raleigh-panther

Jake wasn’t the one who a. Kicked the ball out of bounds b. Let the Patriots waltz down the field c. Left too much time on the clock to do it D. Finally jake did play out of his mind as you note . His stats were better than Brady however, kasay made an error and Fox and coaches made several you can look at any individual player you want including Brady. There better be a team around them including smart coaching while a star qb can overcome much, some things can’t be overcome. You know this. Look to Mahomes with both his tackles out in the conf game last year was Kurt Warner a franchise qb ? No. He wasn’t drafted but what he was, paired with the right coach at the right time with the right system and complimentary players and that equaled a SB was Drew Brees a franchise qb until paired with Payton ? that formula hasnt changed we can talk about the term ‘elite’ all day but sometimes finding one is flat out luck Andy Reid reminds people about that all the time You take a chance sometimes it works Many times it doesnt You will also see teams, not lucky, learn to do as Wilks has done, those passers can’t pass sitting on the bench as the opposing team runs the ball down their throats it matters not to me how a team wins. It matters to me that they do

San Fran has mr irrelevant as their starting qb the very last draft pick in the 2021 draft guess they know how to do talent evaluation and schemes 49ers bubble will burst as more film comes out but right now I’d say that nothing is impossible if the talent scouts and OC do their jobs

I read somewhere that Coach Wilks spent extra time with Horn and I believe Chinn, this week in extra 1x1 coaching

DJ Moore is having a mri this morning on his ankle

The Cowboys are the Cowboys The Eagles on the other hand, after watching them multiple weeks, look like the real,deal in the nfc the lions are also a coming team in December but in a 17 week schedule with injuries piling up, anything can happen remember the giants were no great shakes, got hot in December and took our the unbeaten Patriots the thing that will hurt the Panthers is Qb. Darnold is capable of going bat poo at any moment

With QBs that are totally bottom tier WRs that are lower tier an OC that’s a totally dumpster fire he knows this As I said in October, to not look like a total dumpster fire, do the one thing that offense can do, run he has taken an abysmal poker, chicken poo hand and is making chicken salad That .500 with this team is a god damned miracle

Seahawks have better offensive coaching, qb, and WRs all that said, I’ll be a happy homer and say the panthers win this 28 to 24 the running game allows Sam to take some shots that connect. …one In Their opening series Sam goes 17 of 30 for 250 yards. 2 tds. 1 interception foreman 120 yards and 1 TD defense scores TD why not

The sky is the limit for the young man in the Nfl if, the big if, he puts in the work second thing, a OC who is innovative in his use so much people are saying about him, was once said about Newton, Jackson, Fields Fields, on his second offense in his second year is starting to thrive unfortunately he doesn’t have a lot of talent around him Passing on him, for a damned a CB, a very Rhule like thing to do I’d be thrilled with the draft card with his name on it Great things weren't said about Mahomes or Allen either but they had tools and the want to

I’m glad for Baker kudos to him i watched the game. The Rams got a few penalties in their favor to help things along I doubt seriously the Raiders prepared for Mayfield either To be fair, it is hard to judge Wilks with a staff he didn’t select. A qb he didn’t select and impossible to change mid season as I said in October and it wasn’t received well, the only thing working for the Panthers then and now is the run game ….so do that and do it well wilks knows that too I think it’s a miracle they have won any games Stealing a literary line, ‘a mule is a horse”s harness is still a mule’ right know, whole lotta mules on the offensive coaching staff.

And why it should never have started

I am high on his potential. He is still young, raw but what he is capable of just can’t be taught the combine will help his draft status rise there would be worse things to happen to this franchise then AR

I hope the Panthers show up after the bye focused and kill them

Yep and there will be a whole new OC plus staff and possibly HC Corral might not fit the scheme. Feel bad for him. He had no shot with the dumb poo coach we had

This what this kid has can’t be taught a lot if things said about him was said about Jackson as Gil Brandt said about QBs, ‘if he is your guy at that position, you go get him. You don’t care about draft position in the first You wait and another team won’t. “

Sometimes I think he has PTSD from the injuries last year…and from descriptions, multiple injuries and pretty bad a la David Carr he was never that accurate but this stint in Carolina has been abysmal

Justin Fields…having himself a day…. AGAIN

His first press conferences Never has anyone said so much that meant so little. I know of no other NFL coach who ever ran their mouths so much

Things like this shouldn’t be in instagram for any number of reasons what is between yh should be between them I wish them both the best in any case

I read it in the Charlotte observer today well written by Scott Fowler loved both Kevin and Lamar

Sssshhhhh then the whine will be that we traded away the future and if CJ or Bryce doesn’t work out, they will blame the action instead of the mythical tanking if the coach and Gm believe they need to take that action, take it if the guy is there that they believe in, go get him. Period

Coach fired CMC shipped out a terrible, and I mean terrible, OC terrible QBS Wilks is doing all he can to avoid this franchise looking like it is in shambles I do not blame him for the Bengals…very hard to come off a loss they should not have had to Atlanta The team was totally flat Beating Seattle is a tall tall order, at home, better OC coaching staff if Wilks does that, plus win 3 of the 4 remaining, no way can he not be given the job as far as Dan Quinn, we have seen that show before too.

