Panthers allowed just two sacks and Teddy Bridgewater completed 73 percent of his throws. That doesn’t just happen. Matt Rhule can coach, and his players, up and down the roster, can play.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/10/19/ryan-tannehill-titans-nfl-fmia-peter-king/

[Mr. Scot]

Greg Olsen was traded? 

[d-dave]

I think Rhule is a heck of a coach six games into his first season without much real offseason contact.  Did yesterday suck?  Yes it did, but this team has had the deck stacked against them from the start of this season due to Covid, so I'm not going to write the team off for losing to a good team.

I can see that this team plays hard, which is really nice.  There are tons of areas to improve from coaching to personnel, but for the most part, they keep fighting until the end.  Which is really nice to see.  

[PantherOnTheProwl1523]

6 minutes ago, d-dave said:

I think Rhule is a heck of a coach six games into his first season without much real offseason contact.  Did yesterday suck?  Yes it did, but this team has had the deck stacked against them from the start of this season due to Covid, so I'm not going to write the team off for losing to a good team.

I can see that this team plays hard, which is really nice.  There are tons of areas to improve from coaching to personnel, but for the most part, they keep fighting until the end.  Which is really nice to see.  

RR wouldn't have went this far and would play conservative till the end and make the comment after the game " We had missed opportunities".

[Captain Morgan]

as bad as we played yesterday, we were still in it at the end.  The team is trusting the process.

[SCO96]

1 hour ago, d-dave said:

I think Rhule is a heck of a coach six games into his first season without much real offseason contact.  Did yesterday suck?  Yes it did, but this team has had the deck stacked against them from the start of this season due to Covid, so I'm not going to write the team off for losing to a good team.

I can see that this team plays hard, which is really nice.  There are tons of areas to improve from coaching to personnel, but for the most part, they keep fighting until the end.  Which is really nice to see.  

I think your last paragraph, especially the highlighted portions perfectly sums up the way I feel when I watch the 2020 Panthers.  I find them interesting even when they make bad plays and/or lose games. I honestly feel  Matt Rhule is developing something special and I feel confident he'll be the coach to FINALLY put together back to back winning seasons in Carolina.

[SCO96]

1 hour ago, NAS said:

Matt Rhule, coach, Carolina

The Panthers hired Rhule in January. Then, Luke Kuechly retired (and four other defensive starters were jettisoned), Cam Newton was released, and Greg Olsen was traded. Season started. Christian McCaffrey has missed four games with a high ankle sprain. Defensive tackle Kawann Short is gone for the year (shoulder); left tackle Russell Okungmissed two games with a groin injury.

Carolina, 0-2 with McCaffrey and 3-1 without him, was typically competitive Sunday in a seven-point loss to 5-1 Chicago.

In a recent conversation with Rhule, he left no question about why the Panthers’ season didn’t go down the drain with the early adversity. His message: If you’re on my team, you’re a starting player in the NFL. That’s how they’re coached.

“You want to have a team that the players know you trust them,” Rhule said. “I want our guys—I want [backup running backs] Mike Davis and Reggie Bonnafon, I want [backup tackle] Greg Little, I want [backup defensive tackle] Zach Kerr—I want them to know that, like, we trust them and we believe in them and they’re here for a reason. At the same time, there’s also a standard in our organization for how a starter plays. If you go in there to be a starter, we expect you to do your job and play really hard and play to our standard. The more you do that, the more I think it becomes contagious. I think a part of it is, we practice like a college team. Our twos [second-teamers], we expect our twos to get reps. When practice is over, the two offense stays out and runs through the script one more time. I expect our coaches to coach our twos and our threes.

“I believe in that because at the college level, you’re trying to develop freshman and sophomores. You want them to stay engaged. I look at this level and I say, ‘What’s the difference?’ There isn’t one, really. It’s football. If we can be a place that develops young players, if we can take undrafted free agents and rookie players and develop them, then when they’re called upon, they’ll be ready. I’m sure other teams do that. I’m not saying we’re revolutionary. But it’s what I know from being the son of a high school coach and a college coach. We’ve come here and done this. So our twos, when they’ve been called upon, have gone in and they’ve really done a nice job for us.”

