Scott Fowler Observer column on coaching hire

[Brooklyn 3.0]

9 minutes ago, Khaki Lackey said:

Fitting that Wilks went .500. He follows the tradition of Mister .500 Fox and Mister .500 Junior Rivera.

If that's your standard, Wilks is your guy.

But but he's LoCaL! Keep aiming low, Carolinas.

[Donald LaFell]

That article is terrible, it feels like he’s just stirring the pot. 

[glenwo2]

1 hour ago, raleigh-panther said:

You’re up, Dave Tepper: It’s time to hire Steve Wilks and find a new QB for Panthers

BY SCOTT FOWLER

[email protected]

18 hours ago

Now warming up for the Carolina Panthers:

Owner Dave Tepper.

That probably scares you if you’re a Panthers fan, and it should. Since Tepper bought the Panthers in 2018, they have suffered through five consecutive losing seasons.

But that’s where we are following Carolina’s 10-7 win at New Orleans on Sunday. The Panthers’ season is over. Carolina finished 7-10 and ended up in second place in the NFC South and will hold the No. 9 selection in the 2023 NFL draft. 

Tepper now must make a critical decision that will set the stage for many more: Who will be the Panthers’ next head coach?

As I’ve written before, I believe it should be interim head coach Steve Wilks. 

Wilks managed to lead the Panthers to a 6-6 record after Matt Rhule was fired following a 1-4 start. That was despite Wilks losing his best player when running back Christian McCaffrey was traded only one game into his 12-game tenure. Yet the coach still kept the Panthers in every game except one. 

If DJ Moore hadn’t taken his helmet off in Atlanta, we might be filing stories about the playoff-bound Panthers right now.

Tepper will have plenty of other choices, of course, and will need to go through an extensive interview process (as he should). He has already had a conversation with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, although it sounds like that isn’t going to happen. There are a lot of other candidates out there, with big names and small names, and undoubtedly a couple of them would work out fine.

But this is a “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” situation. 

We know already that Wilks would work out. The players respect him and generally want him to return. He grew up in Charlotte and is deeply rooted in the Queen City. He needs to find a new offensive coordinator and, even more importantly, a quarterback (along with a tight end, safety, nickel corner and wide receiver).

But give Wilks the players and the man will get it done. 

If Wilks doesn’t get the job, though, at least he went out with class on Sunday. In a game that really didn’t matter for the Panthers — or the Saints, for that matter — Wilks survived a terrible passing-game performance by quarterback Sam Darnold to direct a win. Darnold went 5-for-15 for 43 yards with two interceptions and no TD passes for a QB rating of 2.8.

To put all that in perspective, the low-water mark to me for Panthers passing efficiency has long been Jimmy Clausen, who went 1-9 in 10 games as a starter for a horrendous Carolina team in 2010. But the fewest yards Clausen threw for — at least in those 10 games that Clausen started — was 61. Darnold didn’t even reach that.

Darnold only had 22 passing yards until Carolina’s final drive, when he nearly doubled his output with a 21-yard strike to Terrace Marshall to put the Panthers in field-goal range. Eddy Piñeiro knocked in a 42-yarder as time expired and Carolina won (a loss would have meant Carolina drafted around No. 7, but who’s counting?) Darnold, who to be fair threw for 341 yards against Tampa Bay a week ago, ended up 4-2 in his starts for the Panthers this season.

The game doesn’t deserve a lot of ink, because it wasn’t important in the scheme of things. But to synopsize: These were two below-average teams. New Orleans (7-10) scored on its very first drive, when 35-year-old cornerback Josh Norman missed a tackle and Chris Olave took a short pass 25 yards to score.

But then the Saints didn’t score again. Carolina’s defense played well, even without Brian Burns.

And Saints quarterback Andy Dalton played no better than Darnold after that first drive. Darnold fumbled a ball into the end zone in the third quarter that reserve guard Michael Jordan pounced on — yes, Michael Jordan scored for a Charlotte-based team, finally!

