I am putting my thing down....

[chknwing]

I agree but why end it? You would have maybe 3 posts a day on here then.

[bleys]

NFL=Not For Long.

It wont take near as long to fix as you might think. Players and Coaches both are whores who will play for whoever is writing the biggest check. In 2 years no one will remember or care about the "youth movement" in Carolina during the 2010 season.

this.. bring in a new coach who is on fire and everyone else will fall in line..

[Mr. Scot]

I think it is a sad state when people are willing to sacrifice a year of somebody else's career for money. Some teams play bad. I get it. But when you are playing bad because the owner has set the tone of "eh, 2010?, we'll just write that one off." This is going to come back and bite JR in the ass and might take longer to fix the Panther organization reputation if any of this is taken seriously. Which just looking at the situation, how could any player on the team or FAs not? This is going to be harder to fix than a new coach and a new deal.

Have you seen Detroit recently? Or New Orleans, for that matter?

NFL=Not For Long.

It wont take near as long to fix as you might think. Players and Coaches both are whores who will play for whoever is writing the biggest check. In 2 years no one will remember or care about the "youth movement" in Carolina during the 2010 season.

Exactly.

Every year, some team has the worst season. It's rarely the same team two years in a row. You get a high pick, you make some changes and you go back to fighting. Heck, the Panthers went from 1-15 to the Super Bowl in two seasons, and that was with Fox at the helm.

It's far from hopeless.

[Big Ed]

The N F C South has a different champ every season .

Several teams have gone from worse to first in one season

[Mr. Scot]

For too long I have been reading speculation on this season, why its going wrong, who is to blame, which QB should start... yada yada yada.

I am here now to put an end to it.

Why? Because the Panthers never actually started this season to begin with. At the beginning of camp I warned everyone it would not be a pretty year. Not because of any individual performance, but because of the dismal overall tone in camp. When I hear more talk amongst the players about the lockout than about the task at hand, it does not take a professional analyst to realize this season was lost before it began.

Jerry Richardson set the tone for the season last winter. We all know the "youth movement" was a thinly veiled plan to cut costs and prepare for the looming lockout. The problem is as bad as that was to the physical skill of the team as a collective, it was much worse to the mental preparedness of our Panthers.

The 2010 camp was the most unfocused I had ever witnessed. Players did not rush to assigned drills, and coaches did not urge them to do so. The motions were there, the emotions were not. Aside from a select few players, enough was done to convince a typical fan, but in no way was a winning effort given or even expected.

I have to chuckle when I see the frustration and drama on the field like yesterday. They act as if they didn't know this was coming. I know better. They knew full well going into this season that they had given less than they should in practice, even though they would never admit to it.

I am convinced that there is enough individual skill on this team to be a playoff contender. I am not convinced there is enough motivation and preparedness on this team to be considered an NFL franchise.

The remedy? An off season with a renewed sense of purpose, and nothing less.

So continue on with the Clausen or Moore, whats wrong with the running game, why is our offensive line on roller skates talk. Just understand none of it matters until a new tone is set in 2011 (hopefully).

I don't think it's just the lockout. Everybody's dealing with that.

Likewise, any "youth movement" has consequences. You lose a lot of veteran leadership in the hope of being better long term. Yeah, it looks bad early, but it's not a bad thing in the long run. Heck, some teams have had fine seasons even in the midst of such a thing.

What I think has turned this season sour more than anything else is the lame duck coaching situation.

Imagine for a moment that mom and dad have decided to get a divorce, but for whatever reason, they put it off for a year. What do you think the marriage is going to be like during that year? And how about the kids? How do you think they're going to do in school given the conditions at home?

There are varying degrees of "lame duck" really. I think the version the Panthers have now is, sadly, one of the worst. Fox and Richardson are far apart, and all indications now are that they're ready to be officially apart. Only they can't be yet. They still have to play this season out, and like most unpleasant situations, the time just seems to draaaaaaag

Honestly, I don't think any one of these things (possible lockout, youth movement, lame duck coach) would have been enough of a factor by themselves to destroy this season. Heck, the youth movement could have been a good thing if the circumstances were different.

All these things at once though? Well...here we are.

So for me, the biggest factor is the situation between Richardson and Fox. It could have been pretty bad on its own, but put it on top of the other stuff and it's a recipe for a nightmare.

[Kakarot]

I think it is a sad state when people are willing to sacrifice a year of somebody else's career for money. Some teams play bad. I get it. But when you are playing bad because the owner has set the tone of "eh, 2010?, we'll just write that one off." This is going to come back and bite JR in the ass and might take longer to fix the Panther organization reputation if any of this is taken seriously. Which just looking at the situation, how could any player on the team or FAs not? This is going to be harder to fix than a new coach and a new deal.

This.

Sad, but this is what likely will happen. I see us losing a lot of our core players, and I see us being bad for awhile. JR screwed up on this big time. I dont see any FA's or our own core players wanting to play for him. I know I wouldn't, especially if he constantly shows that he's willing to put the NFL over anything. I dont see how or why Smitty has stayed here this long. But, then again, I see him leaving this offseason coming up...

[bleys]

I think we'll have to wait and see what happens in the offseason to really determine how our players feel about Richardson..

I'm not sold they are pissed or have lost respect for him. if so, we'll see the results.. til then, it may be too premature and a stretch to assume that is the case...

[Catdaddy]

I think you just made voodoo dolls of Clausen and Moore to make them throw INT's, that's the real reason the Panthers can't win.

Those dolls are against the law in all of North Carolina. I know, it's sad thats not the problem.

[rayzor]

it goes back to leadership. we have none. there is no one who can get the players thinking beyond this year. no one who can get them to focus on this year.

sure, a lot of players are distracted by the labor situation and the thought of no football next year. this isn't a situation unique to the panthers, though. you look around the league and there are very few teams that are rising up to the top. any teams that are at the top of the standings has more to do with the teams around them realy sucking than them excelling. teams are already checking out. panthers are just one of them.