My Takeaways from Tepper's Presser

[Proudiddy]

A few of them are inferred from what was said/intentionally not said, but here we go:

*Rhule was indeed responsible for most, if not all of the roster moves while he was here.  So that should put most of the "Fire Fitterer" crowd on snooze, at least for a little bit...  this was inferred from a question about learning from the experience of giving a HC complete control over roster building and Tepper replied that in the future he definitely thinks more balance is needed in say between HC and GM.  So, as I and many others thought, the bad deals, like Darnold were executed at Rhule's behest.  I think Fitt and the FO staff mainly just did scouting and fished for deals and then presented them to Rhule for approval or rejection, other than ones he sought out himself (like Darnold).

*Wilks fired Snow himself.  Now this one is juicy.  Tepper, when initially asked what went into the decision in firing Snow, said the media would need to ask Wilks in his presser tomorrow.  Another reporter followed that up because of the implications that Wilks needed to be asked about it, and Tepper replied, "Typically a head coach gets to choose his staff."  He again told them it was better to ask Wilks tomorrow.  Yikes.  Also, this would be more confirmation of the Twitter rumor from a few weeks back.  Wilks just pulled a GoT-style coup.

*Despite Rhule having been the main architect of the roster, it sounds very much like Fitterer is on the hot seat as well.  This doesn't make much sense to me, as Tepper essentially confirmed the roster was built under Rhule's direction.  And with that being the case, the hiring of Fitt doesn't make much sense from the beginning outside of scouting purposes.  If he didn't have final say, but is being held accountable for the roster now underperforming, I'm not really understanding this.  And what was the point of hiring him?  Has he even really been a GM to this point then?  And what good would firing him do?

*Tepper gave mostly short answers with a very irritated tone.  He also closed the presser out with very hostile exchanges with Scott Fowler and another reporter.  He seems to regularly read Fowler's pieces and doesn't appreciate them, nor did he want to entertain his question about what the threshold was that finally convinced him to fire Rhule.  The question before that was about the ridiculous amount of turnover in the upper echelons of the FO and the failure to follow through on the Rock Hill site.  It ended the presser on a very awkward, uncomfortable note.  All that being said, I appreciated Tepper accepting responsibility and he gave very thoughtful, nuanced answers regarding fans and their role in all things Panthers.  He offered how he shared the perspective as  a fan because he was one before he became an owner, and he appreciates our passion and desire for success but he really wants to give things room to develop without being impulsive.  But, he did add, which I agree with, that he shouldn't be making any moves driven by fan sentiment.  Everything should be about winning.  

*One thing I particularly didn't like though was Tepper still seems to lack a vision.  When asked what improvement/winning culture looks like, he said "winning more than the last season."  When asked about what was the deciding factor in firing Rhule, he repeatedly said "getting over the hump."  When asked what getting over the hump meant, he said winning.  

Ok, but what does that look like?  How do you get there?  What do you want it to look like?  

He also then repeatedly said we've shown improvement, but we just couldn't get over the hump, and then even cited that we won 5 games two years in a row before this debacle of a season as signs of progress.  He still just seems very tone deaf still and has no clear plan of how to get it on track or what markers he looks for that are definitive signs of progress aside from winning.  To me, this seems very naive and like he's skipping a lot of steps which I don't really feel comfortable with.

*His initial answers sounded like Wilks was just getting these games to finish out the season for that reason and that reason alone...  but the further we got into the presser, he prefaced every question about the next coaching search with the statement that it would be unfair to discuss that because Wilks deserves the rest of this year as an opportunity to earn consideration for the full-time job, and he will be given that opportunity before anything else is considered.  What Tepper said about why he chose Wilks as the interim was also very glowing and encouraging as he called him a leader of men, and essentially a guy that has the respect and the ear of the locker room and a constant pro.