It was a verbatim, taped Q&A it wasn’t supposed to be short I mean, really, with Rhule, it would never have been short anyway i give Cam Newton credit. His exit interview last year told the story. Too bad Tepper didn’t listen and by not listening it has cost an additional 3 years of a rebuild that wasn’t needed I could not stand this putz from the day he was hired my professional bullshit meter pegged him the moment he opened his mouth

Should have said ‘fate’ not ‘fare’

Former Panthers coach Rhule says he’s ‘not bitter,’ but it’s time to set record straight BY SCOTT FOWLER [email protected] 21 hours ago Matt Rhule’s voice was on the other end of the phone line in Nebraska, and he wanted to make sure Carolina Panthers fans understood a few things. “I’m not bitter about being fired,” Rhule said when we talked Thursday in what was his first interview with any Charlotte-area reporter since he was jettisoned as Carolina Panthers head coach on Oct. 10. But Rhule said there were some misconceptions he wanted to clear up about his 38 games as the Panthers’ head coach, as well as some explanations he’d like to offer about what went right and what went wrong. And so in his 30-minute interview with The Charlotte Observer, Rhule — now back in college as Nebraska’s head coach with a new eight-year contract — offered his side of the Panthers story in a more complete way than he has done before. Rhule called it a “myth” that he had ultimate control over the team’s personnel decisions, for instance, and said he would have advocated for structuring the team differently if he knew winning early was of so much importance to his job security. “If you told me, ‘Hey we’ve got two years (to win),’” Rhule said, “then we’re going to do things in two years. If you tell me, ‘Hey, I want this to be built for the long haul over four or five years, then we’re going to build slowly through the draft and we’re going to make good financial decisions.’ And you know, if it’s, ‘Hey, you have to win this year,’ you probably don’t let Stephon Gilmore and Haason Reddick go.’ ... If you’re going to try to win in two years, you’d probably have a big blockbuster trade, you’d probably trade up in the draft, you probably would have paid some high-priced free agent.” Gilmore, a cornerback, and Reddick, a pass rusher, both left the Panthers after the 2021 season for lucrative deals with other teams. Rhule also said that he believed that the fact that many fans loudly turned on him during home games, shouting “Fire Matt Rhule!” during several of his final home games, helped seal his fate. I never lost the locker room,” said Rhule, who went 11-27 as Carolina’s coach in two-plus seasons. “But I lost the fans.” Rhule, 47, said he doesn’t blame fans for booing him and that he still loves the city of Charlotte. In fact, his teenage son Bryant will stay in Charlotte and not move to Nebraska immediately, finishing up at the high school he loves (The Fletcher School) and living with his grandparents in the Queen City for at least another year. Rhule also said that although he has returned to the college ranks that he believes he’s not simply a “college coach” who failed in the NFL. “I think I could do either one,” Rhule said. “I wouldn’t have been a fit at every college. I do I think I’m probably a fit here at Nebraska. And I believe, in time, I would have turned Carolina around.” With his answers lightly edited for clarity and brevity, here’s what else Rhule said in our interview on: Panthers owner Dave Tepper Rhule: “I appreciate the fact that he gave me a contract that allowed me to take care of my family moving forward. ... I appreciate that he took a chance on me and I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I’m sorry I wasn’t the right fit for him. ... Really, I have nothing to say, except I’m just grateful for the opportunity. “I’m not trying to say anything negative about the organization. I love the organization. I love the people there.” Whether he had personnel control Rhule: “There was a myth that I had personnel control. “You guys asked me about it and I always tried to be respectful of the team and protect the team. But you know, I never made a draft pick. I had a lot of say and a lot of opinion. (General manager) Scott (Fitterer) and I worked awesome together, Marty (former Panthers GM Marty Hurney) and I worked awesome together. But all the decisions were made under the direction of: ‘Hey, let’s build this over four years.’ (Technically, as Rhule said in a 2021 press conference, he did have final say over personnel decisions). I want to say this: One promise I always made myself was I would never make a decision that was not in the long-term best interest to the Carolina Panthers just to save my job. Because that’s what happens in the NFL, and that’s why teams get sideways. “It was all very collaborative. It was a team: the GM, the head coach and Dave (Tepper) and Samir (Suleiman, the Panthers’ cap guru and VP of football administration). It’s not just me sitting there saying, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do that.’” Whether he should have taken the Panthers job Rhule: “It’s a good job. At the end of the day, I wasn’t the right fit for the Panthers. ... The way I did things probably didn’t connect with everybody. I think me and Scott (Fitterer) had a great relationship. I don’t have a bad relationship with anybody. It just didn’t work out. ... So if I just went back (in time), I probably respectfully just would have said, ‘You know what, it’s probably not going to be a great fit.’ “I don’t regret taking that job. ... The more time I get away from it — I will look back very fondly. It really turned me into a better man, a better coach. Made my family closer. I mean, when you have your wife and kids at a game and everyone’s chanting to fire you, when you get home, as a family, that can only make you closer. ... “And Charlotte was fantastic for me. Just fantastic. It has made me a much better coach. And it was really a benefit for my kids, with the schools that they went to in Charlotte.” Signing high-priced free agents Rhule: “I think we had like the first- or second-most cap room before the season. Then you’re basically saying, ‘Hey, you know what? We’re trying to be fiscally responsible for the future not we’re going all in on this.’ So in training camp, I would get asked about ‘Hey, how about this pass rusher that would sign with someone else?’ (The Panthers were rumored to be interested in signing both Carlos Dunlap and Jason Pierre-Paul, but both signed elsewhere). “And I’m always going to be a great teammate and great soldier and a loyal guy and say it just didn’t work out. But those were decisions that were made for the benefit of the future. I think they’re the right thing. I think the team is in great shape moving forward, both financially and cap-room wise. I think Scott (Fitterer) and the rest have done a great job. “All I would say is just if that’s the plan, you know, just stick to it. That being said, I would have loved to have stuck to it. It just didn’t work out where I had won enough to get that opportunity.” Former Panthers QB Cam Newton Rhule: “I really appreciate Cam. He’s one of my favorite players that I’ve met. After I got fired, he’s one of the few people I reached out to and said, ‘Hey, I just want to know how much I appreciate you.’ ... As for all the quarterbacks, what I don’t want to do is be the coach who blames the players. I don’t ever want to come across that way. I love the guys I had a chance to coach. I feel like I failed them, in terms of giving them an opportunity to be successful.’ Whether he’s bitter about the Panthers experience Rhule: “Absolutely not. I’m saying sometimes you go somewhere and like you just fit, you mesh. Like your vision is the same as everybody else’s. Sometimes you get there ... and everybody kind of sees it a little bit differently. “You know it’s hard. ... There was a lot of turnover during my time there: two team presidents, two GMs, other (high-level) positions ... just a lot of turnover. So my vision had to be resold each time to somebody new. It just was never maybe a great fit. And it wasn’t like: ‘Hey, I hate this place.’ I really loved the players. ... I wouldn’t trade my time with those guys for anything.” Whether he roots for the Panthers Rhule: “Absolutely — 100%. If you talk to the guys on that team, they will tell you that after wins, I text them congratulations. ... “I’m proud of that football team (the Panthers were 1-4 when Rhule was fired and are now 4-8 under interim head coach Steve Wilks). I’m proud of some of the things that they’re doing. I thought this would be a team that the last five games of the year coming off the bye week we would have a chance to win every game and make a run. That was always kind of the plan. ... Let’s build the team, let’s really try to make a run late in the year, and then we’ll make a run next year and see if we can be one of the best teams in the NFL. But it just didn’t happen.” Whether he got fired too soon Rhule: “Again, I’m not at all bitter about being fired. I understand the business. I would have preferred not to get fired at 1-4. I felt like I deserved (more time). No coach has ever really been fired at 1-4. Ron Rivera was 1-4 and had a chance to continue (Rivera’s Washington Commanders went 1-4 to begin this season and are now 7-5). But I understood it, and it opened up this (Nebraska) opportunity for me, and it opened up an opportunity for them to move on from me.” Whether Wilks will replace him permanently Rhule: “Oh, I have no idea. I did hire Steve (as an assistant earlier this year). I think he’s an excellent coach and, being around him, I thought: “Man, how did he get fired after one year (in Arizona)? This guy should be a head coach in the NFL.” Getting booed at home games Rhule: “They had a right to boo. I’m not bitter toward any fans because I really loved Charlotte and I think fans should boo. You should yell at the coach. You should do all those things. I just had hoped that we would weather that storm, because usually the hardest adversity comes right before any breakthrough. And so I just kept saying, ‘Hey, if we hang in there, we were building a team to try to win the NFC South.’ Take one play away and we’re 4-0 in the NFC South right now. And I think down the stretch, the Panthers are going to have a great chance to win the division. I’m rooting for them.”