Panthers Notes & Quotes: Ron Meeks Addition

Is that the Panthers wanted a guy with a good resume to execute a pre-made strategy. Trgovac was that guy before, and Meeks will assume that role now. To me he seems like a “toe the line,” rather than revolutionary kind of coordinator.

I differ from the majority of people here, and I am basing this off of nothing but speculation, but I’m not convinced we’ll be seeing the Tampa 2 in Carolina at all. I am assuming that we’ll be seeing similar defenses to what we’ve grown accustomed to.

I’m not saying “Meeks sux!” or “Meeks rulz!,” quite the contrary, actually. I’m saying that he’ll motivate the players, pitch in ideas during game preparation, and help find some quality assistants. All of this while sticking to pretty much the same script on Sundays.

Feel free to point out how wrong I am if this subject gets touched upon during the offseason (or better yet, when the season starts).

I think Meeks is only here for a year, regardless of how we do. If we do win it all, which I am predicting we will do, then he’ll be a head coach somewhere in 2010. If the defense is a top 5 defense after week 9, he’ll be a head coach somewhere. But if we miss the playoffs due to some horrible defense, then he’ll just be fired. Either way, as I do every year at this time, I’m predicting the Panthers win 13 games next year and the Superbowl.

I was close on my predictions, but I’d rather just win, baby! I still believe in our 3 CBs ability, and I think Meeks will put them in position to succeed. I don’t know what he’s going to do differently than Trgo, but there were times when it seemed the ball would go up, and our DBs would look at each other wondering who’s man that is. That’s okay in pick-up basketball, but not the playoffs. If our guys would just be where they’re supposed to be and master the fundamentals, we’ll be better off down the stretch.

I don’t know if you guys have ever read the book by Malcolm Gladwell called “The Tipping Point”, but we had one last season. At some point in the middle of the season, we tipped over from half-empty to broken on defense. Maybe Meeks doesn’t need to do much more than just get the players focus. Maybe motivation and conditioning were more problems than schemes. I don’t really know, but I know we have a lot of talent on defense, and Meeks needs to get that talent to play well in December, January, and, of course, February 2010.

One more thing…I want to apologize to the readers of this blog who deserve better than to read, as someone called it, “an anger bomb.” I called Brett (BH) Wells at the number listed, and he didn’t answer. As his phone was ringing, I felt that this was pretty silly, and I don’t want to discredit my own opinions by posting angry tirades about others’ opinions. So I will now only focus on the fact that D-Will, who averaged only 17 carries a game last year, will get 20 touches a game next year en route to his first MFL MVP award.

And Smitty will finally complain publicly about Jake if Jake doesn’t start hitting him in stride.

for next year already. That playoff loss was much worse than not making the playoffs at all. I feel like the rug was pulled from under a really good team. Does anyone else feel that way? I feel like the season just abruptly ended and we did not even get a chance to play in the playoffs.

 I am embarrassed and I am ready for the draft and free agency so we can get a decent look at what next year’s team will look like. August can not come fast enough for me. I am actually excited for preseason games.

I’m ready for the draft and free agency. I didn’t know this was a big money year for Lucas. Well if we lose him and Peppers, we better have some nice draft picks. Right now we don’t have many. I think Meeks could do better than Trgo with the same roster, but if he does worse with a defense that lost Peppers and Lucas, are we going to say he’s a worse DC than Trgo?
 
As for BH…I’m not going to play the games. I called and his voice mail came on. It’s his work phone, and the answering machine said this is Brett Wells, and it named the company, and it said that if there was an emergency, call some other number. Either way, I’d much rather You Tube D-Will highlights then continuing to try to call Brett.

I’ll tell you this, though, because of my location, I get more Panthers news from this blog than anywhere else, so if he has news I haven’t heard anywhere else, then post it. And I’m always interested in good analysis, regardless of who it’s from.

One more thing, Bengoodfella said he was embarrassed about the way the season ended. I have a Detroit Lions fan and a Houston Texans fan in my office who let me know their teams have won as many playoff games as the Panthers since the 2005 season.