Coaching - Personnel - or Execution?

Ultimately, it's coaching.

I've not seen in a long time, this team look so thoroughly unprepared and shell shocked game in and game out, with the kinds of players we have.

Rivera is a cool guy. But he's no different than Singletary when he was a head coach. Just way out of his league, and out of his element. Rivera is an outstanding DC, but this guy is a big pussycat and a pretty worthless head coach so far.

 

I blame the fans, their extended families, the "uptown", and the entire region.

Mediocre.

 

The title is more appealing if you read Coaching & Personnel - Execution.

 

Fox had flaws and it was time let him go, but his teams were a lot more endearing to me (discounting the lame duck year). And yeah, we had an identity. It wasn't always pretty, but his teams were tough and had resolve.

 

Fox was stubborn and rigid in his philosophy, which worked better when the league was not so pass-happy. The Fox system emphasized field position, ball control and strong d-line play. The idea was to keep the score close and win with a big play.

That's an effective strategy with inferior talent. Fox knew how to get the most out of his players but not the best out of his team. As a result, he couldn't sustain success. Tough, no-excuse "identity" that failed to win consistently. Fox's teams were typified by their streaky play.

Tom Coughlin adapted his overbearing, heavy-handed coaching style to the modern player and the results speak for themselves. Fox never learned to innovate and the predictability killed any chance the team had to impose a game plan on its opponent. And when his defensive line fell apart, so did his philosophy.

In the end, the franchise had no identity.

And that hasn't changed yet with Rivera. Rivera speaks of hopes and wishes, but at what point does this translate to the football field? Where does the identity of the team begin to take on that of its coach? Rivera has a bunch of young-uns to babysit. That may be a handicap on his record, but at some point the press box has to say...

"That would never happen to a Ron Rivera team."

But even more succinct is the lack of players saying the same thing about themselves. Where is the leadership? Where are the men who take it upon themselves to make something happen? Where on the Panthers roster is a man who refuses to lose?

There is one. Steve Smith. Contrary to his vast potential, Poutmeister Newton is not one. Jon Beason could be one if he could stay healthy. Same with Davis.

Pick a player on either line. Which one would you describe as a warrior?

In the end, a team's identity comes from its players. Sometimes, like in Baltimore, it comes from one player. And like him or not (and I gag a little even thinking about the dude), there's only one alpha male among the players in Foxboro. Same could be said for the main man in Green Bay.

The Panthers need such men, or at least for their appointed alpha male to act like a man.

Attitude leads to focus, focus to technique, and technique to execution. The Panthers lack attitude, from the top to the bottom, and that's why they rarely get to execution.

For the Panthers to realize any hope of success, someone on that team has to step up and make a play.

 

Beating a good team?

 

Yeah, do you guys remember the Arizona playoff game where not only were we horrified about Delhomme, but also complained about how Chris Gamble never covered Larry Fitzgerald and that rigid devotion to Cover 3 meant that Arizona could get Fitz isolated against Chris Harris whenever they wanted? Fox was as stubborn as stubborn gets in the NFL.


In any case, if I could possess Jerry Richardson then the first thing I would do is to fire Marty Hurney. Reassigning him to some other position makes no sense whatsoever because there is nothing he does well, except maybe interaction with the media. He makes terrible decisions so he can't function as an adviser, he doesn't have the ability to evaluate personnel, and he's terrible at crafting contracts. Be done with it. Unless Eric DeCosta changes his mind about not leaving the Ravens then I'm not sure what I would do in terms of a replacement, but in lieu of a better idea I'd look for a strong, experienced person to lead the front office without necessarily performing the day to day functions of GM. Maybe someone like Floyd Reese would fit the bill. You could then go young at GM, preferably with someone who has personnel/scouting experience rather than the bullshit cap manager background.

After that, I probably would let Ron Rivera go. It might not be fair, but it just doesn't seem like he has enough of a presence to develop that cult of personality that makes athletes follow someone. The replacement would have to be someone with prior head coaching experience. If he wants to come back, I think I'd try Eric Mangini. He's still a lot younger than I realized, but he has experience running a team and I believe that the perspective he's gained from being in television the last few years would help him be more successful the next time around. Ideally I want a head coach that has a commanding presence that players will respect, but who doesn't need to yell and scream every three seconds. For some reason I also like Josh McDaniels even though there isn't a compelling reason to suggest him.

In terms of the roster, I'll go with the highly unrealistic scenario of sacrificing a year to create cap flexibility. Since I'm possessing Jerry Richardson I'll forgo money concerns and slash all prices by 25% for 2013 only. I'm doing that because I expect the team to lose every game after I cut Jon Beason, Thomas Davis, Chris Gamble, Charles Godfrey, Jordan Gross, and DeAngelo Williams. All of those players except Godfrey have value, but drastic measures are needed to create any future cap space, especially since Cam is going to end up being the highest paid player in the NFL simply because he won't stay here otherwise. Once I have that cap space I'll address DE either through free agency or the draft, put Kuechly at his natural MLB spot, find DTs who can hold the point if nothing else and then be rotated out for passing situations, and acquire some intelligent defensive backs. On offense I'll add one great blocker at tight end while looking for technically proficient linemen. The goal is to become smarter on both sides of the ball even if you lose some athleticism.

 

Good thoughts. I said before that I'm willing to wait a few more weeks before completely giving up on Rivera. But you're right, the organization needs a makeover.

He's stubborn and flawed, but the team seemed to respond to him. We won a lot of games that we had no business winning. I'm waiting for that to happen with RR.

 

I think Rivera would be in a better situation if the team had a forceful personality in the front office. He seems kind of like Capers, although more personable and less organized.

 

Three winning seasons in ten seasons and it doesn't look like he'll get a fourth in 2012. John Fox seems like he should be a great head coach, but he really wasn't at all.