Mr. Scot

Throw to Ginn short, let him run it.

Newton looking pretty accurate early.  He and Olson are really in sync right now.

Great downfield blocking by LaFell on that play to Olsen

HA!

Davis whiffed on the sack...ouch

Hold...ing...uncalled on that last play.

Announcer thinks well be in a playoff race in December

Tim Ryan.

In that scenario it didn't matter, needed 2 scores no matter what.

Btw your guy Zimmer is showing exactly how to play to win on Defense, love the aggressive play calling vs what we generally get from Rivera in the same scenario.

Edit: in hindsight if they had scored a TD this game would be goin to OT right now, as they were in FG range

I said elsewhere anybody watching that game should now understand a little better why I'm a fan of Mike Zimmer.

The Bengals were down two defensive starters today, and even on a full day he's running that defense using rejects like Terrence Newman and Chris Crocker.  Still held the Patriots in check and did so by not being afraid to be in Brady's face all day.

Loved it.

I don't recall Mike playing to not lose like Ron. Constantly playing prevent D at the end, playing for a FG instead of a TD and scared to go for it on 4th is on Ron himself, not the GM

Mike Smith is definitely a conservative coach.

Even with his successes, there are Falcon fans who want him replaced.

RR isn't a gambler.... He makes the "right calls".

You want RR to be good....don't have glaring holes on his roster. It is what it is. The GMs in Carolina have been his downfall IMO

Yeah, like that guy Belichick, opting for the field goal on 4th and goal at the 2 with his team down by 10 points.

That guy is just gutless!

i think it's most likely either the guy who knows he's had a background check done and is a candidate, or his agent.

 

if it's the agent, we'll know who it is within the next couple days.

 

 

or the whole thing could be speculation....you know, poo flung from one of the poo flingers in the major media.

 

whatever the case, tho...i don't think it's any secret to anyone that it's do or die for rivera.

 

win now with this team or we find someone who can.

 

i actually like that it's out there. no more pretense. it's now known that we are no longer content with losing and no longer accept excuses.

 

i also like that the same standards used for players are used for the coaching staff. meet expectations or be replaced. you have to know that gettleman is always on the look for talent where it's needed to help this team win. it's only fair tha the coaches have to live up to that as well.

 

another thing i like is that if it really is the players not executing that has been the reason for losses and not game management, and if rivera is really as loved by the players as we have been made to believe, then they have to know that his staying depends on them not f*cking up. they'll be holding themselves and each other a lot more accountable.

 

here's yet another thing i'm liking. in the past we've waited until poo happens before we do anything. the writing could be on the wall, but we never do anything until the last minute. we don't have a history of being proactive....esp. where coaching hires are concerned. there's been little to no looking ahead about much of anything. all we do is react when things happen and all too often it's a measured and delayed reaction in which we miss out on opportunities, losing out to teams who do a better job of looking ahead.

 

if this report is true, which it probably is, i don't see it as a bad thing. if rivera or the team can't handle this pressure, then a change is made anyway. the culture has to change and this mindset that we don't need to be acting desperately needs to get thrown out the window. if rivera can't handle this pressure, he's not the right man for the job. if he gets distracted by it, he's not the right man for the job.

 

i don't think he's the best coach we could have and i don't think that he's good enough to make this team consistent winners, but i hope he is because i want this team to win now.

 

but if he's not the right man for the job, i want the message to be clear to the rest of the team....there is only one expectation...win. if you can't help make that happen, we'll find someone who can.

 

more than that, we're already looking for your replacement. if you want your job, convince us that you are the right man for it. don't screw up. don't get lax. do your best always.

Hadn't thought of it being the guy's agent.  That could make sense.

He'd probably be wiser not to get his name out there though.  That could definitely irk the team.

I wanna see Star as a goal line FB.

I could go for that.

Belichick opts for the field goal two scores down with his team at 4th and goal from the 2 yard line.

Man, that guy just has no balls

Vick hurt in Philly.

Shocking, I know

No matter what me, you, or the organization want to call it, the information is public now. It's began. It's active.

