Peter King talks David Tepper

[Mr. Scot]

From the latest FMIA...

Tepper Troubles

It wasn’t particularly surprising that Carolina owner David Tepper fired coach Frank Reich last Monday. It’s Tepper’s M.O. In the last 48 months, Tepper has fired three full-time head coaches in mid-season. After 28 games of ownership, he dismissed Ron Rivera. He fired Matt Rhule 38 games into his seven-year contract. Now he fired Reich after just 11 games. Tepper also owns the MLS franchise Charlotte FC, and in its two years of existence, he has fired both head coaches. This means:

None of Tepper’s five head coaches has lasted as long as 2.5 seasons.

His five head coaches in two sports have lasted an average of 29 games under his ownership, which began in 2018.

Tepper willingly sold the farm to draft quarterback Bryce Young in April, then fired the two coaches in place to nurture and develop him, Reich and QB coach Josh McCown, after 10 months on the job—even though Young liked and trusted both coaches in the midst of a disastrous season marked by one of the leakiest offensive lines in football.

An owner whose tutelage in the game involved nine years as a minority owner of the Steelers has now forgotten everything he saw in Pittsburgh. Tepper has employed three head coaches and three interim coaches in the past four calendar years. The Steelers have employed three head coaches in the last 54 years.

Tepper is Carolina’s biggest impediment to success.

It’s easy, and justifiable, for an owner to be impatient and angry at being 1-10 after trading up to pick a quarterback with the top pick in the draft. But intelligent people who understand the market and world they’re living in should understand what it takes to succeed in it. Tepper doesn’t. His kneejerk reaction is: We stink, and the quarterback we passed on is setting the league on fire, and our quarterback looks like he’s a JV player. Heads must roll. The specter of C.J. Stroud’s overwhelming success in turning around Houston overnight after Young went one and Stroud two in the draft should have zero to do with Carolina’s decision-making. But let’s be real. An emotional owner like Tepper has to find the juxtaposition between his QB and Houston’s unacceptable. So Reich walks the plank.

The Panthers won five of their last eight games last year, which led some in Carolina to think the franchise, with some good defensive pieces, was just a quarterback away from contention. Let’s look how they won those five games. Carolina rushed for an average of 226 yards per game in those five wins, an astounding 5.1 yards per rush—after trading Christian McCaffrey. More astounding: Carolina had a fifties-era run-pass ratio of 69-31, crazy at a time when the average rushing rate is about 41 percent per game. The Panthers didn’t trade a huge ransom to be a counter-culture running team. Changing to a passing team, particularly after trading the number one receiver as part of the package to draft Young, wasn’t going to happen overnight.

Changing a football philosophy takes time. Chuck Noll was 1-13 his first year in Pittsburgh, Bill Walsh 2-14 in his first year in San Francisco, Jimmy Johnson 1-15 in his first year in Dallas. They went on to win 10 Super Bowls, total, with those teams. Not saying Reich would have won anything, but how can you know, 10 months into his tenure? (In Detroit, Dan Campbell in his first 11 games was 0-10-1; he’s 20-14 since.)

Young hasn’t played well overall. But he’s also been under significant pressure consistently. Over his first 11 games, he’s the only regular starter this year to have faced pressure on at least a third of his pass-drops each game, per Next Gen Stats. Not healthy for a good passing game, particularly after trading your best receiver. One more Next Gen negative: Carolina left tackle Ikem Ekwonu has allowed the fourth-most pressures (62) among all offensive linemen—and center Bradley Bozeman is worst in the league at his position in sacks (eight) and pressures (40) allowed.

There’s one other thing, as told to me by one NFL offensive coach with a long history in the league: “One thing these owners who fire people quickly don’t understand is what it takes to build a team, particularly a team with a rookie quarterback. The quarterback comes in his first year after the draft, and it’s a short offseason, and if he’s going to start right away, it’s an accelerated process. So you go through that first year, and you’re looking forward to correcting all his mistakes and continuing to build him up in a full off-season in year two. So you fire his head coach who I’m sure was pretty hands-on and his quarterback coach in the middle of his first year, and he works with other people for the rest of that year, and then everybody gets fired, and then there’s a third group that comes in to coach the young quarterback. I mean, maybe they’ll keep the coaches who stayed after Reich, but I doubt it. So the young quarterback getting coached by three different sets of people in his first 12 months as your franchise quarterback. How is that healthy?”

