Impressions from a brief Googling of Ron Meeks.

[carpanfan96]

Last season the colts defense ranked

11th in total yards.

6th in passing yards

24th in rushing yards, but had given up only a 4.2 ypc average on the 7th most attempts. We were worse on average then them just didn't have as many carries against us, we couldn't stop the pass they could.

7th in points

they were third in FF and 13th in FR with two touchdowns.

11th in interceptions with 15 for for 204 yards and 2 touchdowns.

They were fourth in defensive td's allowed last year only behind

Pitt, Tenn And Baltimore.

They were also eighth in Defensive TD's

[Chaos]

I know it's been stated in other threads/posts, but I gotta throw this in. Good or bad, I'm glad Turg is out...period. If the defense looks piss-poor next year, relative to the personnel on the field, then the focus will shift more squarely to Fox, as it should. He can't hide any more.

It's accountability time!!

[Seamonk]

The hiring of Ron Meeks may not be the answer that the Huddle and Panthers fans are looking for. His defenses have really never been rated in the top five of any statistical category, and in fact have not shown the consistency that we all desire in the worst kind of way.

But the scariest thing about his defenses that I have gathered during this very limited research is a decidedly ineffective ability to stop the run.

When I looked at a blog or two, I gathered that some fans believe that his defense may not be aggressive enough, and pretty much paraphrasing, someone said that the Colts won "in spite of Meeks, and not because of Meeks." This is not too comforting.

I realize that with new head coaches, it is pretty much a matter of course for them to purge the system and bring in their own guys, and the new coach of the Colts was going to get rid of Meeks if he had not resigned. I will say that if Meeks was on the level of a Dick Lambeau, Jim johnson, or another DC of that stature, then he would not have been "let go" so easily.

But, like I said in another forum, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. T-Vac had worn out his welcome, so Meeks has to be better than him, right? I hope so. Overall, I will welcome Meeks here with lukewarm optimism, give him two to three years to put his stamp on our defense, and hope like hell that our defense is consistently in the top 10 of all statistical categories (I would say top five, but that's probably unrealistic).

All the things I found wrong or just lol.

[rayzor]

you should go and google stats for yourself instead of googling other peoples research and analysis.

meeks has had more success consistently than trgo has had here.

his reputation for working with players is outstanding.

you should look around more before you start whining and worrying about the sky falling.

he may not bring the smashmouth/blitz heavy D that many of us were craving but he doesn't allow a lot of points to be scored and he learned the Tampa 2 D from the best.

If anyone knows how to stop offenses from scoring on you, it's going to be him.

I trust him with being able to spread and teach the defense to the players much more than i do Trgo.

I'm willing to see what he can do.

I'm optimistic about the future and am glad that we are going to get to see what a new defensive staff and essentially a new defense (minus pep) can do.

there should be little holding us back now.

if there is, then we will know who it is.

things are just getting warmed up for the 2009 season and it is going to be a good one.

trgo is gone, prayers have been answered.

let us give thanks.

the sun is coming out.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Simple Meeks > Trgovac

Rip > Mccoy

The coaching staff has improved.

Perhaps we are able to move Peppers for more bodies (draft, free angency, trade of people or some combination)

Let us hope for the best.

simplicity at its finest.

[Lords0fPain]

I'll give Meeks the benefit of doubt.

I for one put a lot responsibility on the short comings on Fox's shoulders, that's what a HC does (fix the problem on the spot). 3 (one of those we had at least 4 OT games to pull it off) winning season out of 7, of course when we have a winning season we make the playoffs (a positive). Too bad 2 out of 3 of those playoff runs we got smoked 30+ to 14 or less points scored, somewhere along the line. And the 3rd, Foxy forgot that we can actually kick extra points, instead of 2 pt conversion that Flake can't seem to make...to this day.

[KDawg004]

I for one am not worried about how the run D will fare next season. We have a HC that lives and dies by stopping the run. Just because a new DC is brought in that puts emphasis on the secondary does not mean that Fox will stray from his philosophy. I like the hire because it brings two ideas together. Fox's run-stoppping and Meeks' pass defense. I expect alot of attention to be put on the DL this offseason and I trust Fox's eye for talent along the line. Up until these last few years we have always had a dominant DL.

Also, for those who make excuses about the Colts defense not having to do much because of Peyton Manning and their offense. Who's to say we can't match up with them? Last time I checked we were putting up 30+ points a game during the second half of the season and finished within the top 10 of total offense. Our offense essentially carried us into the playoffs.

[top dawg]

I am not saying that the "sky is falling" by any means, nor am I complaining, bitching or whining as some of you are insinuating. I am just offering some loose impressions about what we may be getting. Meeks' overall body of work is OK, but it's not like he's Dick Lebeau or Jim Johnson. Maybe he will foster that kind of respect as a coach for the Carolina Panthers.

As far as my mistake, I earn it. I am man enough to admit when I make an error, though I believe that the general message is still valid notwithstanding my error. Whether or not he has had some mixed success in passing yards allowed, etc., I still would have liked to have seen a little more consistency with his defenses in their overall performance. It's just me, but I judge defenses by their overall ranking, and in a perfect world the Panthers would be top 5 all of the time, in both pass and run defense, which logically leads to being at or near the top in points allowed. I am hoping that Meeks will be able to get us there. I didn't say that he couldn't. I hope that he does.

