John Fox saved his job...

[firstdayfan]

I honestly don't care what kind of comments are made about this but in my opinion Fox has saved his job already. He showed faith in Jake and Jake has played well the last few weeks. He has kept this team together and many of the guys who said he has lost this team are completely insane. Look at Buffalo, Cleveland, and Oakland...those are examples of teams where the coach has lost the players. Since the bye week we are 4-2 and had it not been for a couple of turnovers in the Buffalo game we would be 5-1 and 5-4 overall. We have beaten the Cardinals and the Falcons in that stretch and gave probably the best team in the NFC a run for their money on the road.

This team is playing hard and they are playing tough. Fox can't be blamed for Jake having a poor start or special team guys not being in the right place. He has turned the defense around from last season and finally established a running game that is feared around the league. When this team plays like it did last weekend they are tough to beat. I understand that he is conservative and he doesn't make adjustments quick enough or at all but one thing is for sure...his teams always play hard and we generally have a chance to win at the end of most games.

If we fire Fox then we have to start from scratch, if we keep him and let him go out and spend some cash then we might as easily make a trip to the playoffs next season. And I'm not saying that the playoffs aren't completely out of the question this season. Just consider what would happen if Atlanta falls flat on their face without Turner then we could be looking at a showdown with the Giants for the other wildcard spot. The saints will probably rest their players in week 17 so that should be a win (a cheap one, but a win). So that means if we can beat the Dolphins this week then we have the Jets and Bucs before we probably get beat by the Patriots (although they aren't nearly as good as they used to be) then we face Minnesota at home which will be tough and then a big showdown with the Giants that I think we can win. Then the Gimmie at home against the Saints. I'm thinking we could finish 9-7 and just squeek into the playoffs, and if not then we came pretty damn close.

Bottom line is that Fox saved his job because he has his team playing very well right now and we still have a legitimate shot at the playoffs. I don't care what happen in the first three games of the season we aren't a franchise that should fire coaches after a 7 or better win season.

[Mr. Scot]

I'm not ready to go that far just yet.

[Skew]

I'm not ready to go that far just yet.

You should start yet another Panthers new coach thread.

[Rented Mule]

I honestly don't care what kind of comments are made about this but in my opinion Fox has saved his job already...

Well, you've got to believe that there are five games left that are winnable the way they're playing now....

1. Miami

2. Jets

3. Bucs

4. Giants

5. Saints (they will be resting players)

9-7 could be just enough to keep him here another year.

[Mr. Scot]

The remaining schedule:

Dolphins (winnable)

@ Jets (winnable)

Buccaneers (very winnable)

@ Patriots (unlikely)

Vikings (highly unlikely, unless Father Time catches up to Favre)

@ Giants (seems winnable now, didn't a few weeks ago)

Saints (depends; are they going for 16-0 or resting for the playoffs)

The Bucs game is the only one I'd feel confident about. The rest are still up in the air for me.

There's enough winnable games there to make 7-9 reachable, though not necessarily likely. You then have to go back to the question of how many wins saves his job (or how many losses sinks it).

[Wither]

The remaining schedule:

Dolphins (winnable)

@ Jets (winnable)

Buccaneers (very winnable)

@ Patriots (unlikely)

Vikings (highly unlikely, unless Father Time catches up to Favre)

@ Giants (seems winnable now, didn't a few weeks ago)

Saints (depends; are they going for 16-0 or resting for the playoffs)

The Bucs game is the only one I'd feel confident about. The rest are still up in the air for me.

There's enough winnable games there to make 7-9 reachable, though not necessarily likely. You then have to go back to the question of how many wins saves his job (or how many losses sinks it).

A win against the Vikings is more likely than a win against the Patriots, IMO. I think both are going to be more winnable the closer they get, just like with the Giants.

[Mr. Scot]

A win against the Vikings is more likely than a win against the Patriots, IMO. I think both are going to be more winnable the closer they get, just like with the Giants.

I'd feel better about the Pats game if it weren't in Foxboro.

We did okay against the Falcons this week, but I'm not sure the Falcons are as good a team as people thought they were. Against better teams, minus both Jordan Gross and Thomas Davis, it's hard to be confident.

[natty]

Vikings - will be a tough game but home field might give enough for a W

Pats - their weaknesses line up well with our strengths

Giants - aren't showing they're an elite team that were to start off

Saints - we gave them a run for their money in the dome, again home field could prove to be the difference

[Superadiabatic]

We can decide if Fox has saved his job at the end of the season. If we keep up the level of play of the last couple of weeks, then yes, he's safe. If this is a nice midseason surge that fades and we finish 0-4 ... then he's not safe at all.

[Sam Mills Fan]

A coach shouldn't be fired after a season with 7 wins? What is it about that number that's so f'ing sacred to people here? We were TWELVE AND FOUR last season and returned the same team. Am I missing something here? This team should be a Super Bowl contender, not a pussy 7-9 team. 7-9 is worse than being awful, at least people talk about your team when you're truly terrible. 7-9? Nobody cares about you. You're not good, you're bad, but not horrible.

We've never had back-to-back winning seasons in John Fox's eight years here. We're practically guaranteed to not have one this season either. That would mean that Fox wouldn't have a chance at back-to-back winning seasons until 2011. That's an entire decade without back-to-back winning seasons and not a single playoff win since January 2006. We wouldn't have a chance at a playoff win until January 2011. That's five years.

Going from 12-4 to 7-9 with the same team, going a full decade without back-to-back winning seasons, going a half-decade without a playoff WIN....THAT is all it takes for Fox to get another year?

[Mr. Scot]

Vikes have the Williams Wall on the line, Jared Allen off the edge. Antoine Winfield can do at least a passable job of covering Smith, especially with the pass rush they'll likely be able to generate on a depleted Panthers O-line.

There's a good chance we'll be minus Brad Hoover too. And on the flip side, with their O-line, and with Thomas Davis out, I'm not liking our chances of stopping Adrian Peterson.

Vikes game just seems like the least winnable of the bunch to me.

[Mr. Scot]

A coach shouldn't be fired after a season with 7 wins? What is it about that number that's so f'ing sacred to people here? We were TWELVE AND FOUR last season and returned the same team. Am I missing something here? This team should be a Super Bowl contender, not a pussy 7-9 team. 7-9 is worse than being awful, at least people talk about your team when you're truly terrible. 7-9? Nobody cares about you. You're not good, you're bad, but not horrible.

We've never had back-to-back winning seasons in John Fox's eight years here. We're practically guaranteed to not have one this season either. That would mean that Fox wouldn't have a chance at back-to-back winning seasons until 2011. That's an entire decade without back-to-back winning seasons and not a single playoff win since January 2006. We wouldn't have a chance at a playoff win until January 2011. That's five years.

Going from 12-4 to 7-9 with the same team, going a full decade without back-to-back winning seasons, going a half-decade without a playoff WIN....THAT is all it takes for Fox to get another year?

It's almost 500, and since Fox has hit the 7-9 mark in most of his "off" seasons (8-8 in one) it's expected that as long as he doesn't get any worse, he could be safe.

May not like it, but there is logic to it.

[Sam Mills Fan]

There's only logic in it if you think that "almost" hitting .500 just a season after going 12-4 with the same team is acceptable.

[Sam Mills Fan]

And let's not forget our mysterious quarterback situation for 2010. If we have 35-year-old Jake Delhomme out there or a rookie quarterback, my expectations for success in 2010 aren't exactly going to be that high.