 

 

[chknwing]

I dont think player wise, the team is that far away.  They have been forced into a college vanilla playbook and never bought into it because it was dumb.  The same players playing an NFL scheme will play better because their skill sets will match up better and will be put into a position to make plays.  Also, Mayfield, doesnt fit Mcadoo at all.  Mayfield cant do the dink and dunk offense because hes short thus the batted balls.  Hes a gunslinger, he has better success when he has time to throw the ball down field.

[Sgt Schultz]

IMO, Tepper doesn't need to know how to get to success or be able to define it any deeper than winning.  That is the job of people he hires.

What an owner primarily needs to do is stay out of the way.  The problem with Tepper's reign thus far is not that he has waded into things he needed to stay out of (that we know), but the fact that he 1) set up a division of responsibilities that would make Rube Goldberg proud, and 2) hired Rhule and gave him more power than a coach should have, and more than a guy with no NFL pedigree could handle.  The hiring part of #2 may be 2a, which would be listening to Marty Hurney

I never understood why Rivera was sent packing before Hurney.  I think they both needed to go, but it made sense to dump the GM first, then hire a GM to help find the new coach.  Instead, he did it bass ackwards.

[MtnJax]

Watching some of the presser, Tepper just came off to me as a guy who has always had answers and solutions to his problems but in this instance has no idea how to solve the problem and he’s very uncomfortable with that. That uncomfortableness was written all over his face at the start

[LinvilleGorge]

If you're going to put a guy in an interim role with 11 games left to play, you have to at the very least put forth the act that you're going to give him a chance to earn the job long-term. How is he supposed to win the locker room if you come out and say, "Yeah, this clown is gonna be out on his ass with the other clown as soon as this season is over"?

I mean, let's say Wilks comes in and goes 6-5 down the stretch. Do I expect that? Hell no. But let's say he does. Honestly, I'd say he's earned the job in that case.

[Cookie Lyon]

My takeaway is that this team should've been sold to the Charleston, SC businessman, Ben Navarro, instead of this moron.

At least he finally fired Rhule though...

[Proudiddy]

16 minutes ago, MtnJax said:

Watching some of the presser, Tepper just came off to me as a guy who has always had answers and solutions to his problems but in this instance has no idea how to solve the problem and he’s very uncomfortable with that. That uncomfortableness was written all over his face at the start

This is perfect.  Great way to put it.

[frankw]

If he allows other people who know what they are doing to navigate this process we could improve quickly. If he still wants to be heavily involved we are likely in store for more of the same. When you watch this press conference and his tone and responses especially about Rhule just be sure to remember how eager he was to be in the draft room and give his input. He's tried to put his own personal stamp on things from the jump and we are much worse for it. I have a hard time believing he's pulled a 180 from that. We'll see.

[davos]

Fowler had some cajones to ask what he did haha

[trueblade]

19 minutes ago, Cookie Lyon said:

My takeaway is that this team should've been sold to the Charleston, SC businessman, Ben Navarro, instead of this moron.

At least he finally fired Rhule though...

This times 1000.

My only regret is I can only pie this one time. If I could, I would give you all the pie.

[chknwing]

if you havnt seen it yet, jeebus

[raleigh-panther]

22 minutes ago, Cookie Lyon said:

My takeaway is that this team should've been sold to the Charleston, SC businessman, Ben Navarro, instead of this moron.

At least he finally fired Rhule though...

This 

….a million times 

if ever there was a regional mismatch with an owner it is Tepper and the Carolinas 

he just doesn’t get it …never will, why the treatment of Newton, the disdain for Keep Pounding , the removal of seats where footballs were given away,  mattered 

there was a time when it mattered to be a fan of this team. There was a bond with the players.  No more

and he just doesn’t get it, bless his heart. 

[PghPanther]

My takeaway is the guy better start losing some weight..............man is it me or does he look like he's really apple shaped out his middle since the signing days of Rhule?

[TheSpecialJuan]

28 minutes ago, Cookie Lyon said:

My takeaway is that this team should've been sold to the Charleston, SC businessman, Ben Navarro, instead of this moron.

At least he finally fired Rhule though...

The NFL wanted Tepper this was the leagues decision