Shula

Who gives a fuck anymore ?

 

I'm not passing judgment, I'm simply pointing out that it doesn't appear that getting the franchise back on track will start in 2013. Un-Hurneying the cap will evidently wait until 2014.

 

Bite your tongue

 

No shit, PantherPaul.

 

Its hard not to come away feeling its all a bit of a lame duck situation, not seeing much movement in the coordinator situations. Seems were relying an awefull lot on the way we finished the season.

But I dont think things are as bad as people think they are.

I like Shula and Skipper, just kinda wished he'd have been retained as the QB coach and we brought in Hue. Maybe Hue wanted to bring in his own guys and the Panthers wanted to keep Shula.

I also dont think Shula deserves to be discredited on the job he did down in Tampa either. I know people point to the offensive rankings but you have to keep in mind how that team was built. You also have to look at his actual record there, stats can be deceiving. Under Dungy, Tampa was built around its defense. The offensive philosophy was to run the ball and control the clock. You're not going to finish with massive statistics when you play that way. Its not going to look great on paper. But look at the results. He actually had 2 winning seasons in 4 years, and the year he was replaced they actually won one less game (11-5 versus 10-6).

It was a team built on defense and the running of Dunn and Alstott (drafted under Shula). They never in his four year tenure as OC threw for more than 3,000 yards. Never had a reciever with more than 800 yards. That team was not built to throw the ball. He was fired after going 11-5 and was scapegoated on a team failing to muster points in the NFCCG losing 6-11 to the greatest show on turf.

The following year they invested 2 1st rounders acquiring Key , a year where they jumped to 6th in offense. But it was a team that still primarily relied on its running game, only this time they had Shaun King chipping in with running TD's. They had over 2000 yards rushing. And this time they lost in the wildcard scoring only 3 points.

They never broke 3000 yards passing till Brad Johnson came to town.

It was also over 10 years ago and Shula has been working closely with Cam for two years now. I think he is aware of what he can and cant do best.

I think this team needs to refocus on running the ball, so I like what his history as an OC shows. I think weve all been clamoring for OL investment too. Isnt that a step in the right direction.

 

I'd have been happy with Jackson. Probably wanted too much/many money, years, control or something. I sort of expected this development once Chud was gone.
Chud leaving was a pretty out of left field move.

 

So basically, the O went from 28th or some shit to 6th the year he left, and we should be thrilled?

I get what you're saying, but I think you actually made a case against the guy with all of those stats.

 

The point im trying to make is that people want to judge him off of looking at the offensive yardage and points scored rather than wins and loses. You think Dungy had no say in how the offense was built in his 6 years as HC? You think the cap space and draft picks invested in the D had no bearing on what the O could do?

He worked with what he had, a running game and a mediocre QB in Dilfer. And he worked it well. They did not have the WR's or TE's.

The year after his firing the only real difference was they had King for a whole 16 games. They had similar passing yards and passing TD's as the previous year. They were arguably even more conservative rushing for more yardage and rushing TD's. They simply had a little bit more success converting rushing TD's with the added bonus of King scrambling for 350 yards and 5 rushing TD's. Sound familiar?

Think about it this way. Would you rather have 5000 passing yards, 1000 yards rushing, finish with a top 10 offense but a record of 7-9. Or would you rather pass for 3000 yards, rush for 2000 yards have the 22nd ranked offense but finish with a 11-5 record and actually make the playoffs and get to the NFCCG.

 

Really didn't.

 

So where's this 2000s bucs defense the panthers need for this to work going to come from?