Panthers Let the Great Be the Enemy of the Good.

[ForJimmy]

22 minutes ago, OldhamA said:

My post wasn't in defence of Wilks. Wilks had his chance to make the job his (or at least make Tepper sweat a lawsuit). He repeatedly failed. 

Reich won a Super Bowl as the OC with Foles as his QB. He had Wentz up for the MVP before he got hurt. The Colts situation was a tough one in which he still won more than he lost. His ceiling is still pretty high IMO.

[rayzor]

1 hour ago, ForJimmy said:

I’d rather gamble on great than be content with average. You keep gambling on great until you finally get it right. 

preach.

the thing that i hated most about john fox was that his goal was to be better than average. probably most remember him saying that his goal was to win 3 out of 4 games. sure, that leads you to a winning record and, at the time a 12-4 record, which is very nice, but the thing that pissed most of us off was that there wasn't this push for excellence. we were ok with losing a few...and we got really good at consistently losing a few. 

most of the time, people will almost reach their goals. they will hit just under it, no matter what it is. i'm of the persuasion that the higher you set your goals, you'll achieve more than if you had set your goals lower. 

3 out of 4 is good. we've been good before and we've constantly had to settle for less than great. it's time to try and be great. 

swing for the fences with a QB. swing for the fences with a head coach. sure, we might fail but i would rather fail at being great than settle for just good enough.

[mrcompletely11]

1 minute ago, ForJimmy said:

Reich won a Super Bowl as the OC with Foles as his QB. He had Wentz up for the MVP before he got hurt. The Colts situation was a tough one in which he still won more than he lost. His ceiling is still pretty high IMO.

He had 2 years of a healthy wentz and Reich had him balling.   I hope he sees something similar in AR so we dont have to blow draft capital to move up.  We stay put, get a qb and use the rest of the picks to fill holes.  There are always good tes, guards and linebackers in round 2 and that fits us nicely

[TheMaulClaw]

1 minute ago, rayzor said:

preach.

the thing that i hated most about john fox was that his goal was to be better than average. probably most remember him saying that his goal was to win 3 out of 4 games. sure, that leads you to a winning record and, at the time a 12-4 record, which is very nice, but the thing that pissed most of us off was that there wasn't this push for excellence. we were ok with losing a few...and we got really good at consistently losing a few. 

most of the time, people will almost reach their goals. they will hit just under it, no matter what it is. i'm of the persuasion that the higher you set your goals, you'll achieve more than if you had set your goals lower. 

3 out of 4 is good. we've been good before and we've constantly had to settle for less than great. it's time to try and be great. 

swing for the fences with a QB. swing for the fences with a head coach. sure, we might fail but i would rather fail at being great than settle for just good enough.

I agree.  Is Reich a home run hire? That's the question.  Imagine if we start 0-2.

[mrcompletely11]

1 minute ago, TheMaulClaw said:

I agree.  Is Reich a home run hire? That's the question.  Imagine if we start 0-2.

Home run in the sense that he flirts with the playoffs every year.  So yeah for the panthers its a home run hire.  Can he take the next step, thats the question

[Stuart Smith]

1 hour ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

It is hilarious how you Wilks cult members are convinced Wilks is the next great coach and will lead the Panthers to multiple Super Bowls and multiple winning seasons with no proof that he will except a mediocre 6-6 season and a terrible 3-13 season. 
A 6-6 season where he got blown out by the Bengals, Steelers and Bucs. 
Steelers and Bucs losses doomed him. 
You know what would likely happen if Wilks became HC. Mediocrity at best. Wilks wasn’t gonna be the next Jeff Fisher. He likely wasn’t going to lead the Panthers to success. 
Not saying Reich will either but I’ll take him over a coach whose coach systole is stuck in 2003. Sick of Rivera style coaches. 
 

“You Wilkes cult members?” You painted a lot of people with a broad brush. It is ok to realize that Wilkes deserved a chance to prove that given a chance he could have a winning team in Charlotte. It is ok for us to realize that sometimes hard work is often not rewarded the way we feel it should be. Given that, most people that supported Wilkes will still support the Panthers. However, the manner it was done will result in the fan base viewing anything less than winning the division next year will be unacceptable. We shall see. 

[SteveSmithTD89]

I'm gonna be honest I've heard this quote at every corporate funcintion and training class I've been in for the last 7-8 years in sales, mortgage lending and presently in Healthcare. 

