Thanatos 2,847 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Alright time for the lone Panthers fan to start this up. ... I kid, you guys are awesome even if you scare off every other Panther fan that tries to get on here. The Coaching- Offense Mike Shula may be the worst offensive coordinator in the league. His decision to run, on two different possessions, into the teeth of the Niners defense during goalline stands in last year's playoff game directly lead to the Niners victory. Panthers fans can call the plays that happen before they do, as he has so little imagination in his playcalling. Cam Newton and the offense constantly do better in the no huddle, yet he refuses to run it until the 2 minute drill 90% of the time. He doesn't believe in trying to pick up 5 yards on 3rd and 3. Instead, he goes for long bombs. Several times during critical situations, he never even gave Cam a short option to hit. If Carolina wants to be a successful playoff franchise, Shula has to go. It's time to stop letting his mistakes go because his father was a great coach. Overall, a 1/10. The Coaching- Defense Sean McDermott's defense came back with a vengeance late in the season. Early on the loss of Greg Hardy looked like it would doom the Panthers defense. I'm not sure how much of this blame falls on McDermott's head as compared to Rivera's, but we did indeed have the answer for our defensive woes on the roster in a trio of young players- Bene Benewikere, Tre Boston, and Josh Norman. However, it took a massive collapse at Minnesota combined with a couple injuries for the Panthers, sitting at 3-8-1, to actually put in these young players. It was basically a last-ditch hail mary that worked- but the coaching should be held at fault for being in this situation in the first place. I'm okay with McDermott being the DC, he's done a great job so far. Made his share of mistakes, but everyone does that. Overall, a 7/10. Riverboat Ron? Ron Rivera is a fucking terrible head coach and we are stuck with him. The man will not coach with any guts whatsoever unless he feels his job is on the line. See: Falcons game 1. He constantly fails to try for it on 4th and shorts when we have Cam Newton, always plays it safe unless he has been backed into a corner, either by record or pressure, and won't go for the throat. He reminds me a lot of John Fox with the single exception that he will at least try something when he is forced to do so, Fox will simply sit there and die on his conservative strategy. I wish to god we could get rid of him and bring in a head coach like Chip Kelly, a fast aggressive style of offense could do wonders for Cam. The only other positive thing Rivera has going for him is that the team seems to love him. However, this business is about results, not touchy-feely shit. Overall, a 4/10 General Manager Gettleman has made a couple very controversial decisions, (Steve Smith's release being #1), in his time as GM- but he has also, finally, taken the Panthers somewhat out of the cap hell they were in from the time of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, the GM who gave out huge contracts to QBs who were fading, and a pair of RBs who can't stay healthy and aren't worth that much money even if they were. He also hit on five of our six picks from the most recent drafts, and looks to be building a viable contender that will stick around for awhile. The Smith decision is the one thing I will always strongly disagree with, but I can live with it. Overall, a 8/10 The Offense Byron Bell has to go. Period. He is not an NFL-caliber LT and Cam needs someone to protect his blind side. LT should be priority #1 in the draft. Priority #2 should be another WR to pair with Benji. The WRs were, again, very poor overall, though we did have two 1,000 yard receivers, no one was scared of the Panthers aerial attack. Benjamin had way too many drops and needs to be coached out of whatever he's doing to cause those. Jonathan Stewart's resurgence in the last five games make it imperative that we keep him and get rid of DeAngelo. The coaching staff's utter refusal to look at Stewart as the lead back until injuries forced their hand is another example of how this staff cannot evaluate talent. It's puzzling indeed considering our GM is pretty good at it, or at least the draft would tend to make one believe so. Cam Newton fighting through two injuries during the season allowed us to see DA a couple more times and both times he played well enough to get the W. That is all you can ask of a backup QB, and we should keep him around as long as he wants. As for Newton himself- consistency is the name of the game now. As a 4th year QB he should not be throwing off his back foot and missing high still. Yet he is. This has to be worrisome overall. Perhaps the injuries were getting to him more than he let on, but his mechanics need to be fixed. As far as sheer athletic ability he may be the best pure athlete at the QB position in the league, but if you miss your receivers high 20% of the time, that is a major problem, especially come January. Overall, a 5/10. The Defense As stated before, early on, the defense was piss poor, but we appear to have three young guys that we can keep around for years to come to build on. Drafting a safety to replace Roman Harper should be something to look into, Harper may have provided veteran leadership, but he was a shit safety. Kony Ealy came on strong in the end and I think will be a capable replacement for Hardy who has about a 1% chance of being back in Panther colors next year. Overall our defense is pretty solid across the board. We could use some depth at the CB/S positions and a starter to replace Harper, but its not a huge priority compared to our offensive needs. Give this young group a couple years to gel and see where