It isn’t. It’s lunacy.

What is bothersome about Tepper is he camped out in Matt Rhule’s driveway in Waco, Texas, waiting for him to come back from vacation with his family in January 2020, just so he could get the first shot at hiring him. He gave Rhule a rich seven-year contract, and fired him a month into the third season. He hired Reich, who taught Carson Wentz in his best year in Philly, who was hands-on with Nick Foles in the Super Bowl year, who had playoff years with Andrew Luck and Philip Rivers in Indy, and then he got dumb in his first 10 months in Carolina. How does Tepper entrust him on a clear rebuild with a patchwork offensive line and after trading the number one receiver—and then fire him when the team is awful three months in?

I feel for the fans in Carolina. The Panthers will have to either franchise or overpay their best player, edge rusher Brian Burns, a free agent in March, to stay on this sinking ship. After dealing McCaffrey and D.J. Moore in the last 14 months, they’ve got massive offensive holes and their only proven, reliable receiver, Adam Thielen, will be 34 next opening day. The way to not fix things is with impatience, which is Tepper’s best trait.

The Panthers are miles from hopelessness, and the captain of the ship leads the league in panic. He’s Steinbrenner without the winning. Now the question is: Is there anyone in his life, or in the Panthers’ organization, who can keep David Tepper from driving this franchise off a cliff?

Edited December 4, 2023 by Mr. Scot

[Tbe]

Was just about to post this. 
 

By firing Frank when he did, Tepper has made himself one of the most famous owners in the NFL…and not in a good way.

[t96]

Agree with him. I wasn’t a fan of Reich in the first place but to only give him 11 games is completely ridiculous. Also Tepper preached a 5 year plan with Rhule and didn’t even give him 3 years. It takes time to build something but Tepper expect it to happen overnight which is indeed lunacy

[PanthersGTI]

I just hope this is rock bottom. I don't see how it can get any worse then this no matter who is here next year. I guess the defense is going to get worse once Burns is gone. 

 

A note : I don't think any of these firings were bad ( I don't know anything about soccer ). Rivera had to go, he still isn't a winning coach. Rhule sucked and Reich did too. I am glad he got rid of Reich early rather then see himself prove he isn't a good HC again next year. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by PanthersGTI

[Tbe]

Also from King…

The Christian McCaffrey trade. Sunday was his 25th Niner game since the trade from Carolina last fall. He’s given San Francisco 2,920 rushing/receiving yards and 30 touchdowns, in exchange for the 61st, 93rd, 132nd picks in 2023 and approximately the 165th in 2024. Some trade, John Lynch.

[Tbe]

Just now, PanthersGTI said:

I just hope this is rock bottom. I don't see how it can get any worse then this no matter who is here next year. I guess the defense is going to get worse once Burns is gone. 

Worse is having this same offense with a D that is giving up 30+ a game.

[MGH1989]

Bryce haters are gonna be mad about the bit on Bryce’ protection. 

[45catfan]

-Moral of the story: Frank was a dinosaur, but we were playing 1950's ball last year during our winning streak as people are now lamenting letting Wilkes walk and Reich was expected to work miracles in year 1 while he apparently forgot how to teach QBs.

[The Natural]

Optics be damned. Firing Reich wasn't a mistake, HIRING him in the first place was.

[45catfan]

1 minute ago, The Natural said:

Optics be damned. Firing Reich wasn't a mistake, HIRING him in the first place was.

Frank would likely agree with you.  He should have waited on a better option.

[uncfan888]

Fowler is so petty right now haha. He's so mad they didn't let him ask a question last week 

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, uncfan888 said:

Fowler is so petty right now haha. He's so mad they didn't let him ask a question last week 

He's not wrong, though.

(not even a little)

[uncfan888]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

He's not wrong, though.

(not even a little)

It's just funny to see him so upset. Just like that tweet about horn being benched when anyone with a brain knew it wasn't because of performance 

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, uncfan888 said:

It's just funny to see him so upset. Just like that tweet about horn being benched when anyone with a brain knew it wasn't because of performance 

I get that, but I don't know that any of us would feel different having to deal with Tepper.

Hell, a good portion of us dislike him intensely without ever having met the man.