Marty Hurney: Hits/Misses

[frash.exe]

I'm gonna write this little piece, the way they write the Charlotte Observer. I'm gonna blindfold myself and jerk off and just see what comes out.

Hurney's been a punching bag for a lot of people's verbal sparring, and he's getting a lot of poo today, most of it irrational, about Peppers' dismissal.

If you ask me Hurney didn't end up succeeding. He tagged Peppers last year with the hope the passive aggressive defensive end would come around soon enough and decide to become a career panther. That never happened, however, I can see what his intentions were, and I understand his position to tag #90 last year, even if it was after Peppers made it clear he did not want to stay. How many people who are on here blasting him right now were expressing their impatience on here last offseason to get a deal done with Gross so he could apply the tag to Julius? There's got to be at least 30, and yes I was one of them. And I won't be the one that turns around and says, "oh that was the wrong move, way to go hurney, you fuging asshole". I won't do it.

The one big thing that soured my opinion of Hurney was the Delhomme extension. I hated the idea when it just started budding and Gantt posted it up on his blog at least a month before it actually happened. So I'm no Hurney super fan here, I'm just saying, in this case, this Peppers thing, it's not necessarily a complete failure of competence on his part.

Marty's made quite a bit of significant moves and, provided we have a pretty good draft, this team is playoff capable. John Fox needs to ensure ultimate survival in the league, even if there's no football in 2011, 2010 will, at the very least be an audition to head coach for another team, so he will bring it a bit, unless he's still got his head up his ass and decides to start Jake for no good reason.

Some of Hurney's recent hits:

Jeff Otah/Ryan Kalil: Picked up Jeff Otah and Jonathan Stewart. Okay, neither of them are named Flacco, but at the very least, we got two very good players who will provide us with years of production. Stewart turned the corner this last year and Otah's improved at pass protection to make him a scary blocker on the edge.

Travelle Wharton: Extended this guy for millions and six years, when everybody said "what in the blue fug? Really? Wharton?" Two seasons and many flattened defensive linemen later, nobody's saying anything about the issue. Newsflash, we've still got 4 more with him.

Jordan Gross: It would've sucked to lose him. The way Gross played out probably motivated Hurney to try the same approach with Peppers. He tagged him, and then, one season later, signed him long term. Gross IRed but he will return and he will anchor that blindside.

Jon Beason/Ryan Kalil: I don't care if Revis can cover Raptor Jesus. Two great players are better than one and the fact that we traded down to get them is still outstanding. Somewhere, Cam Cameron is still calling Hurney a son of a bitch for leaving him to pluck the much more average Samson Satele one selection later.

Chris Harris: We got a starting safety for a pick that ended up being Zack Bowman, ....who's actually a pretty good fuging corner now that I look up his stats, 6 fuging ints in one season? Well the point is we got a starting safety for a low draft pick, mkay?

[Delhommey]

How does this get us Brady Quinn?

His line makes him underrated, yo!

[Montsta]

It's only a matter of time before a mob from the huddle goes after Hurney...

[frash.exe]

How does this get us Brady Quinn?

His line makes him underrated, yo!

wow it only took 6 minutes for the emperor of listless sarcasm to post, ...listless sarcasm.

you've really outdone yourself here delhommey

[KillerKat]

I dont understand the poll...am i judging you as if you were an observer writer?

[frash.exe]

I dont understand the poll...am i judging you as if you were an observer writer?

in that case you'll want to vote for the last option

i hear the standards are so low at the observer they're paying their beat writers in dessert, and if they're not, they really should start post haste

[panthers55]

Did Hurney miss with Jake and Peppers? I think hindsight says he did. Would he play it differently if he could? Obviously he would.

What I like about Hurney is that he isn't afraid to be wrong and make a mistake. He swings for the fence and sometimes comes up short. But you don't hit homeruns swinging for singles either. He is a gambler as evidenced by his frequent movement in the draft and his willingness to make bold moves. I can't say I always agree with his moves or wish he would have gone in a different direction at times. Still I can respect a guy who is willing to risk things in the hope of pulling off something big.

He gave it his all to sign Peppers and knew that if he couldn't sign him to a long term contract that he would ultimately lose him like he did without any compensation. He swung for the fence and lost. Instead of blaming him though, I actually respect him for not throwing more good money after bad. Like Kenny Rogers said about the gambler, you have to know when to hold them, when to fold them and when to walk away. At the least he accepted he was better off going in a different direction to avoid compounding the problem which is not knowing when you need to walk away and play again another day.

I am looking forward to see what we do. For me Hurney is going to be judged not by the one that got away but how he improves his hand from a losing one back into a winning one. And that remains to be seen.

[Ricky Spanish]

Did Hurney miss with Jake and Peppers? I think hindsight says he did. Would he play it differently if he could? Obviously he would.

What I like about Hurney is that he isn't afraid to be wrong and make a mistake. He swings for the fence and sometimes comes up short. But you don't hit homeruns swinging for singles either. He is a gambler as evidenced by his frequent movement in the draft and his willingness to make bold moves. I can't say I always agree with his moves or wish he would have gone in a different direction at times. Still I can respect a guy who is willing to risk things in the hope of pulling off something big.

He gave it his all to sign Peppers and knew that if he couldn't sign him to a long term contract that he would ultimately lose him like he did without any compensation. He swung for the fence and lost. Instead of blaming him though, I actually respect him for not throwing more good money after bad. Like Kenny Rogers said about the gambler, you have to know when to hold them, when to fold them and when to walk away. At the least he accepted he was better off going in a different direction to avoid compounding the problem which is not knowing when you need to walk away and play again another day.

I am looking forward to see what we do. For me Hurney is going to be judged not by the one that got away but how he improves his hand from a losing one back into a winning one. And that remains to be seen.

not to be a dick, but if you are just trying to make solid contact with the ball, you end up crushing it over the fence. many a home run i hit in little league was when I was just trying to make contact.

carry on.

[panthers55]

not to be a dick, but if you are just trying to make solid contact with the ball, you end up crushing it over the fence. many a home run i hit in little league was when I was just trying to make contact.

carry on.

Yeah I teach them to hit it hard somewhere typically like a line drive. After all most long balls end up being fly ball outs instead of home runs. And I think that is what Hurney tries most of time. Still there is the temptation to go for it especially on the high fast one. Seems all of us have been suckered into that every now and then. Still the best players take what the defense gives them. Gamblers, too, for that matter.

[X-Clown]

What I like about Hurney is that he isn't afraid to be wrong and make a mistake. He swings for the fence and sometimes comes up short. But you don't hit homeruns swinging for singles either.

The ironic part of this post is that on WFNZ a couple of years ago when Hurney was on the air he said he wasn't trying to swing for the fence/hit homeruns with his draft picks

[Dpantherman]

Pie

[panthers55]

The ironic part of this post is that on WFNZ a couple of years ago when Hurney was on the air he said he wasn't trying to swing for the fence/hit homeruns with his draft picks

Maybe a couple of years ago that was true but after trading our first rounder away for the past 2 years, he seems to be taking more chances that he used to. Wouldn't you agree?