Are They Really Losing Faith?

[chknwing]

This is why you just dont go out and overpay every player on your team. NFL is a business. Overpaying players means, they dont have to strive to earn bonuses. Deangelo is a prime example. Why over exert yourself when your already making the most $$ you probably will and risk injury? Its not Riveras fault, he inherited a team of players that are not self motivating and are here to collect a paycheck, nothing more.

[realtriumph]

It's also why I'm against high draft #1 QB picks. Why the hell do these kids get so much damn money without playing?

Even after the new deal. It's too much. I'd give them 1 million dollars max contract for the first year with incentives, re-negotiable if they're good enough to start next year. Keep the rest for the vets. That's more than most people make in a lifetime. If you can't cut it, no harm loss.

[Dpantherman]

Spirits were high last season? :lol: Thats complete bullshit. Do you folks actually believe the poo you post, or do you just spout poo out to try and prove a point.

[rayzor]

last year they had nothing but uncertainty to look forward to.

they knew they sucked as it was.

they knew that they had just lost a lot of leaders on the team so who was going to step up?

what they didn't know was who was going to be their coach the next year.

who was going to be brought in to help, if anyone.

who was going to stick around. remember smith was disgruntled and we had guys like williams (who was good for morale and a leader on the team), and charles johnson who were going to be free agents.

then there was the whole issue of the lockout. would there be football? would they have enough money saved up and put aside to support themselves if they missed the season?

the year before that was really bad as well. they were coming off an incredibly embarrassing playoff loss at home and one of your best players (peppers) tries to quit on you and is forced to stay, but makes it obvious he doesn't want to be there. then their first game of the season at home ends up being a repeat performance of the playoff game you were trying to make up for and then it just doesn't get any better. your starting QB has obviously lost it. your top WR tells the QB that he's bad even though he's still a nice guy and the whole nation hears it. you have a decent option to go to at QB, but your head coach is still a believer in the guy that keeps on failing. you have a coaching staff that is reluctant and unwilling to make any adjustments needed to make them competitive.

spirits weren't high. maybe during the '08 season prior to the playoffs, but i don't think there was a time after that when the team honestly felt good about what is going on. not until coming into this year after the lockout was over and they started seeing what they have to build on and the direction they could see the team was headed. on more than one occasion players have mentioned liking things now more than with fox. there have been quite a few mentions of foxball in a negative light.

morale may be low for the moment and they may not be happy with the way they played or the losses they have mounted up, but i sincerely doubt this team has lost the faith or whatever.

[Marguide]

say what you want about him, but back in the day Delhomme wouldnt be sitting on the bench sulking with a towel over his head. hed be up on his feet trying to get the rest of the team motivated. that pisses me off about newton- I know hes a rookie but hes got to show some leadership on the sidelines and stop acting like a whipped puppy.

It is unrealistic to expect the youngest player on the team to assume this role. That is something you have to grow into.

I just think the whole team is playing tight right now leading to more frustration and more mistakes and penalties. Rivera and the coaches on the sidelines may need to do a bit more to keep everyone's spirits up. I remember a play early in the year on D when McD ran down the sideline to chest bump one of the players that made a big stop. This is the kind of thing I am talking about.

When players start to go into a shell due to frustration it usually gets ugly, especially on a younger team. The coaches should, imo, do more to keep spirits high and the team loose when things are going south.

[panthers04100]

Watching GB/MIN game

We was close with GB and was cheated out of a couple of TD's.

yes we was.

[Riverboat Ron]

I don't question Rivera as much as Hurney. We're just getting "out talented" on the defensive side of the ball. Nothing destroys a teams spirits like being physically beaten, but knowing you don't match up against other offenses just nukes you I guess. I understand the grand plan for getting high draft picks, but we'd have be closer to 5-4 than 2-7 with a vet DT. Losing Ron Edwards and not getting a vet CB hurt more than any of us could have imagined three months ago.

Special teams problems directly relate to depth, something we lack.

Serious question, does anybody have Karl Hankton's number? We need him back.

[panthers55]

I'm not sure why we have to wait 7 more games before criticizing this team. We are 4-19 over the past 2 years. You are saying 4-26 is the magic time?

Rivera is not an inexperienced coach...

Penalties emanate from coaching...

You can't lump last tear and this year together. Right now Rivera is 2-7. Everyone admitted that we were awful last year after we got rid of most of our vets and dumped the year to go cheap in anticipation of a long lockout. We not only didn't pick up much talent but lost our linebacking group our starting right tackle, our starting NT and the list goes on. Everyone not on the huddle thinks we don't have great talent across the board and with the shortened offseason would struggle mightily.

At this point we are ahead of expectations so why shoot Rivera when he is actually doing a good job in my estimation.

As for penalties they are due to poor execution by young and inexperienced players. Coaches need to address it but are not responsible for it.