Mr. Scot

My wife's jokes aside I've had to kind of remind myself over the last couple of days that football season is still going on. Head coaches getting fired make you think of the offseason, and even a lot of our discussion has centered around what would typically be offseason topics. And then I'm reminded "Oh yeah, we're playing this Sunday." I'm probably not alone in that.

At the very least, I think between them Holcomb and Wilks are probably better able to analyze how to attack an NFL offense than Phil Snow was.

Does he? Snyder still gives me the vibe of a shrimpy guy telling his friends to hold him back from attacking the heavyweight cage fighter in front of him. I'm not really sure how seriously to take him when he says he has dirt on guys. From what the story says though, there sure seem to be a whole lot of people in the NFL who are afraid that he does. (granted that could also just be paranoia from people with skeletons in their closet)

I'll tell her you said that.

Define "physically". He's certainly got great size for a quarterback, but I don't remember him necessarily being anything special in the athleticism department.

He'd also have had familiarity with QB coach Sean Ryan. Would that have made a difference though? Not necessarily a huge difference.

I love my wife. I really do... So much in fact that I got her a personalized authentic Cowboys jersey. Told her I'd considered waiting to give it to her as a Christmas or birthday gift but I wanted her to have it now before her season was over. She responded "Oh, my season isn't over until the Super Bowl. Your season is over" I love my wife. I really do

Garoppolo is a funny name to mention in this circumstance

Been on that bandwagon for years...

He looked pretty damn good against us last year. But I'm never sure how seriously to take that

"Well hey, at least McCaffrey isn't hurt yet." - Lady Cowboy Fan

And every word of that is...speculation. You interpreted it as (your words) a report that Fitterer is focused on Quinn as Candidate #1. It's not a report. There aren't any candidates at this point (unless you count Wilks). Hell, I could quote you a bunch of different people saying they're certain the Panthers are going to have a fire sale of talent, but...they're not. That too was speculation, and it's wrong. Hence why I said if you can't tell the difference between what's being speculated and what's being reported, you're not going to have a good grasp on what's actually happening.

And when I told you it wasn't reported but speculated, you said there was no difference. If you don't see a difference between speculation and reports, welp...

That's not "for sure" any more than your claim that Dan Quinn is at the top of a coaching search that isn't even happening yet.

I would love for the Panthers to do this...

Or... ...he might be bluffing

There's nothing indicating that.

The pick compensation package isn't the only thing that would make it difficult to get Sean Payton. Tepper has stated that he's going to have a more balanced division of power between the next coach and the GM, so anybody who's looking for massive control isn't likely to find it here. That alone would make a highly unlikely you'd land Payton (ditto Harbaugh) but then on top of that you've got the compensation issue.

I'd echo the notion that Matt Stafford wasn't going to magically transform Matt Rhule into an actual NFL coach. Would things have been different? Yeah. Maybe even better? Possibly somewhat. But the true bottom line is that Rhule was hired to a job he wasn't even remotely qualified for. And while better personnel can mitigate that, they can't fix it.

I'd put Steichen way way way above Leftwich. There's a massive difference between working with Jalen Hurts and working with Tom Brady.

One person with inside sources (I forget who) said Tepper genuinely believed the fabled magical year three turnaround was a real possibility. An y such belief of that kind obviously disappeared pretty quick once the season started.

How ya like your new job, Ron?

It does, especially given it sounds like he lost faith in him way before that.

I wouldn't say he absolves Rhule. He acknowledged Rhule was pretty bad. Talking about "red light dashboard moments", Robinson said this... Rhule’s tenure had plenty of those moments. There’s little doubt that he’d take back some of the news conference metaphors. Or that he leaves the NFL frustrated over coaching staff mistakes and the inability to craft any kind of consistent offense. When he knew it was the end and he spoke to his team, he described it as a test of adversity, and lessons that would make him better wherever he lands next. Mostly he related that he was sorry he couldn’t get it done for everyone who counted on him.

Robinson is really good. And yeah, this piece is very well written. On that front, perhaps. Giving Rhule the contract and the power he did though is still his own fault, and a massive mistake. What's crazy to me is how quickly he "soured on that investment". Kinda reframes the question of why he stick with him so long.