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I Think it Should Be Wilks...

SetfreexX

By SetfreexX,
in Carolina Panthers

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SetfreexX Experienced

SetfreexX

Posted
Posted

There's a lot of buzz out there and rightfully so, but I think we should hire Steve Wilks.

Think about where we were in as recent as 2018 -- 6-2, on the verge of a playoff caliber season, and then the hit happens. 

Fast forward to 2019 -- Lisfranc ends Cam's season in by Week 3 I believe it was (The TNF game where CMC came up short to win)

2020 - 2022 - The biggest poo show I have EVER witnessed at the professional level (outside Meyer), Rhule comes in preaching a college style rebuild, strips any and all ties to what makes the Panthers the Panthers in the first place, and inserts his generic ''insert team name here'' OOU crap (if you don't know about the OOU stuff look it up)

  • In this time we cut Cam, and replace him with Teddy B for ''MORE MONEY'' only to trade him a season later for a 6th or 7th while eating dead cap, we pass on QBs in the 2021 draft because we traded for Sam and gave up a haul to get for a QB who was a bust at that point, and before the 2021 draft ends, we've guaranteed his 5th year at short of 19M. Sam and the OL are a complete poo show in 2021, in 2022 we trade for another QB his current team wanted to replace / upgrade from Baker Mayfield, who somehow even with the new OL, CMC, and DJ was worse than Sam, and ends up benched in favor of PJ Walker. 
  • In this time Rhule won 11 games - 5-11 / 5-12 / 1-4 - two and a half years into his ''7'' year plan. 

_______________________________________________________

I say all of that to set up the following, anyone with a set of eyes knows that Wilks was set up to fail once management decided not to let him select his QB - ''see Josh Rosen since his time in ARI''. People may forget how old that team had become after the Bruce Arians run there with Carson Palmer. Wilks finishes 3-13 and is replaced by an inexperienced coach, who was just FIRED in college, and is given the chance to draft ''his guy'' Kyler number one overall only to be fired after the 3rd year.

Wilks helped the Panthers become a serious team again going 6-6 over 12 games winning more games in a shortened stint than Rhule ever did in any full season, and did so with even less than Rhule had at his disposal at any point in time. CMC was injured under Rhule...ok he was traded for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Robbie who was a thousand yard receiver became a JAG with Sam, and Baker, he was eventually traded away for a 5th from ARI if memory serves. Chuba who many of us likely loathed after the bad hands / fumbles in his rookie year, all of a sudden became a legit contributor, and D'Onta established himself as one of the better backs in the league run production wise, and was less than 100 yards away from a 1,000 yard season had it not been for a weak ejection in Week 18. Then the biggest Rhule snubs TMJ, and Bozeman, TMJ showed you why he was a 2nd round pick flashing the 50/50 ball ability, along side his speed / size / athleticism. Bozeman came in and immediately anchored the OL a unit that was as sound as any for the majority of the year even with a rookie, and two new additions in free agency and Brady C in year two. 

''But he's too conservative'' let's be honest, looking at what we had on offense / who was calling the plays, alongside the fact that our defense while solid / good is limited no 2nd pass rusher, question marks in the secondary, speed at the second level, etc. we were not constructed to be overly aggressive, for the most part we were aggressive when needed for the most part, and maybe we left some plays out there we'd like to have back in hindsight -- news flash, all coaches / every team feels this way. 

Considering Wilks took a 1-4 team, and got them to 7-10 with all we had surrounding us is about as impressive as it gets, and what's more...the players respect him / his approach. He helped set franchise....let me repeat that FRANCHISE records offensively even though he has a defensive background. To me if you are Tepper, let's see where this goes under his leadership, let him hire ''his'' staff. Many of you may not have known this but see this quote from Rivera:

“The hard part for him there, he was the last guy hired,” Rivera said for Sports Illustrated. “So all the guys that were on his coaching list, they were already locked in. He had to hire guys that he really didn’t want to have to hire. He had to keep guys he didn’t want to keep.”

https://cardswire.usatoday.com/2022/02/04/ron-rivera-steve-wilks-coaching-staff-with-cardinals-was-part-of-problem-in-2018/#:~:text=Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was,Foote%2C Steve Heiden and others.

That is huge, I don't agree with giving coaches ''full'' roster control (what is rumored for Payton), but they need to be able to hire their staff, these are the guys they work with week in and week out, you need that group of men to be on the same page if you want to see results.

I think we have the right guy, we just need to give him the opportunity, 3 year deal, league average salary, and let's keep Panther's football moving forward -- #KEEPPOUNDING

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Waldo Grand Master

Waldo

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Posted

Wilks is a good guy but is limited as a HC or even DC. Could be worse but I have trouble believing he will do enough to stay more than a year anywhere. 

He did a great job as an interim coach and honestly that is his best fit to his ability and style. 

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Bear Hands Grand Master

Bear Hands

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1 minute ago, Growl said:

I remember when he took over as DC and now brazenly dissatisfied with him we all were and how we were relieved he got poached for the Cards job

Thank you...I thought I remembered that.  Unsure how the sentiment was here on the board, but I definitely remember that in the media and for fans and our tailgate.  

I was sort of open at the start but the more you think on it...

He's Rivera's decade+plus long-term righthand man from CHI to SD to CAR, was out of football in 2020, Mizzou in 2021 until Rhule hired him.  Went .500 to close out a season on a cakewalk schedule.  Has 14 years of NFL experience, only 3 less than the supposed inexperienced Steichen & Johnson.  

Virtually the only guy with direct ties to the last two regimes that we all so much disliked for various reasons and are trying to move far and away from.  Hard no, do not pass go, do not collect $200

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Bear Hands Grand Master

Bear Hands

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Posted

Additional context...outside of AZ, the NFL staffs that brought him in were led by:

Lovie/Ron Rivera (2006-2017) Position Coach and/or AHC sans 1 season of 11

Freddie Kitchens (2019) DC (staff was fired)

Matt Rhule (2022) Not a coordinator

That's the extent of his NFL career outside of that weird year in Arizona where, yep, he was fired.

 

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