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It's not JUST coaching.

Dragoon11

By Dragoon11,
in Carolina Panthers

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Dragoon11 Proficient

Dragoon11

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First and foremost, as a disclaimer, I AM NOT defending Rhule and Co. Their situational play calling obviously speaks for itself game after game. This team is losing too many close games. Some of the things I see, and try not to fry me too bad, these are just my opinions, are: I remember back in 2015 when Cam had his MVP season, Panthers went to the SB and we were on top of the world. Even then, our offense would be very inconsistent at times, the difference being, DEFENSIVE play making ability. Real simple, Panthers won the turnover battles and it wasn't even close. How many times did they leave the offense a short field or score themselves? Today the Panthers gave up the ball on the opening kickoff and opening offensive series spotting the Giants 6 points, lucky that's all it was but it was the difference in the game. Frankie Luvu had a pick six go right through his hands! Panthers are not forcing enough turnovers on defense PERIOD! Conversely, they are not making enough big plays on offense.

What I see is a team that does not have enough big play making ability yet, minus CMC and maybe DJ on offense, same can be said on defense. Brown had a good game and Burns had 2 sacks, but Burns needs to be a CONSTANT disrupter, much like TJ Watt or the way Julius Peppers could just take over a game, and of course Luke. Seems like Burns doesn't make big plays in the biggest impactful moments, yeah, he gets his numbers, but when? This team desperately needs big time play makers on the field MAKING big time plays, yet we're just not seeing that. We saw Anderson last week on offense and we saw CMC bust one and DJ come up with a couple of big plays today, but we need it on both sides of the ball more consistently when it matters most. I guess the team needs more passion? They need to be more clutch, IDK? Is that just a product of coaching? Not putting players in that position? I'm sure it plays a part. But what happened when the Panthers went down the field on offense and took a 13-6 lead? The defense let the Giants off the hook. A turnover there... stripped sack, interception, forced fumble, could have given the offense a short field with momentum and COULD have changed the whole game. AGAIN, (coaching disclaimer) the coaching staff could have screwed it up IDK. To me, it just seems like this team (the players) are not stepping up in the moments they need it the most. Defense held Giants run game to 0 net yards in first half, 103 in the second half, and no forced turnovers! The Panthers need play making leaders on the field making plays in those moments that determine the games. Most NFL games come down to a 1-3 turnover margin and/or 1-3 KEY plays.

I'm as sick to my stomach as all of you at the constant just coming up short, all the losses piling up, and I realize there's way more to it. Sundays suck anymore as a Panthers fan. I do not like some of the situational play calling by the coaching staff, especially when we get in the red zone. No, I AM NOT a Rhule fan by any stretch, but at some point players have to step up. Just my opinion.

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MillionDollarCam Grand Master

MillionDollarCam

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Players do have to step up, after all, I can’t blame Rhule for Hubbard fumbling and for Shi Smith dropping passes… but I can certainly blame him for not making changes.

Without any sort of changes by the staff, the Panthers had a chance to win today’s game. Just imagine if the Panthers coaches didn’t put Hubbard on kick returns, or if Rhule gave TMJ or Higgins a chance, or if McAdoo didn’t abandon the run in the red zone, or if Snow didn’t drop Burns back into coverage every third down, etc…

These players can only be as good as the situation they are put in and as of right now they are being put in shitty situations.

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Dragoon11 Proficient

Dragoon11

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1 minute ago, MillionDollarCam said:

Players do have to step up, after all, I can’t blame Rhule for Hubbard fumbling and for Shi Smith dropping passes… but I can certainly blame him for not making changes.

Without any sort of changes, the Panthers had a chance to win todays game. Just imagine if the Panthers coaches didn’t put Hubbard on kick returns, or if Rhule gave TMJ or Higgins a chance, or if McAdoo didn’t abandon the run in the red zone, or if Snow didn’t drop Burns back into coverage every third down.

These players can only be as good as the situation they are put in and as of right now they are being put in shitty situations.

And I guess that's what I am asking, is it mostly just the coaches being THAT inept at putting our play makers in a position to make plays? Because if it really is, Rhule should be fired Monday honestly.

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Jackie Lee Grand Master

Jackie Lee

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This roster would have won today with different coaching, including the head coach making better personnel decisions. Higgins and D'onta should have been on the field. The only positive was McCall looked great, and he only got in because Rhules favorite T-rex Bravvion got injured so that was just a fluke positive. 

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MillionDollarCam Grand Master

MillionDollarCam

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3 minutes ago, Dragoon11 said:

And I guess that's what I am asking, is it mostly just the coaches being THAT inept at putting our play makers in a position to make plays? Because if it really is, Rhule should be fired Monday honestly.

You might have missed the quote but in Rhule’s PC, he was asked why we didn’t see Higgins or TMJ. He answered that we didn’t need to make changes, we just needed to keep battling.

That is a dinosaur way of thinking in my opinion and it’s a major issue with this staff. I get they’ve spent all week game planning and they want to make that game plan work, but too often than not, today’s NFL coaches wait entirely too long to make adjustments and in Rhule’s case, he doesn’t make them at all.

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Dragoon11 Proficient

Dragoon11

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2 minutes ago, frankw said:

Two losses in two seasons to two different NY Giant coaching staffs. Yeah it's the coaching.

Well, I think that's the way I'm leaning too for sure. But, it seems there are two camps here, one that says it's just coaching, the other that says it's coaching PLUS it's coaching and we do not have a roster to win, partially Fitterer's fault... I'm just sort of playing devil's advocate. I honestly think Fitterer has made sound decisions (for the most part).

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