After Cooling Down, The Overarching Question Remains: How Does Shula Keep His Job?

[klumme]

Ahh the " look what he have to work with" card... But mostly the same players were a top  O  the two season before Shula.

 

We need more talent on O no doubt about it... But the players already on the team has shown the can produce.

 

 

 

[Jangler]

I meant to quote catfang. Not sure what hap here.

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you hit the time traveling quote button.

[lightsout]

Look at our pass attempts compared to a lot of the other playoff calibre teams. It wouldn't be an issue to run so much if it worked...

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[caatfan]

Some here require that the Panthers have a coach that 'needs to be fired'. Shula fills that need currently, so until another 'bad hire' shows up, Shula can't get the boot. 

 

Regarding play calling, I do find all those redzone attempts to shove it up the middle disturbing. 2 TD's instead of one FG would have been a big game changer.

[Snake]

I think if Rivera wants to keep his job he needs to fire Shula. At some point Shula will make his seat hot.

[MadHatter]

The only issue I had with the playcalling yesterday was with our two drives where we were inside the 5.  The formations and plays there were terrible....went jumbo and ran it into the teeth of the SF defense.

[EightyNine]

Winning can hide some of your weaknesses, and that might be the case with our offense.  Our offense was decent at times, but not nearly explosive or consistent enough. Even if you think Mike Shula does a good job, I hope no one thinks our offense isn't a weakness for us.  Consistent playoff teams dont have offenses that rank near the bottom.  So we need to fix something. Everyone has been saying forever that we need a big physical target. I like Greg Olsen a lot, but i wish he was more physical than he is, not even just as a blocker, but as a route runner too.  We just need a few more reliable weapons.

 

This is what we need to make the next step.  Our offense needs a lot of improvement.  Oline and WR, should be some of the top priorites.

 

We did drop off offensively from the last two years though, and you could argue that we have better receivers this year.  So maybe we need a new OC too..

[rico6]

For Shula to keep his job, DG needs to sign every possible offensive upgrade he can afford.

[Nate Dogg]

If someone went through every game and calculated every team's percentage of goal-to-go drives converted into touchdowns, I guarantee we are close to last in the league!

 

Shula needs to go. Take the restrictions off of cam and let him air it out.

[davos]

The thing to ask is even if we had a formidable right line and weapons, is this offense an effective one to use Cam Newton in? 

 

I just don't like our playbook.  It's not even about execution but the actual plays that our drafted up for this team.  We're clearly trying to be this mistake free/methodical/traditional style offense, yet we don't run misdirections, counters, and screens enough or at the right times.  And the routes our receivers have to run our either terribly executed, poorly planned, or a combo of both.  The lack of plays where a WR/TE catches the ball in stride on a slant or post is telling.  We just aren't able to score at will and that's a huge part of being succesful in today's NFL: scoring when you need to.     

 

I like what it seems they're trying to do, but really don't like our OC or offensive personel outside of Cam, Kalil, our left OL and Tolbert.   This coming offseason will tell a lot about the offense Gettleman and Ron want to build.  

  

[Proudiddy]

Rivera's not going to fire Shula, and Gettleman is far more likely to prefer Shula's style of offense to someone like Chud's given his background with the Giants and the way their offense is run. I seriously think anyone looking for Gettleman to push Shula out will be severely disappointed.

 

So, you can either choose to look at the film and see some playcalling failings mixed in with some poor player execution and accept both can stand to grow and improve but neither are hopeless, and in fact have done a better than expected job given a dearth of offensive talent outside of our lone elite talent, or. . .

 

You can make a million fire Shula threads all offseason and choose to be pessimistic over a 12-4 season that was a few poor flags, defensive gaffes and offensive miscues from continuing.

 

I'll stick with the former, since it's the only viable option.

 

FP, we know we have no say in what happens.  It's just a medium for us to express our opinions, and by overwhelming majority, the fanbase wants to upgrade the offensive coordinator.

 

Of course our opinions are of little consequence to the actual inner workings and personnel decisions, but it's worth discussing.  Otherwise, none of us would be here.

 

A couple of counterpoints to your post though.

