Steve Wilks presser yesterday - hope for our Defense?

[KB_fan]

Apologies if this has already been discussed.  I wasn't able to spend much time yesterday on Panthers's stuff.

I'm just catching up with Steve Wilks press availability from yesterday.  I'm pretty encouraged by a few of his comments:

Quote

“The most disappointing thing was not stopping the run,” Wilks said Monday. “We pride ourselves on stopping the run, and they had 149 yards rushing. It starts with me. That is something we are definitely going to correct and make sure we do a much better job this week.”

 

Quote

 

“We have to find ways to take the ball away on defense and give the ball back to our offense,” Wilks said. “The No. 1 element of our DNA is violence and effort. If we play with that, we’ll find ourselves causing fumbles, guys running to the ball in great position.

“The emphasis is to make sure we are playing according to our DNA.”

 

 

1.  Wilks takes personal responsibility.  He admitted the bad play and is committed to coming up with a plan to fix it.

2.  There is a clear DNA for the defense and Wilks is going to keep holding the players to his standards and expectations.

 

I haven't read / listened to the full transcript of Shula's media availability yet, but I did see / hear his comment about watching the tape and being more encouraged about some things than about week 2.  Really?

I'm not usually a full-out Shula hater, but the difference between Wilks comments and Shula's comments couldn't be more obvious.

Shula seems to deny responsibility / minimize mistakes and bad play 

We don't have a clear offensive DNA.  We seem to be trying to be too many different things on offense - or forcing Cam into a style of offense in which he may not be at his best.

 

I'm hopeful Panthers defense can turn around much of what went wrong on Sunday.  Sure, we may still be weaker than we'd like in the secondary which is a problem in the NFC South.  But it's not often we'll see guys like Luke & TD have such lousy games.  And Wilks won't put up with it.

[Snake]

There is a reason Shula has always been a loser and not taking responsibility is one of the reasons. 

[dpm0409]

Would rather listen to a Wilks presser than any of our other coaches and it's not even close

[Nate Dogg]

Wilks is a breath of fresh air as a Panthers coach. Doesn't seem to be a human punching bag like Rivera. I doubt he lasts long here before he moves on to greener pastures.

[beastson]

Hearing Wilks talk, makes me get angry at Ronald.

[bobsfoodbasics]

Just promote Wilks to HC

[J.Cage]

Meanwhile on the other side of the ball,

 

Hes encouraged

[rawrunning]

Shula has to go. 

[Fox007]

Rather have Wilks as hc right now regardless. Just on attitude and responsibility alone.  

[rhyslloyd]

No excuses.  Taking responsibility.  Haven't seen that here in a long time.

[Cary Kollins]

The Pats are averaging 440 total yards per game, 340 of those yards on passes. They're averaging 33 points per game, 2nd in the league.

Needless to say, the defense is gonna need a hell of a lot better showing than last week to keep this one close.

[rawrunning]

Someone like Wilks would be good to have on offense to get some discipline instilled on that side of the ball. Shula too busy hanging out in the press box. 

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, dpm0409 said:

Would rather listen to a Wilks presser than any of our other coaches and it's not even close

Right now, I'd rather listen to a Wilks presser than watch our highlights.

Wilks gets it. He's not making excuses. He's not deflecting responsibility. He's saying two things: "my fault" and "it's up to me to fix it".

[outlaw4]

Nice words but we need to back it up on the field. Otherwise, they mean little.