Article: Derrick Brown: We want Steve Wilks to be our head coach

[WarPanthers89]

ARTICLE: When the Panthers named Steve Wilks their interim head coach in the wake of Matt Rhule’s firing early this season, team owner David Tepper said that Wilks could hold onto the job on a permanent basis if he does an “incredible job.”

Tepper didn’t specify what would qualify as an incredible job, but going from 1-4 to NFC South champs would make for a pretty good case. The Panthers can do that with wins in the final two weeks of the regular season, but defensive tackle Derrick Brown said on NFL Network that Wilks has already convinced the locker room that he’s the right man for the job.

“I’ll speak for everybody in that locker room and say that we want coach Wilks to be our next head coach,” Brown said. “That’s for sure. I think every single week when we come in, he’s gonna tell you exactly how it is. He doesn’t sugarcoat nothing. He keeps it plain Jane, per se. He lets you know exactly what’s going on. You can be one of the best players, but you walk into that building on Monday and he’ll tell you exactly how he felt about how you played. That level of clarity — that’s exactly what we want.”

Tepper has given no indication about his thoughts regarding Wilks’ chances of retaining the job into next season, but they should be pretty good if the players’ belief in their coach translates to a couple more wins.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/12/28/derrick-brown-we-want-steve-wilks-to-be-our-head-coach/

Edited December 28, 2022 by WarPanthers89

[Castavar]

I think Wilks' job comes down to these last two games and how we perform. Both of our upcoming opponents are BAD teams.

[ADR]

Pretty strong statement to say "I'll speak for every player in that locker room".

Player buy in is half the battle. If we could get a better offensive coordinator and have a good draft Wilkes could do well. I am not sold on Darnold but seeing what Brock friggin Purdy is doing I am not certain a high draft pick on the QBs coming out is the right thing either. I know everyone says its a passing league now, you have to have a franchise Qb, but many teams in the past won Super Bowls without franchise Qbs when all the other pieces were in places namely in the trenches. 

See:Trent Dilfer. Joe Flacco, Nick Foles, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Jim McMahon, Doug Williams, Brad Johnson. 

Great running game, great O-Line, top 10 defense....can still win a Super Bowl

[Tr3ach]

Just now, ADR said:

Pretty strong statement to say "I'll speak for every player in that locker room".

Player buy in is half the battle. If we could get a better offensive coordinator and have a good draft Wilkes could do well. I am not sold on Darnold but seeing what Brock friggin Purdy is doing I am not certain a high draft pick on the QBs coming out is the right thing either. I know everyone says its a passing league now, you have to have a franchise Qb, but many teams in the past won Super Bowls without franchise Qbs when all the other pieces were in places namely in the trenches. 

See:Trent Dilfer. Joe Flacco, Nick Foles, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Jim McMahon, Doug Williams, Brad Johnson. 

Great running game, great O-Line, top 10 defense....can still win a Super Bowl

Can it though?  It doesnt feel like it.  It feels like with the elite offenses these days every defense is going to have a bad game from time to time and our style of offense is going to be very inconsistent against good teams.  We have went 500 against mostly bad teams.  I want to believe in Wilks because I'm pretty sure it's going to almost have to happen now, I'm just not as confident in it as so many people seem to be.  I'm tired of conservative vanilla coaches. 

[rayzor]

you want him to keep being head coach? then don't let him down. don't let there be another steelers type loss.

win games. that's how you keep him. you win games.

[Kuhndog94]

Better win out then. If the players believe, I believe. 

But what I saw against the Steelers wasn't a team that wanted to keep their coach. So they might wanna figure it out in these next few weeks. I hope the lions game is indicative of the team we'll see going forward. 

[Kentucky Panther]

Even if we win out and get obliterated by Dallas in round one, we need to do our research on every possible candidate. There’s no reason not to. Wilks has already had some iffy games in a very short amount of time.  Think about the breath of fresh air an offensive guy would be with our new rookie QB. 

[Catsfan69]

31 minutes ago, Tr3ach said:

Can it though?  It doesnt feel like it.  It feels like with the elite offenses these days every defense is going to have a bad game from time to time and our style of offense is going to be very inconsistent against good teams.  We have went 500 against mostly bad teams.  I want to believe in Wilks because I'm pretty sure it's going to almost have to happen now, I'm just not as confident in it as so many people seem to be.  I'm tired of conservative vanilla coaches. 

If you run it down their throats you limit their possessions. 

Which also limits their rhythm 

Which also limits your d from more opportunities to make a mistake. 

 

Running the ball works

[ADR]

Yeah how quickly we forget. I remember MANY people thought Matt Ruhle, one of the most sought after coaches of that time, with wonder kid Joe Brady running the offense was going to be a breath of fresh air. And are the Qbs in this draft that impressive?? In my opinion you don't hire a guy just because he is supposedly an offensive guy, you hire the best coach and leader of men. We went to 2 Super Bowls and damn near pulled the first out with Jake frigging Delhomme nearly beating Tom terrific, both with defensive coaches. Our offenses were pretty good on those teams. 

[thefuzz]

Just play football and win games, that's how you do this Mr. Brown.

[Donald LaFell]

46 minutes ago, ADR said:

Pretty strong statement to say "I'll speak for every player in that locker room".

Player buy in is half the battle. If we could get a better offensive coordinator and have a good draft Wilkes could do well. I am not sold on Darnold but seeing what Brock friggin Purdy is doing I am not certain a high draft pick on the QBs coming out is the right thing either. I know everyone says its a passing league now, you have to have a franchise Qb, but many teams in the past won Super Bowls without franchise Qbs when all the other pieces were in places namely in the trenches. 

See:Trent Dilfer. Joe Flacco, Nick Foles, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Jim McMahon, Doug Williams, Brad Johnson. 

Great running game, great O-Line, top 10 defense....can still win a Super Bowl

Flacco was a 1st rounder and very good that year 

[rebelrouser]

39 minutes ago, Kuhndog94 said:

Better win out then. If the players believe, I believe. 

But what I saw against the Steelers wasn't a team that wanted to keep their coach. So they might wanna figure it out in these next few weeks. I hope the lions game is indicative of the team we'll see going forward. 

You almost always get a bump after a coach, especially a tool like Rhule, gets fired. Let's not buy the bump and let's not let the players pick the coach. The big question for Wilks is whether he can put together a top staff because this bunch minus oline is not that impressive. 

[SCO96]

10 minutes ago, Catsfan69 said:

If you run it down their throats you limit their possessions. 

Which also limits their rhythm 

Which also limits your d from more opportunities to make a mistake. 

 

Running the ball works

Except when it doesn’t. I love to watch a team with a good running game. But, there are always days when the running game doesn’t click. On those days, the QB and receivers have to step up and make some big plays. We don’t have the passing attack that a team needs to make a deep playoff run. 

If we could get the QB solidified, add a receiving threat at TE, and get consistent play from DJ and TMJ, we would be the odds on favorite to win the NFC South for the next several years.
 

 

[Tr3ach]

22 minutes ago, Catsfan69 said:

If you run it down their throats you limit their possessions. 

Which also limits their rhythm 

Which also limits your d from more opportunities to make a mistake. 

 

Running the ball works

Say that and rewatch the Pittsburgh game, or the Cincinnati game, or the ravens game.  Same oline, running backs, and coaches.  You cant rely on your running game always working.  You cant rely on your defense always getting stops so you can continue running.  It doesnt work anymore like it used to.  Not with all these elite big play offenses.