Two players were thrown out for a scuffle — New Orleans defensive lineman Marcus Davenport and Carolina running back D’Onta Foreman. Even without Foreman, the Panthers kept running the ball, because Darnold couldn’t throw it (and it didn’t help that his receivers couldn’t get open and about a third of the time he was running for his life). Eventually, Carolina kept us all from facing the unpleasant prospect of overtime in a meaningless game when Piñeiro made the game-winning field goal.

Yeah, the whole thing wasn’t much to look at. But Wilks used the word “proud” four times in his press conference to describe what he felt like in regard to his team. The West Charlotte and Appalachian State graduate knew that going 6-6 as an interim coach sounds a lot better than 5-7. He’s given himself a chance. Carolina went 5-3 in the season’s last eight games.

Now Wilks has to give himself a better shot by establishing who his new offensive coordinator will be and showing Tepper “What’s next” as opposed to “What just happened.” No, Wilks is not an offensive genius. That doesn’t mean he can’t hire one. 

Most significantly, the Panthers have to solve the quarterback issue. The No. 9 overall draft pick should help with that or with another impact player (Luke Kuechly, it should be noted, was the Panthers’ choice the only other time they picked ninth). Maybe Matt Corral will work out. Maybe Darnold — despite Sunday — could be a bridge quarterback for another year.

A lot of important things are about to happen for the Panthers, but all of them will be off the field. One day the Panthers will be in the playoff conversation again at this point of a season.

It won’t be this season. But Wilks can get them there.

Quote

Darnold only had 22 passing yards until Carolina’s final drive, when he nearly doubled his output with a 21-yard strike to Terrace Marshall to put the Panthers in field-goal range. Eddy Piñeiro knocked in a 42-yarder as time expired and Carolina won (a loss would have meant Carolina drafted around No. 7, but who’s counting?) Darnold, who to be fair threw for 341 yards against Tampa Bay a week ago, ended up 4-2 in his starts for the Panthers this season.

Not said was his KEY Scramble(Run, actually) for a first down 2 plays before that which set that key play up.    Had that not happened, we would've been tortured with Overtime. 

And 4-2 overall, if you look at it from a BACKUP QB perspective (since we know that's where Sam's future now lies), it's not too shabby.     Definitely need a Franchise QB, though.

Edited January 9, 2023 by glenwo2

[TLGPanthersFan]

1 hour ago, raleigh-panther said:

We know already that Wilks would work out

How does Scott know this? Because history says that Wilks will have little to no success once the tag is removed. 
These media people are making a lot of assumptions about how successful the Panthers will be under Wilks. 
I think at best we will be a .500 team that occasionally kicks into the playoffs. 
Wills has not talent of this team, especially at QB, to carry his butt. 

[TLGPanthersFan]

5 minutes ago, Donald LaFell said:

That article is terrible, it feels like he’s just stirring the pot. 

Every local media person is right now.

[TLGPanthersFan]

27 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

I don't know, if you're going to hire a new guy to turn an organization around and create a culture of winning, why not go ahead and keep the guy who has already been doing that for 12 games? Why not take the head start Wilks has already made and let him keep building that momentum?

Or you can chase another highly sought after name and roll the dice again. Sure, hand the dice to Tepper...

When Wilks took over the team had already experienced an offseason and five games of injuries, wear and tear, horrendous coaching and a locker room in near revolt. Then we traded the closest thing we had to a franchise player.

And somehow he turned the team into something at least competitive. Let the man finish the build, he's already set the new foundation after putting out the dumpster fire he was handed. 

 

What build? You are making assumption that Wilks is some genius who is gonna build a contender in one season. He won’t. 

[gofightwin]

Fowler just likes to stir the pot so people read/click his "opinion" pieces.  He likes to state his opinion as fact.

"We know already that Wilks would work out."

