Outside perspective on our offseason

[Jackofalltrades]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/03/22/carolina-panthers-having-trying-offseason/FtEGHoy6pbjyle4bPYXiwM/story.html

Short piece from the Boston Globe that I think is very accurate. The writer doesn't have any of the emotional attachments many of us carry and is able to view the situation in a pure football sense.

Second-year general manager Dave Gettleman, a Dorchester native and longtime scout with the Bills and Giants, has taken heat after making unpopular decisions this offseason. But upon closer examination, there’s solid football and economic reasoning behind most of Gettleman’s moves, and there’s still plenty of reason for optimism in Charlotte.

[FootballMaestro]

Nice find, especially in an out of town paper. 

[PantherWake]

Well they are named the Boston GLOBE for a reason

[2jakefansinva]

yes ..............Gman has us on the right path.

 

 

PS......screw you Hurney.

[MHS831]

That is some nice journalism.

 

Understanding the beauty of what Gettlemen is doing takes a mature, complex, holistic look at everything we know he has to consider and an understanding that there are things we do not know.  It really pissed me off when people were bashing him because it was stupid on all levels. Yes, even those who support Gettlemen were disappointed and frustrated, but we knew that Gettlemen has not been creating problems, he has been fixing them.  We also knew that Gettlemen has an eye for talent and did some pretty impressive bottom fishing last year.  How do you complain about 12-4 on a budget?  They found a way.

 

 

[xerxes]

I wouldn't exactly call them unbiased. There's a lot of positive spin in favor of a native son.

I support Gettleman but no doubt he's been a Masshole this offseason.

[LUUUUUKE]

I've known this all along, and I'm hoping that in the end, we're younger and better for it. I did not like the letting go of Mitchell, and I loathed the way the Smitty situation was handled.

If you actually paid attention this off season, every team cut older players due to monstrous contracts. The entire League did it, not just a few teams. Want to know why? This is a copycat league and the Seahawks just won the SB and shut down the most productive offense in the history of the league with relatively no name players. What's more, they're like the second youngest team in the NFL behind only the Rams I believe. Sure they have some "big names" now, but Sherman was drafted in the 6th rnd I believe.

Bottom line is, we all need to show some patience throughout this process. Losing Smitty the way we did is why everyone was so rabid, and rightfully so. We just need to regain some perspective. That's hard to do though, especially when you read an article that refers to the Ravens' WR Steve Smith. Maybe I need anger management.

[t96]

That is some nice journalism.

 

Understanding the beauty of what Gettlemen is doing takes a mature, complex, holistic look at everything we know he has to consider and an understanding that there are things we do not know.  It really pissed me off when people were bashing him because it was stupid on all levels. Yes, even those who support Gettlemen were disappointed and frustrated, but we knew that Gettlemen has not been creating problems, he has been fixing them.  We also knew that Gettlemen has an eye for talent and did some pretty impressive bottom fishing last year.  How do you complain about 12-4 on a budget?  They found a way.

 

The only problem I've had at all with what Gettleman has done is the way in which he cut Smitty. I guess you can call it learning through the experiences, and he needs more time, etc. But he did not handle that the right way at all. And also, if Hardy plays on the tag this year and doesn't get 20+ sacks, I'd be pissed. We need to lock him up long term.

[top dawg]

Unbiased?  LOL

[top dawg]

Sorry, but I don't see how the article accurately reflects or even really addresses what made this off-season so "trying", which was really the release of Smitty (which I think that most would agree now really wasn't an economic move, or at least that's what the FO said).  The fan base was really "good" until that happened.  

 

Of course there are fans who believe that tagging Hardy was not the right move, but I feel that most of us would have supported Dave Gettleman either way in reference to tagging Hardy.  Tagging Hardy didn't cause the firestorm in the fan base, and that's what the article is indirectly really speaking to.  But most fans already knew that it was going to be fiscally difficult this off-season (as it will next off-season, perhaps even more so). G-man had a great amount of equity and goodwill due to the 12-4 record last season. Though he abruptly ended the "honeymoon" with the fans by mishandling the Smitty situation, the proof of the pudding of his success is going to be what happens during the season.

 

To me the article is kind of like preaching to the choir at this point.  I just see the article as nothing special, if not a little vanilla. 

[ItsPantone278]

...

 

To me the article is kind of like preaching to the choir at this point.  I just see the article as nothing special, if not a little vanilla. 

 

I agree to an extent.  It definitely doesn't read as "unbiased" but I agree with most if not all of the points in the article.  But its all things that we've all been discussing for a few days if not weeks by now.

 

Hardy was viewed as one of the key players.  He very well may have been our best player down the stretch arguably.  We wanted to keep the front of the defense intact.

 

The backlash towards the FO stems from how much of a weakness our offense was last year imo.  Fans remember how much we struggled in this department over the last two years.  Now we are seemingly getting weaker.  But I argue we need a youth movement as well as we need to address the Cam contract.  We are doing what we have to do.  Which most of us have known for sometime now.  Thus I read the article with the feeling these points are being rehashed to get some boston globe readers to back a boston guy.

[The Huddler]

Glad some users are coming around.