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Tepper's patience, Rhule's growth & the Panthers' evolution begins in earnest


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When Tepper explained what went wrong last year, he was saying there was "extenuating circumstances".  CMC, Horn and other injuries. Even Sam stepped up after a few games in the game he got hurt. Dallas exposed our weaknesses. Cam didn't have a chance as it was all emotion at that point and that wasn't enough. The only big thing I believe Rhule did wrong, he admitted, not using BC at LT sooner (or the way they brought him along). I even think Erving has the skills to be a good LT, maybe he wasn't coached up. And I think OC Brady didn't help us. He was auditioning for a HC job, not trying to build the Panthers.

He should have at least 4 years as long as we don't tank in 2022. 8 or 9 wins and progress is all I need. I want 10 wins and a wild card.

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With a coach worthy of being fired and the mess in Rock Hill, Tepper had his hands full, albeit his doing.  My take is that he couldn't fight both battles, so keeping Rhule was the easier and cheaper choice. If he improves great, you don't have to eat the contract.  If he still stinks, then you fire him after the season gets rolling when you have some leverage to attract other names. 

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There are some good (and reasonable) points in the OP, but a lot of assumptions.  We have no evidence that Rhule decided to hire experienced assistants versus being told by either Fitts or Tepper to do so.  We have no evidence he gave up any of his roster control voluntarily.  We have no real evidence any of the draft was his doing.

We simply do not know, and we may never know. 

The covid situation made things difficult for him.  Pretty much a complete roster makeover, save a few parts, paring down salary cap mistakes from the previous brain trust, having to bring in a new staff.  All those things were made much more difficult.  But did he bring in “the old buddies” because of that, or did he do it because that is what he does?  He would not be the first coach/manager in any organization who surrounded himself with familiar faces.

I agree with some of the Tepper analysis.  People tend to assume successful business leaders and executives all walk around screaming and looking for heads to roll.  That is a fallacy.  Tepper seems to be more of the line that give people every chance to succeed before giving up.  He did that with Rivera, he did it again with Hurney, and he is doing it now with Rhule.  It is not necessarily fear nor avoiding owning up to a mistake.  It may well be concern over discarding talent too soon that could have/should have/perhaps will succeed.

I’m not at all sold that Rhule is that guy.  My problem is he exhibited every quality of a 6-foot man in 13-feet of water last year.  He mishandled almost every situation he touched.  And I am not one of those who thinks a coach should only have two years.  But there should be evidence of improvement, whether it shows up in wins or just a generally look that things are coming together.  Quite the opposite happened here last year.

He's the Panthers’ coach, and because of that I hope he pulls it together and puts and end to all this.  I’m just not at all optimistic about that happening.

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17 hours ago, poundaway said:

Tepper:   Recall we won we when had this running back that has some talent that got injured...his name is Christian Mccaffrey and then we had a center that got injured....

I believe Tepper believes injuries hurt us a LOT last year.  We lost our number offensive weapon and our first round draft pick, half our OL and we traded away a good TE to try to get the CB back.  How many teams would kick ass after that?  Seriously?  Had we not lost CMC, Horn, half the OL, and Dan Arnold, we would have won at least 2 more games. 

I promise you, if CMC, Horn, half the OL and one of the key receiving targets are eliminated again this year, we are going to lose, I don't care who is at QB.

 

Look up the 2021 Tennessee Titans.

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17 hours ago, poundaway said:

Keep that energy.  We're not going 1-4 or 0-5.   I'm willing to bet avatar for avatar.  I don't even know who we're playing yet and I will take that bet.

hypothetical, assuming division games are stacked at the end like they have been and we start off with something like

Bengals

Bucs

Rams

Ravens 

49ers

what would our record be?  Or swap a couple out and insert the Steelers, Broncos or Browns. 

How many you got us winning out of a 5 game start to schedule that looks like that? 

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10 minutes ago, CRA said:

hypothetical, assuming division games are stacked at the end like they have been and we start off with something like

Bengals

Bucs

Rams

Ravens 

49ers

what would our record be?  Or swap a couple out and insert the Steelers, Broncos or Browns. 

How many you got us winning out of a 5 game start to schedule that looks like that? 

Are you taking the bet?

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16 minutes ago, poundaway said:

Are you taking the bet?

Need who they are playing. 

Bengals, Bucs, Ravens, Rams, 49ers

 Vs

Falcons, Lions, Saints, Falcons, Giants 

I would have 2 different predictions for how we would fair vs those 5 game stretches. 
 

I wouldn’t have them winning 2 vs the first group.  Not sure they could steal even 1.  Second grouping is a different story. 

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1 minute ago, CRA said:

Need who they are playing. 

Bengals, Bucs, Ravens, Rams, 49ers

 Vs

Falcons, Lions, Saints, Falcons, Giants 

I would have 2 different predictions for how we would fair vs those 5 game stretches. 
 

 

You realize, I don't know who they are playing either.

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Just now, poundaway said:

You realize, I don't know who they are playing either.

Yes, you are just making s blind statement.    You guaranteed we wouldn’t start 1-4 despite not knowing who we would play.  

given our opponents, the schedule could easily present itself with very hard start where a 1-4 start could happen.   Just depends what the schedule makers do.  Lot of tough opponents this year 

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