In his first three games as the McCaffrey heir, Davis, a waiver pickup from the Bears last year, rushed 45 times for a 4.9-yard average. In the two games without Okung at left tackle, the Panthers allowed just two sacks and Teddy Bridgewater completed 73 percent of his throws. That doesn’t just happen. Matt Rhule can coach, and his players, up and down the roster, can play.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/10/19/ryan-tannehill-titans-nfl-fmia-peter-king/

I'd give your post 20 likes if I could but I'm only able to toast you with the bear glass 

I highlighted my favorite sections of the article. If players around the NFL and incoming college talent (especially undrafted FA's) realize that they will to be relied upon to contribute to the team as 2nd and 3rd stringers, then that can only make Carolina one of the more desirable places to play in the NFL.

[musicman]

Before the season, I said I only wanted to see a competitive team that plays hard all the time. I did not care about the record or what draft pick we got. The culture changes when you try to win even when you don't have all the talent to do so. We have shown that and the future looks bright. With no OTAs or preseason and all our turnover in players and coaches, this is remarkable to even be 3-3- and be in every game (no blow outs). 

[jbland]

1 hour ago, Mr. Scot said:

Greg Olsen was traded? 

News to me. 

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, jbland said:

News to me. 

Pretty sure it's news to Olsen too.

I think he was under the impression that he was cut.

[Fox007]

More excited about our HC than any player we have that's new. First time ever that's happened.

[Mr. Scot]

On topic, there is a lot to like about Matt Rhule. And while many of us were skeptical of the staff he put together, they seem to be doing a decent job so far.

That said, like always, I don't want to get too excited just yet.

We've seen a fair number of new coaches be disproportionately successful their rookie season, then come down to earth after the rest of the league has a year's worth of tape on them.

To be clear though, I like what I've seen so far. Definitely feel like he's an improvement over Rivera. Just waiting on the long-term results.

[Proudiddy]

2 hours ago, NAS said:

Matt Rhule, coach, Carolina

The Panthers hired Rhule in January. Then, Luke Kuechly retired (and four other defensive starters were jettisoned), Cam Newton was released, and Greg Olsen was traded. Season started. Christian McCaffrey has missed four games with a high ankle sprain. Defensive tackle Kawann Short is gone for the year (shoulder); left tackle Russell Okungmissed two games with a groin injury.

Carolina, 0-2 with McCaffrey and 3-1 without him, was typically competitive Sunday in a seven-point loss to 5-1 Chicago.

In a recent conversation with Rhule, he left no question about why the Panthers’ season didn’t go down the drain with the early adversity. His message: If you’re on my team, you’re a starting player in the NFL. That’s how they’re coached.

“You want to have a team that the players know you trust them,” Rhule said. “I want our guys—I want [backup running backs] Mike Davis and Reggie Bonnafon, I want [backup tackle] Greg Little, I want [backup defensive tackle] Zach Kerr—I want them to know that, like, we trust them and we believe in them and they’re here for a reason. At the same time, there’s also a standard in our organization for how a starter plays. If you go in there to be a starter, we expect you to do your job and play really hard and play to our standard. The more you do that, the more I think it becomes contagious. I think a part of it is, we practice like a college team. Our twos [second-teamers], we expect our twos to get reps. When practice is over, the two offense stays out and runs through the script one more time. I expect our coaches to coach our twos and our threes.

“I believe in that because at the college level, you’re trying to develop freshman and sophomores. You want them to stay engaged. I look at this level and I say, ‘What’s the difference?’ There isn’t one, really. It’s football. If we can be a place that develops young players, if we can take undrafted free agents and rookie players and develop them, then when they’re called upon, they’ll be ready. I’m sure other teams do that. I’m not saying we’re revolutionary. But it’s what I know from being the son of a high school coach and a college coach. We’ve come here and done this. So our twos, when they’ve been called upon, have gone in and they’ve really done a nice job for us.”

In his first three games as the McCaffrey heir, Davis, a waiver pickup from the Bears last year, rushed 45 times for a 4.9-yard average. In the two games without Okung at left tackle, the Panthers allowed just two sacks and Teddy Bridgewater completed 73 percent of his throws. That doesn’t just happen. Matt Rhule can coach, and his players, up and down the roster, can play.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/10/19/ryan-tannehill-titans-nfl-fmia-peter-king/

Wow, it's almost like no coaches here previously tried doing this lol.

The proof is in the pudding.  Rhule rules.

[t96]

4 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Greg Olsen was traded? 

I'm going to just pretend we own Seattle's 3rd round pick in 2021 draft