Who's the villain in the story?

[sml1950]

Scheduling preseason games against NE.  Broke his ribs a few years ago and his foot this year.  They’re dirty MFers.

[jfra78]

Why is NFL officiating not in this list?

[Mr. Scot]

5 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

Needing to name a villain is a dramatized view of something that doesn't need to be. 

It's for discussion.

As stated, "no villain" is a valid option. But plenty of people are angry right now.

[Anybodyhome]

A lot of people didn't see the pile of dogshit on their lawn and got their shoes messed up. And although I don't have any insider info nor was I a part of the conversations within the confines of BOA and elsewhere, a couple of very salient points stick with me:

1. As seen on "All Or Nothing," Ron Rivera continued to use the phrase "he gives us the best chance to win" when describing another poor outing by Cam. David Tepper ultimately ordered the benching of Cam Newton after saying something to the effect of, "he can't make the throws."

2. Cam Newton waiting 4 months until December/January to have surgery to repair his foot, knowing it is a 2-3 month rehab process and knowing that he may not be fully recovered come FA and draft time.

3. Hurney's damage to the franchise extends far beyond building a team around Cam Newton. The all too-cliched term "atmosphere" around this team was established by JR, but has been perpetuated by Hurney since JR's departure.

4. Tepper is a businessman and he saw nothing but injured Cam and made the best decision based on the information he had. A lot of which was #2 above.

5. Rhule and Brady- who can blame them if they don't want to start their NFL coaching careers trying to win a road race with a car running on 5 of 8 cylinders.

[davos]

Rivera

Officials

TJ Ward

Buuut..if we want to be on the same page, I'm totally cool with collectively blaming Hurney. 

 

 

[TheMaulClaw]

23 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

David Tepper. He appeared to be ready to move on from Cam Newton from day one. Hindsight will tell us whether he was a fool or a genius.

I believe Tepper wanted to see results from Newton that he never got.

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, davos said:

Rivera

Officials

TJ Ward

Buuut..if we want to be on the same page, I'm totally cool with collectively blaming Hurney. 

I believe you're thinking of TJ Watt.

[Khyber53]

Time to quit hand wringing over this and realize that it just happens. Why didn't Marino get a ring? Whose fault was it that Jim Kelly was a four-time bridesmaid but never the bride? Why does Steve Bartowski get stuck in Atlanta and waste away over his career? Philip Rivers gets screwed in the draft and gets to watch Eli win multiple rings while sitting at home in San Diego?

That's the NFL. It just is what it is. There have been soooo many good players, tons of great ones and a very few that became legends. 

Injuries catch and kill almost all NFL careers. We're the fans, we go on forever. That's just how it all goes. There are no villains, this isn't the WWE.

[davos]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

I believe you're thinking of TJ Watt.

Nope, Ward.  That man got away with 3-4 hits in the SB and Week 1 2016 that really did change the trajectory of things.

[davos]

If Week 1 against Denver went in our favor with the Gano field goal, Cam winning despite the refs letting Denver pummel him and late hit him galore (again), that entire season would have been different. 

[JARROD]

31 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

David Tepper. He appeared to be ready to move on from Cam Newton from day one. Hindsight will tell us whether he was a fool or a genius.

Yeh,..

Tepper said plainly he wanted to make his own “stamp” on the team and build something of his own. Cam was part of the old.  He had already planned on replacing Ron,.. and did so as soon as there was a losing record.

He also said he’s one to rip off a bandaid instead of peeling it. 
 

I get that...  not really evil but Tepper is the driver here.

of course if Cam had been shown to be healthy and came back to have a strong last game last season, plenty of trade suitors would have lined up. 
 

then it would be more controversial.

the big controversy is coming if Cam lands with a team and takes them to the playoffs.

[Mr. Scot]

7 minutes ago, davos said:

Nope, Ward.  That man got away with 3-4 hits in the SB and Week 1 2016 that really did change the trajectory of things.

Gotcha.

[Sgt Schultz]

I won't call any of them villains, because a lot of what happened was due to incompetence.

Mike Shula would be the one I would hold mostly responsible.  That indirectly gets to Rivera.  When you have a mobile QB that you don't protect, and then build an offense around him locking horns with linebackers, you really can't get upset when his body starts to show the wear and tear sooner than you expected.

With Shula, I don't know if it was laziness, incompetence, or both, but he failed to evolve his own offense in any way.  Scot has seen me say before, that Buddy Ryan's offensive philosophy was "we have Randall Cunningham."  Shula and Rivera held the same philosophy with Cam.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Sgt Schultz said:

Scot has seen me say before, that Buddy Ryan's offensive philosophy was "we have Randall Cunningham."  Shula and Rivera held the same philosophy with Cam.

It was pretty much exactly the same approach.

Rivera won more games with it but neither of them won a championship.