BrianS

Gilmore was actually a brilliant move. We gave up a sixth round pick for a high level experienced veteran to come in and set an example for a very young DB room. To top it off, even if we make no effort to resign him, we'll get a BETTER PICK as a compensatory when we lose him. There is no downside to that trade. None.

No. Name a Super Bowl winning coach who didn't win his first within five years of taking over his team. I'll wait. (Andy Reid is the only one I know of)

Faulty logic. Just because you were hired does not mean you are given the tools to succeed. You would think that it should follow, but I assure you that it does not.

I agree with this. Brady needed to go, he clearly wasn't the right guy. That also doesn't invalidate the possibility that he was set up to fail. A real conspiracy theorist might go "Brady was set up to fail so Rhule could claim that he should have appointed his own guy instead of looking for the best". Effectively, it could have been Rhule saying "I know best".

Wrong. That was terrible offensive football. It was admitting that Jones didn't have the arm to throw in that wind. That's all it was. The game was tight. There is no excuse. It's not like the Pats put the game out of reach running. They were a couple dropped passes away from losing the game. That's an offense Ron Rivera would be proud of. BS. It was a terrible display by a team that effectively admitted the limitations of their rookie QB. This was a game the Patriots simply didn't lose. Which is very different than saying they won it. Barely 200 yards of total offense? Come on.

Yea, I'm not sure why so many are lauding a Patriots team that managed to score 14 points. Their only TD was on a LONG run that probably should have been stopped in the backfield. If the Bills just made the plays that were in front of them I think they win the game easily. Jones doesn't have the arm talent to throw in that kind of wind. His one completion beyond the LOS was an amazing catch by the receiver.

Anyone who can't see the red flags with Josh McDaniels is not someone I want choosing our coach. This isn't to say the guy isn't a good coordinator. He clearly is. But he's not head coach material.

Then is irrelevant. Who he is now is relevant, and unclear. Is Cam the guy who went 21 of 27 and 2 TD's? Is he the guy who 5 of 21 with 2 INT's? I don't know. Neither does anyone else. It's no different than Darnold after the Eagles game. Do you assume that the Eagles game defined him? No. Of course not. One game doesn't define any player. Thus, the reason to keep playing him is to reveal the truth of what he can be right now. Has nothing to do with feel good stories, has everything to do with sorting out what we do next year.

Cam plays QB the rest of the year. Period. You need to find out to the greatest extent possible whether he can be an NFL QB in his current condition - whatever that might be. If the answer is that he can be a QB, you can likely get him cheaper than any other QB you may consider. The guy was on his couch remember.

Of course it will. How could it not? I'm still stunned that Sean Ryan wasn't given the OC duties for the rest of the season as a potential tryout for the permanent role.

Leftwich smells like the next Adam Gase to me. Looks brilliant with a HoF QB running the plays, looks very questionable with a lesser talent. Pederson had one good season as a HC. One. How much of that season was Frank Reich? He had two "ok" seasons and two losing seasons. Yes, he had success as an OC under king Andy for a couple seasons. Not sold on Pederson, but he may be the best thing out there. Bienemy is the same thing as Pederson, another king Andy guy. Reid is amazing, but he hasn't yet been able to get any of his magic to rub off on one of his coordinators. Daboll may be good, hard to say. Prior to being with the Bills, his offenses were "underwhelming". He's certainly done well with Allen up there.

Yea, I absolutely do not understand the timing. That was super weird. Brady has been under heat since very early in the season. I suspect Rhule is under a lot of pressure. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this move was forced on him and that his only recourse was to can Brady or lose his job as well. At least we know the last five games will mean something. Either we compete and win a couple or we lose out and probably end up with a new HC. I suspect it's up to the players. Either they believe in Rhule and fight for him or they give up, letting it be known that he isn't getting his message across.

There is no way Rhule gets fired before the end of the season. It's not happening. In order for him to stay, he does need to win some games. I'd guess two more wins and he keeps his job. Three more wins and for sure he keeps his job.

Right. Except that they have everything to do with it.

He's played for the JAGS! Is that the organization you want to judge for consistency? Really? The stat you need to understand is that for the two years Minshew was in Jacksonville they only won 7 games. However, despite benching him repeatedly they won ZERO games with him on the bench. Here's a little deeper dive into his stats: There are three stats there which I find interesting. One, his completion percentage. It increased dramatically in year two. That's a great sign for a young QB growing into the NFL. Two, his TD%. At 4.6 for his career, it looks very much like another QB who is good but not great, Ryan Tannehill. Good but not great? I can stand a bit of that. Three, his INT%. At 1.4 for his career, it's amazing. Rodgers is one of the best you'll ever see at not turning it over, and his career average is 1.3%. Tom Brady is at 1.8%. Completes the ball, throws TD's, doesn't throw picks? Yes please. Big fan of his. I wanted him way, way more than Darnold. For reference, take a look at the guy we traded for on those same stats.