And you've got it wrong. The true quote, which was originated as a misquotation of the Fench Poet Voltaire and made famous by Jim Collins Book Good to Great is: 

"Good is the Enemy of Great" 

In the chapter of the book he goes on to explain how as a country we don't have great schools, because we have good schools. We don't have a great government, because we have a good government. The vast majority of people love good lives rather than great lives because it is so easy to settle for good lives. 

I mean no offense to you but flipping the quote as a point of support to hiring Wilks is at its very core the literal essence of that true quote. 

Good enough sucks. It does, especially if you are capable of much much more. Wilks was good enough to right the Panthers back to a 6-6 finish. He's probably good enough to hover around that .500 mark. Then what? The 2023 Panthers would just be the next in a long line of Panthers teams to never have back to back winning seasons because the Carolina Panthers have consistently been "good enough"

I'm not saying Frank Reich is going to get the Panthers to be great. Nobody knows that for sure. I would say I have more faith in his understanding of how to get a team to be great in today's version of the game.  He is a much needed deviation to the norm for us as an offensive minded coach that has produced top offensive units helmed by Carson Wentz, The corpse of Phillip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett and Andrew Luck. His connections and eye for talent are great.

Edited January 27, 2023 by SteveSmithTD89

[top dawg]

1 hour ago, TheMaulClaw said:

    I learned nothing from Matt Rhule. A coach who came in over his head with gimmicky sayings and an unauthentic feel.  I don't remember much of the Rhule era, it's all a blur.  A systemic response designed to prevent emotional drama, memories of Rhule have been cast out of my memory bank in an attempt at preservation.  Matt Rhule had many sayings that he used and stored for speaking engagements.  They were all hollow, non memorable, and unauthentic. His firing was a weight lifted off the city of Charlotte.  Collective exhale.  Collective relief. 

Enter Wilks.

   Wilks was able to use nostalgia as a weapon.  He knew Panther fans associated him with better times, and he seized the opportunity to recreate that mantra.  Keep Pounding and it's real meaning became a spirit rekindled.  The effort on the field.  The determination and focus in Wilks' eyes were striking.  Wilks' hyper-discipline was palpable. Yet behind his serious nature, you could see a glimpse that he was also deeply empathetic, and wise with leadership.  Relatively speaking he was a man of few words, but occasionally he would share some wise sayings.  Sayings so good we can apply it in our own lives.  "Don't let the great be the enemy of the good."  What a wonderful saying.  What thoughtful advice we can use in our own lives when it comes to risk assesment and decision making.

   Here is the thing about Charlotte, the Carolina Panthers, and winning:

The coach of the Panthers just isn't the coach of a football team.  They are Charlotte's coach.  Whenever the Panthers have been successful it's not only because the coach has galvanized the players.  It's also because the coach has galvanized the city.  In a short period of time Wilks accomplished this.  The team improved greatly.  Each week with Wilks at the helm, it felt like we had a shot.  The city of Charlotte and Panther fans felt acknowledged because of the return of our mantra, and our tradition. There is no coincidence that Wilks was able to draw the best out of the players by understanding this. This is a sign of a man who truly understands the importance of that connection. 

The Carolina Panthers obviously weren't expecting Wilks to succeed.  I actually find it hard to believe that they ever even considered Wilks.  They hired Reich's daughter weeks ago.  In retrospect, an obvious tell.  The Panthers did a false flag operation.  They leaked that WIlks was a finalist, and that he interviewed well.  They pretended like it was a painstaking decision, when really Wilks was never in consideration.  They were not honest with WIlks the way Wilks was honest to the players. It's a shame and a burned bridge that could have been saved.  A Tepper tactic that is making Carolina fans and city officials very leary.  We see this same dishonestly play out in land development deals surrounding Tepper's other ventures.

From the Panthers' perspective, they evaluated what they needed from a coaching perspective prior to firing Rhule.  They had a direction they wanted to go.  They want the quarterback situation fixed.  They want to go offensive.  It all makes sense.  It follows the latest trends.  Frank Reich is a good man, an ex Panther, and a good coach.  This isn't his fault. While the team was good under Wilks, it has the potential to be great with Reich finding a qb.  They think.

The Panthers were likely to be good next season with Wilks at the helm.  Albeit Wilks wasn't perfect.  Decisions in the Bucs game we're questionable, and the Steelers manhandled us, but we saw enough to see a clear trajectory.  We were going to be good, and that's what this city needed.

Good is not good enough for the Panthers.  Now they've put the pressure on themselves.  They better be great, because otherwise they ran a good man, and coach out of town for nothing.  I have a sneaking feeling that the Panthers let the great be the enemy of the good.