This is not about criticism, it's about guarded optimism. But even though I, like many fans, will give Meeks the benefit of the doubt, I am not going to put my head in the sand and allow someone to blow sunshine up my ass just because they want me to. I want our defense for the next five years to look better than the Colts defense for the past five years, plain and simple. Some of you may believe that that's a pipe dream, but I look at it as being somewhere in the realm of possibility. We have good personnel, and hopefully with the addition of a few good men, a change in defensive philosophy, and the raising of expectations, we can be in the same conversation as the Steelers or the Ravens in the coming years.

[carpanfan96]

I am not saying that the "sky is falling" by any means, nor am I complaining, bitching or whining as some of you are insinuating. I am just offering some loose impressions about what we may be getting. Meeks' overall body of work is OK, but it's not like he's Dick Lebeau or Jim Johnson. Maybe he will foster that kind of respect as a coach for the Carolina Panthers.

As far as my mistake, I earn it. I am man enough to admit when I make an error, though I believe that the general message is still valid notwithstanding my error. Whether or not he has had some mixed success in passing yards allowed, etc., I still would have liked to have seen a little more consistency with his defenses in their overall performance. It's just me, but I judge defenses by their overall ranking, and in a perfect world the Panthers would be top 5 all of the time, in both pass and run defense, which logically leads to being at or near the top in points allowed. I am hoping that Meeks will be able to get us there. I didn't say that he couldn't. I hope that he does.

This is not about criticism, it's about guarded optimism. But even though I, like many fans, will give Meeks the benefit of the doubt, I am not going to put my head in the sand and allow someone to blow sunshine up my ass just because they want me to. I want our defense for the next five years to look better than the Colts defense for the past five years, plain and simple. Some of you may believe that that's a pipe dream, but I look at it as being somewhere in the realm of possibility. We have good personnel, and hopefully with the addition of a few good men, a change in defensive philosophy, and the raising of expectations, we can be in the same conversation as the Steelers or the Ravens in the coming years.

You do realize the reason they gave up so many yards on the ground is teams had to run on them add to the fact that the colts line is seriously undersized and you get the idea. as for consistency how having 4 of your seven seasons with a very average defense skill wise, (sanders when he plays,mathis and freeny only big time players). Being in the top ten in points allowed, 5 times in 6 years being in the top 12 in yards allowed, 5 times in the top 10 in passing yards. Yea the run defense was bad, but that was because of size more then anything. They were almost always good against the pass which forced teams to run on them. In rushes against they were ranked in the following years.

2002 - 13th - 459 - 4.3 ypc

2003 - 23rd - 437 - 4.5

2004 - 18th - 440 - 4.6

2005 - 29th - 398 - 4.4

2006 - 2nd - 519 - 5.3 - bad year, really bad year

2007 - 10th - 454 - 3.8

2008 - 7th - 472 - 4.2

Most of that is due to the lack of size on there line, here that isn't a problem we have excellent size on the line. What Meeks brings to the table is accountability, teaching and his skills with secondary's. Our run defense should hold its on around the 4 ypc mark like it has for the last few seasons, Except in 2005 when we held opponents to 3.8 ypc. He was consistent in what he did and that was pass defense (rankings here ) Takeaways and points allowed. Pass defense was a big weakness last season for us he's the perfect hire to fix that, since a lot of it was technique and coverage mix ups.

[damo md panthers fan]

Did anybody ever think that merging the fox smashmuth philosophy with the Meeks Tampa 2 philosophy could possibly make for a good defense? Stop bitchin. The Defense isn't even set yet. We have no coaching staff at the moment. We finally got a DC that is competent. Let him work.

[francois.nc]

The hiring of Ron Meeks may not be the answer that the Huddle and Panthers fans are looking for. His overall defensive rankings have really never been rated in the top five, and the consistency of his defenses are suspect, particularly against the run.

When I looked at a blog or two, I gathered that some fans believe that his defense may not be aggressive enough, and pretty much paraphrasing, someone said that the Colts won "in spite of Meeks, and not because of Meeks." This is not too comforting.

I realize that with new head coaches, it is pretty much a matter of course for them to purge the system and bring in their own guys, and the new coach of the Colts was going to get rid of Meeks if he had not resigned. I will say that if Meeks was on the level of a Dick Lambeau, Jim johnson, or another DC of that stature, then he would not have been "let go" so easily.

But, like I said in another forum, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. T-Vac had worn out his welcome, so Meeks has to be better than him, right? I hope so. Overall, I will welcome Meeks here with lukewarm optimism, give him two to three years to put his stamp on our defense, and hope like hell that our defense is consistently in the top 10 of all statistical categories (I would say top five, but that's probably unrealistic).

Everyone knows it was John Fox's defense anyway, Trgo was just a puppet, and Meeks will be a puppet as well. Not sure why everyone was so mad about Trgo, he was just doing his job, installing Fox's defense. Unless Fox decides to be more agressive, then we won't be more agressive and Meeks will help to install the Fox defense, just as Trgo did.