Yep.  Seriously doubt the organization wanted this information out there.

I agree with doing the preliminary work now, but no, you don't want this known.

When was the last time a team actively began a coaching search in week 4 and it produced a winning season?

I don't think it's really an "active search" at this point, only preliminary stuff "just in case".

Strange timing. Who released this and why? Hmmmm

Nobody knows.  Likely suspect would be whomever the candidate in discussion is, but that's all speculation.

Our old friend LeGarrette Blount fumbled away the ball up in New England

Luke Joeckel carted off the field against Saint Louis

Was kinda joking, should have set that up better.

Gotcha.

Perry Fewell probably would have gotten a bigger reaction

Tom Coughlin?

Why would Dave Gettleman need to do a background search on anyone in the Giants organization?

On Fox, Howie Long picks Carolina.  Michael Strahan picks the Cardinals.

Spite, perhaps?

I think it's pretty obvious the leaker is the "1 candidate [that] knows"

Distinct possibility, especially given that it's counterproductive for the team to leak it.

This is always like Peyton Place with this team.

I'm probably one of the few people old enough to get that reference.

Young bucks probably think you're talking about Manning

If the season was lost, I may agree. But we've only played three games. Three.

 

At this point, we're likely to turn off some quality candidates instead of attracting them by us handling things this way. Bottom line, Richardson should have nutted up and paid the money to fire Rivera this year if he was so unsure. Instead, we are now creating needless distractions.

I'm withholding judgment on whether it was the right decision to retain Rivera till later in the season.

And honestly, I don't think it reflects badly on us unless we leaked it, which I have a hard time buying into.

Of course there hasn't been any actual noted contact, that's against league rules assuming that the coach is employed in the league. However, it says that there is enough interest "so much so" that one person knows. I'd say that's enough contact.

I know you enjoy adding your subtle "I know more than you" to most of your posts, but it's possible that you read into things differently than someone else. That doesn't mean you're right.

And with that, I'm doing responding to you. Ever. So, please humor me and do the same for me.

Not saying I know more than you, but believing that what's being said here indicates "contact" requires reading something into it that isn't being said.

The only definitive statement we have is that they're doing background checks.  Saying one guys knows about it and saying we contacted him are very different conclusions, one supported by facts, one not.

this is kind of ridiculous, sorry, but I don't support Gettles doing this right now...

 

edit: at least, contacting candidates and the like.  but meh, we'll see, maybe he thinks he can motivate rivera this way.  just seems like it could be a huge distraction for players & coaches

There's no indication that he's contacted anybody.

All we know about is "background checks" which don't require, and generally don't involve, contact with the person being checked out.

I'm hoping this isn't true. Not liking it at all. Only speaks to larger problems high up within our organization.

Disagree.  I think it's smart for them to start doing their research now "just in case".

It's a negative that it became public knowledge, but the fact that they're doing it doesn't bother me at all.

You didn't hear the actual report on television, did you?

Actually I have.  It's online right here (NFL.com)

Exact Quote: "The Panthers are laying the foundation for a possible coaching search after this season, doing background checks on candidates so much so that one candidate actually knows that the team is interested in them."

No statement that there's been actual contact.  Just background searches that one guy knows about.

Agree, but he's not gonna stand up in front of the whole team and tell them it's Rivera's ass if they don't win. 

As we found out last week, neither will Rivera.

I thought he handled that admirably.

I'm going to say that a candidate leaked it, and I'll also say that said candidate was not actually in the running for the head coach job and is assuming that he was, because coaches that get feelers from the NFL for head jobs aren't stupid enough to leak it and our FO is not the kind that does that.

Very possible.

"One coach knows they're interested". Sounds like more than a background check. Or, they called someone for the check then that person let it slip to the candidate. Not sure.

Read the full context...

Ian Rapoport ‏@RapSheet 6m

Sources: #Panthers have begun laying groundwork for a possible coaching search, doing background checks on candidates. 1 candidate knows.

Per the source, background checks only.  The candidate 'knowing' doesn't imply contact.