Don't know why so many people are shitting on your post. It's an interesting theory, but I don't necessarily agree with the "great" and "good" at this point. I hope you're right, but I'd say it's good being the enemy of mediocre, or maybe even mediocre effectively being the enemy of the mediocre. I am skeptical that they are so different, so I'm more prone to choose the latter.

Admittedly, I wanted a coach that had shown evidence of being able to hang with the best, and, at the end of the day, neither Wilks or Reich have shown that as far as I'm concerned. I'd have rather tried someone new because I don't know that Reich's ceiling is greatness. That's my whole deal, and that's why I'm not jumping for joy or my usually optimistic and open-minded self. I'm skeptical, if not downright cynical. 

I'll just wait and see how it goes...

Edited January 27, 2023 by top dawg

[ForJimmy]

19 minutes ago, TheMaulClaw said:

I agree.  Is Reich a home run hire? That's the question.  Imagine if we start 0-2.

We very well might start 0-2 as it will be a new staff, HC, QB, and system. The difference is we KNOW Reich has a very realistic plan of finding sustained success and can lead a team at this level. The odds of him working out seem a lot higher than an unknown. 

[Mr. Scot]

13 minutes ago, SteveSmithTD89 said:

I'm gonna be honest I've heard this quote at every corporate funcintion and training class I've been in for the last 7-8 years in sales, mortgage lending and presently in Healthcare. 

And you've got it wrong. The true quote, which was originated as a misquotation of the Fench Poet Voltaire and made famous by Jim Collins Book Good to Great is: 

"Good is the Enemy of Great" 

In the chapter of the book he goes on to explain how as a country we don't have great schools, because we have good schools. We don't have a great government, because we have a good government. The vast majority of people love good lives rather than great lives because it is so easy to settle for good lives. 

I mean no offense to you but flipping the quote as a point of support to hiring Wilks is at its very core the literal essence of that true quote. 

Good enough sucks. It does, especially if you are capable of much much more. Wilks was good enough to right the Panthers back to a 6-6 finish. He's probably good enough to hover around that .500 mark. Then what? The 2023 Panthers would just be the next in a long line of Panthers teams to never have back to back winning seasons because the Carolina Panthers have consistently been "good enough"

I'm not saying Frank Reich is going to get the Panthers to be great. Nobody knows that for sure. I would say I have more faith in his understanding of how to get a team to be great in today's version of the game.  He is a much needed deviation to the norm for us as an offensive minded coach that has produced top offensive units helmed by Carson Wentz, The corpse of Phillip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett and Andrew Luck. His connections and eye for talent are great.

It's not often I see Voltaire referenced in football discussions.

[TLGPanthersFan]

24 minutes ago, Stuart Smith said:

“You Wilkes cult members?” You painted a lot of people with a broad brush. It is ok to realize that Wilkes deserved a chance to prove that given a chance he could have a winning team in Charlotte. It is ok for us to realize that sometimes hard work is often not rewarded the way we feel it should be. Given that, most people that supported Wilkes will still support the Panthers. However, the manner it was done will result in the fan base viewing anything less than winning the division next year will be unacceptable. We shall see. 

Considering the amount of blind support I have seen for a mediocre coach calling them a cult is appropriate. 
Wilks would not of succeeded. I am not a betting person but I would take that bet. I don’t know if Reich will succeed but I would rather take a chance at something new than another coach who playing like it is 2003. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by TLGPanthersFan

[NCBlu]

2 hours ago, TLGPanthersFan said:

It is hilarious how you Wilks cult members are convinced Wilks is the next great coach and will lead the Panthers to multiple Super Bowls and multiple winning seasons with no proof that he will except a mediocre 6-6 season and a terrible 3-13 season. 
A 6-6 season where he got blown out by the Bengals, Steelers and Bucs. 
Steelers and Bucs losses doomed him. 
You know what would likely happen if Wilks became HC. Mediocrity at best. Wilks wasn’t gonna be the next Jeff Fisher. He likely wasn’t going to lead the Panthers to success. 
Not saying Reich will either but I’ll take him over a coach whose coach systole is stuck in 2003. Sick of Rivera style coaches. 
 

6-6 > 3-5-1

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, NCBlu said:

6-6 > 3-5-1

Was last season the only one Reich coached?

[TLGPanthersFan]

3 minutes ago, NCBlu said:

6-6 > 3-5-1

9-19 < 40-33-1