Dan Henning > Jeff Davidson

[Cyberjag]

Henning has forgotten more about running an NFL offense than Davidson knows. He never had a good line, and rarely had good running backs, and look at what he did. To be fair though, I think the poster who said he was burned out here might be right. No doubt he's better than what we currently have though.

Trgovac seemed burned out too, enough so that he took a lesser paying job to move out of Charlotte. He replaced Del Rio, who a lot of people like better, and in turn he has been replaced by Ron Meeks, who apparently forgot to teach things as basic as tackling in camp.

I think Meeks can be ok though. He's basically running Fox's system, just like he ran Dungy's in Indy. His emphasis is a little different, but it suits our personnel better than Trgo's did.

As far as Davidson goes, I can't think of any way to create a faster and more immediate improvement than to replace him with a sharp offensive mind. Even if we do have to use his playbook, get someone in who can make an adjustment at the half.

That won't happen though, and not because Fox is stubborn. It won't because there's no guarantee that the next guy would be any better and it's generally a bad idea to make any major change mid-season. If we were 1-7 I could see it, but not right now.

[rayzor]

Henning has forgotten more about running an NFL offense than Davidson knows. He never had a good line, and rarely had good running backs, and look at what he did. To be fair though, I think the poster who said he was burned out here might be right. No doubt he's better than what we currently have though.

Trgovac seemed burned out too, enough so that he took a lesser paying job to move out of Charlotte. He replaced Del Rio, who a lot of people like better, and in turn he has been replaced by Ron Meeks, who apparently forgot to teach things as basic as tackling in camp.

I think Meeks can be ok though. He's basically running Fox's system, just like he ran Dungy's in Indy. His emphasis is a little different, but it suits our personnel better than Trgo's did.

As far as Davidson goes, I can't think of any way to create a faster and more immediate improvement than to replace him with a sharp offensive mind. Even if we do have to use his playbook, get someone in who can make an adjustment at the half.

That won't happen though, and not because Fox is stubborn. It won't because there's no guarantee that the next guy would be any better and it's generally a bad idea to make any major change mid-season. If we were 1-7 I could see it, but not right now.

all this goes back to what i mentioned in another thread.

one way or another it's fox's fault, especially if hiring davidson was his idea.

either davidson was a bad hire or he's a good hire and being poorly managed. you have to look at henning here. was henning bad here and all of the sudden became a creative mind while here or was he that creative mind here but was just put in a box and limited by fox?

it's hard to tell who is at fault here for sure but the blame has to ultimately come down on fox. it's his team and it isn't performing up to par.

[X-Clown]

I know it was a long time ago (three weeks) but has everyone forgotten the crappy playcalling of Henning in the 4th quarter of the Dolphins-Colts game? And now we should never have let him go? Rrrrright.

[rayzor]

I know it was a long time ago (three weeks) but has everyone forgotten the crappy playcalling of Henning in the 4th quarter of the Dolphins-Colts game? And now we should never have let him go? Rrrrright.

i don't necessarily think we should have kept henning.

he isn't playcalling now like he was then (in carolina). what he's doing now is creative. what he was doing here was predictable. davidson's playcalling, predictable. how would he be with another coach who wasn't so controlling (if that is the problem) we might not get a chance to see.

[Pillow Pants]

Henning was a good OC for a long time. The last few years he was here were bad years for him and the rest of the team. He was let-go and has a new job with a different team. How can anyone try to draw a similarity when the only thing thats the same is Henning. Its apples and oranges! Continue your mental masterbation.

[Fireball77]

Henning has forgotten more about running an NFL offense than Davidson knows. He never had a good line, and rarely had good running backs, and look at what he did.

I am not a Henning hater, I respect his knowledge and never called for his head that I remember. Where he has the distinct advantage right now IMO is his vast experience. I agree that he didn't always have great personnel to work with and he does seem to do a decent job calling plays around those deficiencies. IE 2006.

