Khyber53

It's the most Matt Rhule Final Season thing ever in Matt Rhule's Final Season. Really, we're snakebit.

This won't be pretty. Bills 31 Panthers 10

French bread pizzas for game time. Just not going to put any effort into it if they aren't.

I'm just going to have to sit through all of the losing seasons. I hope there won't be many, but there will be some, even in the best of situations. Becoming a Panther fan is a lifetime thing for me. This is it. For me, and all the others like me, though -- we deserve better than this crap.

Man plans, the universe chuckles. Just gotta make the best of it.

If Jake's not busy in the broadcast booth, maybe he can dust off the old cleats.

Tepper, Fit and Rhule were ready to grab a guy with 22 unsettled lawsuits (weren't even worried about that), pay him another $10.5 million and be on the hook for $30+ million next year. And that guy has a history of not just sexual predation but of saying he'll sit at home rather than play for a coach/team he doesn't like. What kind of fuging morons do that? Larry, Moe and Curly wouldn't come together and think that was a good decision! We're stuck with Larry but Moe and Curly have got to go! Edit to add: And let's not even talk about never having a decent draft pick for two or more years!

^This 100%.

Current surge says, well, apparently there have been some. Looking at the timing of the surge, I think it was what they call Thanksgiving.

Inevitable things are just that, inevitable. A virus doesn't know from playoffs, ratings or a 53-man roster on game day. The thing they aren't talking about isn't what is happening on the field or locker rooms but what is probably also happening in the stands. Consider how locked down the football players have been and how tied they are to their communities, chances are that team's COVID situation probably reflects their community to a certain degree. If Washington has 21 players out for positive tests or contacts with no vaccinations, they are bringing what, 60,000 fans in to a situation where maybe 5,000 to 10,000 people who are asymptomatic or experiencing light cases. The infection vectors there are just astounding. And let's not even think of the Omicron impact, because that hasn't been driving the recent surge around the country, that's good old Delta still at work. In the next two days there's either going to be some changes to how the games are played, when the games are played and perhaps if the games are played. Testing right up until the game days are going to possibly get worse. At best, we might see them allow teams to activate their entire practice squads to make numbers. We might see them just chalk it up to happenstance and say "Play it like the people are injured and do your best" with all the weird results. I just don't want them to suspend some responsible rules because of money and a hubris that this ain't that bad. If they won't protect the fans, at least do it for the Aaron Rodgers and Antonio Browns of the league who've faked it this far and could be in danger... Edit to add: Latest reports around the country are that Delta is responsible for about 94% of current cases of COVID, with Omicron barely registering on the list as of yet.

Sometimes you have to ask, why are they releasing him now?

I agree. I should have put the if in bold.

There's always the caveat that bad teams choose bad coaches, again and again. The Jags and the Raiders are just those kinds of teams. Perhaps it's good that they get to take the first swing and perhaps thin the herd a bit for us. When selecting the cream of the crop, they both have a talent for grabbing the jug of expired, soured milk. Still, I have to think that if Tepper is as smart as they said he was, there's already a group at work putting together a prospects board and doing their homework before making a firing announcement and setting up interviews. There's no way with a fanbase in revolt and a quiet, but unsupportive team, that Tepper isn't seriously mulling the end of this disastrous experiment. There are probably accountants and lawyers working on that massive contract and trying to work a buyout. We'll know by Monday at 2 p.m.

Dude's doing his best on a bad team with bad passers and no other receiving options. He'll have over 1,000 yards, again even with all that weighing down his performance. There's even a good chance that he'll have 1,100+ yards for the third season in a row. You guys lob around "forgettable" and "ideal number two" like this guy was nothing special, just above JAG status. He's good, really good. Just give him someone who can throw the ball to him. Design some plays that aren't CB friendly.

Clean the entire house.

No one outside of the fanbase watches our games week after week. Hell, it's hard enough for the fanbase to keep watching week after week. How are the national sports writers supposed to have any real picture of what is happening here. We could have suited up a Sasquatch, two little green men and the Loch Ness Monster and no one would have noticed. We've just got to keep making the noise locally and hope the ownership is listening and not just reading Sports Illustrated and the Forbes lists.

And rightfully so, both times. Double ouch.

DJ is a model citizen, fantastic receiver and nowhere near his potential. Even with bad QB play, bad scripting of plays and inept coaching, he still far outshines every receiver we have on the team -- combined. You don't let him walk, or more specifically, you do what it takes to get him to stay. Yes, he is a first rate receiver, but we need him as much for his intangibles as anything else. There's a fair to middling chance we will have an entirely new coaching staff next season, hopefully someone that can actually coach. That guy, and us, deserves a reliable receiver and non-diva team leader. DJ fits that admirably. Pair him with the right QB on top of that and you can make a lot happen. Is he going to cost us? Yes. And compared to other things we've committed to, he's the only surefire thing we've got going on the offensive side of the ball.

LT, C, G, G, QB. fug the rest.

He was just making sure there was no chance he would be in the building when they drag Rhule out of there.

Hubris is a heady drug and a deadly one, too.

You, me and the rest on here could. Those guys currently with offices at Panthers HQ, ummm, no. You could give them Green Bay right now and they'd somehow miss the playoffs.

Not trying to get Rivera back here, but yeah, you are right on both counts -- best here and he has a competitive, if incomplete team. The guy has a ton of things he could use for excuses but he goes out there and just fights for it, and his players fight for him, win or lose. And that's in the same time frame that Rhule has had here. And both have had a year of Marty Hurney's "help." It's comparing apples to road apples. Now, final say on the hiring of head coaches really goes to the owner, even more than any GM. Tepper got Rhule because of the perceived potential, his use of analytics and scrappy young attitude and team building resume. It fits Tepper's experience and business acumen. Richardson hired Rivera because he was an experienced NFL coach and had been a hard nosed player that the players would respect who had championship credentials and the Super Bowl ring to back it up. Richardson, a successful business man in his own right, had also been a football player drafted to a team that had a world championship. Practical experience, man, it makes the difference in coaching and team ownership. It did take two misses for Jerry to get his first coach to take the team to the big dance, though, so this may take time.

I'd rather receive five of those than have another year of Rhule here. I hate to cheer for anyone to lose their job around Christmas-time, but honestly, he's been given millions, would still get millions more and, if they act quickly, he and his family can be back in Texas in time to visit with their friends and family there for the holidays. I mean, it's a win-win rather than a loss-loss. That's got to be a plus for everyone, right? And we can watch the Panthers play the day after Christmas with all the wonder and enjoyment of kids who are waiting to see what those last well-wrapped gifts would bring. It would gift us with hope.