 

Agreed, GMan is much more inclined to go with a conventional-style offense over what Chud was running.  But, as I said, there is a happy medium, and most likely, his name is Norv Turner.  All of the downfield fun without all of the cutesy gimmicks.  And to your point about his history and the offensive philosophy while in New York...  Yes, it was conventional, but they didn't handicap Eli either.  In fact, it could be argued that Eli was given a little too much autonomy in their offense at times.  He was allowed to sling it everywhere -  and AGAIN, there aren't many, if any, QBs in the NFL that have Cam's ability (in both running and passing).  If you can let Eli erratically throw it all over the field, you certainly can find an OC to let Cam do his thing in the passing game.

 

Obviously, I don't expect the organization to make a move.  From the top to the bottom, we have a loyalty problem to a fault, more often than not.  It's just my conclusion that Shula greatly hindered us offensively, and we could've been much more dominant had he opened things up.  I don't foresee him making any tweaks going into next year either.

 

[Growl]

For Shula to keep his job, DG needs to sign every possible offensive upgrade he can afford.

So if we have good starter quality talent at every position, then we'll be okay? It doesn't work like this.

Good coaches can maneuver around deficiencies on their team. It's why people look so silly whenever they try to defend Shula by loudly prattling "EXECUTION" or "BUT BYRON BELL"

Shula does not understand the strengths and weaknesses of his team, he doesn't understand the strengths and weakness of opposing teams, and he doesn't understand how to respond to the changing tide of a game. And he sure as heck doesn't know to let your QB keep winning you a game when he's hot but I guess that go along with not knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

It's still inconceivable how we dropped so far offensively with virtually the exact same offensive personnel.

Shula does not deserve to reap the benefits of having a team filled with great players at every single position. That isn't his job. His job is to be able to make the offense go without them. Any poster on this board could go out and look like a don coryellesque revolutionary with 11 good players on the field.

[coralreefer_1]

 Seems to me Shulas playcalling has been a result more from what our O is capable of and more importantly, has shown they can accomplish rather than as some are suggesting holding back/bad calls.

 

We can debate all we want, but ill go back some pages to the beginning, when some said we were a 12-4 team based on DEFENSE, and then another replied that before Shula our offense was SOO much better. Let us be reminded that the offense before Shula was not a product of great playcalling as much as it was backed by Cam being the player he is. If we have to credit the defense for the 12-4 season, then we have to give Cam the vast majority of the credit for what we were prior to Shula. In short, other than Cam...what is the difference between the O of last, and the O of this year?

 

Shula isnt going anywhere before next season. He is just as much of a part of a 12-4 season as anyone else, and considering this season compared to the last few, we are FAR better off than we have been

[fieryprophet]

FP, we know we have no say in what happens.  It's just a medium for us to express our opinions, and by overwhelming majority, the fanbase wants to upgrade the offensive coordinator.

 

Of course our opinions are of little consequence to the actual inner workings and personnel decisions, but it's worth discussing.  Otherwise, none of us would be here.

 

A couple of counterpoints to your post though.

 

Agreed, GMan is much more inclined to go with a conventional-style offense over what Chud was running.  But, as I said, there is a happy medium, and most likely, his name is Norv Turner.  All of the downfield fun without all of the cutesy gimmicks.  And to your point about his history and the offensive philosophy while in New York...  Yes, it was conventional, but they didn't handicap Eli either.  In fact, it could be argued that Eli was given a little too much autonomy in their offense at times.  He was allowed to sling it everywhere -  and AGAIN, there aren't many, if any, QBs in the NFL that have Cam's ability (in both running and passing).  If you can let Eli erratically throw it all over the field, you certainly can find an OC to let Cam do his thing in the passing game.

 

Obviously, I don't expect the organization to make a move.  From the top to the bottom, we have a loyalty problem to a fault, more often than not.  It's just my conclusion that Shula greatly hindered us offensively, and we could've been much more dominant had he opened things up.  I don't foresee him making any tweaks going into next year either.

 

 

I wouldn't mind Norv coming on as an offensive consultant. It'd be an easy way to keep him in the coaching ranks without supplanting Shula, and given Shula's reputation of working well with the offensive staff and seeking input he would hopefully take all the help he could get.

 

As for Cam slinging it all over the field, his footwork needs to improve in its consistency before he could be trusted to run a Peyton-style offense. I love Cam as much as the next but it's the truth and something I fully expect to be vastly improved next season, just as he took a big step from last year to this one. And having some better receiving options would tremendously help too.