When Henning was with the Jets, he was not the playcaller when Charlie Weis was there because according to Weis (who was), Parcells believed that Henning wouldn't take well to being overruled by his HC whereas Parcells could feel more free to do that with Weis. So the Fox effect? Unsure.

Davidson has far less experience and he also has been suffering this year from poor field position. I cut both he and Henning a break for that...but Davidson moreso because he doesn't have the wealth of experience Henning does.

[Davidson Deac II]

I will say that Davidson has more talent to work with than Henning had, for the most part. Henning probably had more talent in 03. But after that, he never had 3 good receivers to work with and not much of a running game.

[Mesmer]

There's plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball for this team. Smitty and Moose can still get it done, you've got Deangelo and Stewart in the backfield.. Rosario and King are playing great, the O-Line is better than it used to be years ago, etc.

Granted Delhomme isn't the QB he was in 2005 or whatever, but there's way too many times when I question the playcalling. Obviously it's Fox at this point. We know this. But the idea of beating your head against the wall and running against 8 man fronts? We need a new coach. That is not going to cut it against an NFL team that doesn't suck terribly.

[ant2125]

That is all.

Was there ever any real doubt by anyone with sense that this wasn't the case. If Parcells thinks Dan can get it done, that in it self is good enough.

[monstercat]

This thread makes me laugh. I defended Henning before he was fired and was called a lot of nasty names for it. As for Davidson, I'm willing to cut him a break because he's still learning to be a full time play caller, and I liked the fact that he stuck with the run Sunday regardless of how many fans complain about it. He still has a lot to prove though.

And BTW, the Panthers offense did pretty well against Ryan's defense when Henning was here too. Even in 06 when Delhomme had a rag arm, he made big plays against the Ravens and beat them.

[CharlotteBeer.com]

Most of our offense's success last year came not from playcalling, but from play executing. Williams and Stewart masked our poor offensive schemes by making plays. Imagine if we had an offense in plays that actually benefitted the players, rather than vice versa? I think the same could be said for Smith for the most part. Take a look at the highlights from last year and tell me that they worked because they were brilliantly designed plays that took advantage of our player's strengths.

I'm not trying to totally discredit our offensive coordinator or playcalling, because you cannot argue with last year's results. But you see what happens when teams have figured us out and the running game isn't working. This offense, whether it's being led by Davidson or Fox, grinds to a halt.

[KatsAzz]

The offense is struggling because of the poor run blocking of the offensive line, period.

Davidson is an average coordinator, we could do much worse, and likely would do worse if we tried to replace him.

Defensively, I like what Meeks has brought, attitude. Sure he's running what John Fox wants, but when two minds think alike, they work better together, which I believe is starting to happen. The players are buying in (and healing up)

While our defense isn't an attacking front, they are blitzing now... effectively. Which along with a refreshing dose of tenacity, is starting to warm me over to Meeks.

Minus a few plays here and there we are running the same basic offense that we have for the past several years. Basically from what I see it seems like Fox is so afraid to be aggressive, both on offense and defense that he plays a very soft game. Granted we have seen some new things from Davidson but that isn't necessarily a good thing. For example, I can't recall ever seeing Moose running a streak down the field like we have seen a few times lately.

As far as Meeks goes, its hard to say how much different he will be considering we have only played 4 games so far. I like his style and philosophy more that Trgo, but if Fox doesn't let him coach his way then its kind of a moot point. I think its a little early to rate Meeks but we should have a clearer picture towards the end of the season.

[CatMan72]

Last year, Davidson was lauded by most fans. This year, he is a goat. Yet he hasn't changed.

This, it's hard to pass judgement on the OC when the QB is turning the ball over multiple times per game.

[panthers55]

Before we crown Henning, lets look at the numbers.

In points they are 15th, yards 15th, passing yards 28th, and rushing 1st.

Pretty typical Henning. The issue is how bad the Panthers offense has looked this year not how great Miami is at this point.