No, what we know is players will play hard for him and they like him. You don't win playoff games by playing tough. You win with game planning and season long preparation.  We don't at all if that would "work out".  His record as a head coach is 9-19.  The one "playoff" game he had was a total dud (but expected). 

 Im not saying I won't be OK if we hire Wilks....but we don't know it will work out.  We know he went 6-6, albeit handicapped a bit, with a completely down division (and NFC in general). If we would have played the NFC east instead of the west this year, we would have had a much different record. 

[Donald LaFell]

20 minutes ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

What build? You are making assumption that Wilks is some genius who is gonna build a contender in one season. He won’t. 

I think like Fox/Rivera he’ll have a higher floor that truly terrible coaches but yeah I’m not sure I see us in the playoffs every year. 

[raleigh-panther]

1 hour ago, PantherKyle said:

"We know already that Wilks would work out. The players respect him and generally want him to return. He grew up in Charlotte and is deeply rooted in the Queen City. He needs to find a new offensive coordinator and, even more importantly, a quarterback (along with a tight end, safety, nickel corner and wide receiver)."

 

Honestly, who cares where he is from? He was a very solid interim, but he went 6-6 and didn't beat a team with a winning record. We do not know he would work out. Go out and get a offensive minded coach and draft a QB. Enough mediocrity (if we are calling it that). 

Detroit and Seattle don’t have winning records ?  One is in the playoffs and the other handed Rodgers his ass last night. 

[t96]

Wilks is the man, great dude and I'm happy for him having a pretty successful run as interim HC (relatively speaking). That said, he is not the right man for the job here if we want to seriously attempt to turn this team into a Super Bowl contender. Has nothing to do with his leadership ability (which is great), his race (which is irrelevant) or anything else Wilks supporters will point to. It has to do with the direction the league has been trending. Wilks coaches an old school conservative, defense oriented game which is not how you win in the current league atmosphere (rules, league-wide scheming/strategy, etc.). You need a franchise QB which needs to be developed by a bright (often young) offensive mind. If you go with a defensive HC and have the bright offensive mind as your OC, he's going to get poached by another team if he's any good. Going with Wilks or any other defensive minded HC will continue to set this team back.

I don't like this reality, I love old school football like Wilks coaches, like Rivera coached, etc. But it is the reality of the league, you need offense to win and in particular you need a top tier passing offense. Wilks, no matter who he tries to bring in at OC will not be able to offer that in the longer run.

Harbaugh would be great as a bright offensive mind who has a proven track record of success in the NFL and not only in the W/L column but in getting the absolute most out of a few average QBs in Smith and Kaepernick. That's why he's my #1 choice, as unlikely as it seems now with the reports about Tepper rejecting him essentially. After that, get a young OC who has had success like the Eagles guy. Going with a retread is a mistake and going with any defensive guy is a mistake.

[mav1234]

I'm willing to let Wilks interview and give a plan of how he's going to transform the offense AND defense.  And while I personally think he's the wrong choice, I admit that I could be wrong, and maybe his plan will be so good, Tepper will think he's worth giving another few years to. We'll see.

But we really, really need new coordinators.

[raleigh-panther]

Frank Reich is not the guy either 

I’m old. Old enough to remember him as a student at the University of Maryland 

he  is neither innovative or passionate 

nice man  good student but a pro football team requires more than that 

 

[Shonuff]

If not Harbaugh, to with Wilks.   I think this is the best shot at success with a decent QB.  Doesn't matter who you hire if the QB is garbage time.

[Sgt Schultz]

I cut Wilks a little slack on the defensive performance because Snow and Rhule built a sort of Rube Goldberg machine.  I'm not sure our defensive roster was built to play anything other than that Rube Goldberg machine.  Wilks was vocal about having problems with Snow's defense, and I think that probably extends to who is on the roster.

I'm not advocating for Wilks, but he inherited the roster which was constructed on a flawed set of assumptions.