We're winning two more games. Tackle is NOT OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM! Watch the games! We have no inside anchor at all. Most of the sacks we give up are caused by . . . yes, inside pressure. We can't blow people off the ball for 2 yards. Tackles don't fix that.

Perhaps. But I've got to believe that another season of offensive incompetence like we've witnessed this year will end with Rhule being ousted. Now, I'm not keen to wait another year to see this happen, but at least we know he's feeling pressure now.

Nixon was not named OC, the Panthers only said that he would act in that capacity over the final five games. I'm still hoping we go after an actual NFL OC this offseason.

Ok, the thread title is misleading. The Panthers didn't say Nixon was the new OC, only that he was taking over for the final five games. I don't think he's the right choice, but at least they haven't made him permanent. They really need to go find someone from outside the org and they need to do it early so that person has the FULL offseason to put their system in place.

I do think the Darnold trade looks bad right now. Still, I have to keep reminding myself that we're now on our third QB in Joe Brady's system and NONE of them have looked consistently good. In fact, they all have the EXACT SAME PROFILE. Look good for a week or four, then look like crap thereafter. Teddy looked good . . . then bad. Sam looked good . . . then bad. Cam looked great . . . then bad. Maybe we need to fix the system.

Can anyone explain to me why Brady Christiansen is at left guard here? Even prior to the draft Daley had question marks surrounding his agility, but his strength and power were highly rated. BC was thought to be quick but perhaps not as functionally strong. It just doesn't make any sense. Daley looks like a guard playing tackle. BC looks light on his feet.

The trick to having a good line is only paying on or two guys top dollar and finding other guys who can not suck while doing their job. In particular, it's far more common to find teams paying most of their OLine money on the tackles than the interior. This is why I've been such a proponent of Brady Christiansen. Not because I am convinced of his ability, but because it's CRITICAL that we find out if he has it. If the guy is a LT, we need to KNOW going into free agency. Likewise, we spent a draft pick on Deonte Brown. The dude needs to play. If he's an NFL guard, we need to KNOW going into the offseason. If both BC and Brown turn out to be NFL players, our entire offseason takes on a different complexion.

This is factually inaccurate. There are 18 "on field" coaches on the Panthers staff. I'm not interested in the assistants, interns, etc. Just the guys doing the coaching. On the offensive side of the ball, There are only three guys with ties to Rhule: Jeff Nixon, Frisman Jackson and Matt Lombardi. On the defensive side of the ball, there are four guys with ties to Rhule: Snow, Evan Cooper, Frank Okam and Mike Siravo. On special teams, you've got Ed Foley. Of the guys with ties to Rhule: Jeff Nixon - has more years coaching at the NFL level prior to working with Rhule than he has years working with Rhule Frisman Jackson - definitely a Rhule hire, but was making his way up the ranks before he ran into Rhule. A former NFL WR, Jackson already had seven years of coaching experience at progressively larger schools prior to joining Rhule at Temple. Jackson left Temple and coached WR's for the Titans for a year before re-joining Rhule at Baylor Matt Lombardi - Was a scout for the Browns before he became a coach. Spent three years at Louisville before joining Rhule at Baylor, which he then left to become a coach for the Dolphins before re-joining Rhule here. Phil Snow - No real need to get deep here. Evan Cooper - This is one of the guys who makes Rhule look like a nepotist. His only experience as a coach has been with Matt Rhule. Strangely, a lot of his history is on the personnel side. Very weird. Frank Okam - Former NFL player Okam got his start at Rice for three years prior to joining Rhule at Baylor and subsequently following him here. As a six year NFL veteran, he would at least know what NFL coaching looks like, you'd think. Mike Siravo - Had a long career as a coach, including some time on the same staff as Rhule, prior to being hired by Rhule at Temple. Followed him to Baylor, and to Carolina. Ed Foley - A coach since 1989, long history. Did not immediately follow Rhule from Temple to Baylor, but did so eventually when the coach who replaced Rhule at Temple left. He then followed from Baylor to Carolina. As for the guys he hired that had never been part of his staff, the ONLY ONE without extensive NFL experience was Joe Brady.

Don't we still have an assistant GM position open?

We're definitely in a bad spot, but truthfully, the only "win now" move was Gilmore, and even that one has some upside in that if we lose Gilmore, we'll get the pick back as a compensatory. Darnold was a calculated risk that failed, though I still think the price was too high. If you look at Henderson as a third round pick, he's in a good spot. Even if we let both Jackson and Gilmore walk, the top of our CB room next year is Horn, Henderson and Bouye. And we get picks back for Jackson and Gilmore. The sky isn't falling, but it's definitely cloudy.