we are then. Overall, a 8/10 The Special Teams We were close to worst in the league in nearly every category in special teams- yardage allowed, yardage gained, net yardage, total yardage, starting field position, opponent's starting field position, etc. You name it, the Panthers were bottom five. The special teams coaches need to go. This was entirely unacceptable. Allowing two blocked punts in the same game. Allowing Kam Chancellor to jump over the line TWICE in a row- once is a lapse, twice is inexcusable- during the Hawks playoff game. Rodgers may be liked by the staff and the players, but he should be fired. Utterly piss poor performance all year. The only good thing out of special teams was the Philly Brown punt return for a TD. Speaking of returners, Brenton Bersin gives me a heart attack every time he calls a fair catch. Get someone else to do it. Philly Brown if you have to, even if you don't want a starting WR to play PR, its necessary. Or have Fozzy return punts, he did well when we asked him to return kickoffs a few times. Panthers fans shouldn't have to have our hearts in our throat every time the other team is forced to punt. Absolutely terrible, no more so than in the Cardinals game. I don't even know what that was, it looked like Bersin thought he was supposed to play a catcher like in baseball. Overall, a 0/10. Draft/Free Agency Needs 1. LT. Byron Bell must go. Cam needs a blindside protector. 2. WR. Offense still needs a slot guy or another big guy on the outside. 3. WR/PR. Just in case the first one doesn't take, and/or to give us a real PR. 4. SS. My grandfather can tackle better than Roman Harper and he's dead. Let's go for the threepeat and this time be a threat in the playoffs. Edited January 20, 2015 by Thanatos19 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted January 20, 2015 I know you guys made it to the Divisional Round, but his turned into a worst-case scenario situation for the Panthers. They're keeping a garbage coach who won't fire the dumbest offensive coordinator in the league (on what planet should the OC not get rid of 7 step drops with a bad OL? On what planet does a head coach not call out his OC if he does something this pathetic?). I mean, Jesus Christ. You're fucked for the foreseeable future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Bware, when you say the Panthers are fucked, we win the division. So please, by all means, keep on saying it. We have a great young core of defensive players, a very good rookie WR, a QB who is good, albeit not great, but borderline top-10, and an offensive line that really gelled the last few weeks. Our needs in the draft are less than I ever really remember. The GM has finally, finally, gotten us mostly out of the cap situation that Hurney left us in. We basically just have a bad coach, ST coach, and OC. That hurts, a lot. And likely means we won't win any Superbowls. But fucked? I don't think so. Panthers have enough talent to hang with almost anyone. Its just a matter of those final few pieces to push it over the top into legitimate contender territory. Edited January 20, 2015 by Thanatos19 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted January 21, 2015 You know what? I predict that next year's Panthers team goes 15-1 and wins the Superb Owl! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted January 21, 2015 Noooooooooo!! Take it back! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted April 14, 2015 Update here. Good things have happened since this post was originally made. 1. Byron Bell was released and Michael Oher was brought in to be a stop-gap measure for whoever we draft in the draft. Bell was godawful. Oher was simply very bad. I'll take it as a temporary solution. But it sure as hell better be a temporary one. 2. Thomas DeCoud was released. The man was old, slow, and can't tackle. 3. Ted Ginn was signed. Bersin no longer has to return punts and we get an actual threat back there. Win-win. 4. DeAngelo Williams was released. LONG overdue move, and a great one. If J-Stew can stay healthy and take the starting job, that's amazing. We still should probably draft a RB sometime early on. 5. Jarrett Boykin was picked up from Green Bay for some more unproven young WRs. I think our philosophy is grab enough unproven guys, and one of them will turn out to be Victor Cruz. 6. Charles Tillman was signed. He was, at one point, a fantastic corner. Injuries have derailed him in 2013 and 2014. If he can return to form, ala Thomas Davis, he'd be one hell of a steal. I wish we could have picked up Andre Johnson or Randall Cobb in free agency, but we were unable to do so. However, the Panthers have still quietly had a good offseason. Let the media pundits once again talk about how the Saints and Falcons are better than the Panthers. They've done it the last two offseasons and we've won the division twice in a row. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
56AceInDaPlace 110 Posted April 25, 2015 So we signed a garbage tackle to replace a bad tackle? Are u fucking kidding me lol. Who would u like the Panthers to draft? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted April 27, 2015 The best player available. That is how championship rosters are built. We need an offensive lineman, but if there has been a previous run on them, I'd rather just take BPA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted May 2, 2015 NFL Draft Players Added: Shaq Thompson, SS/OLB Devin Funchess, WR/TE Daryl Williams, OT/OG David Mayo, OLB Cameron Artis-Payne, RB Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted February 18, 2016 You know what? I predict that next year's Panthers team goes 15-1 and wins the Superb Owl! I'm reviving this because Bware was oh-so-close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
