Panthers Hire Two Defensive Coaches

by Jaxon on Feb 10, 2009 4:37 PM EST Comment 11 comments

It's about time, as reported by Darin Gantt:

The Panthers filled two of their three defensive assistant vacancies Tuesday, hiring Richard Smith to coach linebackers and Ron Milus to work with the secondary.

They're still looking for a defensive line coach.

Smith's been a coordinator the last four seasons, one with Miami and the last three with Houston.

Milus was the secondary coach in St. Louis last season, his fourth NFL stop. Ironically, he was secondary coach with the New York Giants under coordinator Tim Lewis, who he's replacing here.

My first impression is that the Rams secondary was pretty piss poor last season if I remember correctly. It seems Smith is taking a demotion. I'll ping the Rams and Texan blogger for some insight.

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About time

Although I guess 14 days for the new DC to receive/contact applicants, interview, and hire is really not that bad. But with less than 2 weeks to decide on JP and Gross just makes us anxious.

Hopefully we’ll hear some news about them soon.

by LittleKing on Feb 10, 2009 5:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I found a Milus Stat

Milus has worked with the secondaries of four different NFL teams. Most recently he was with St. Louis, where the 16 interceptions in 2007 were the most by a Rams secondary in ten years.
-B

by bhwells29 on Feb 10, 2009 5:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

cuz i wanna post this non-coaching link here...

http://www.panthers.com/Common/Article.aspx?id=44076

excerpts:

3 – Number of teams since 1960 that had two players run for 10 or more touchdowns since 1960: 1975 Baltimore Colts (Lydell Mitchell and Don McCauley), 2002 Vikings (Moe Williams and Daunte Culpepper) and 2008 Panthers.

2 – Number of teams since 1960 with a 1,500-yard runner and another ballcarrier who ran for at least 800 yards: 1975 Bills (Simpson/Braxton) and 2008 Panthers.

1 – Number of teams since 1960 that had two runners with at least 10 touchdowns and at least 800 yards apiece while combining for over 2,000 yards: 2008 Panthers.

In other words … it hasn’t happened before in the modern NFL. By those standards, Williams and Stewart stand together — and stand alone as the most prolifically balanced running duo since facemasks were mandated on helmets.

by usana_gaines on Feb 10, 2009 5:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Vey good article and stats

How about doing it two yeas in a row!

I blog the Carolina Panthers at www.catscratchreader.com

by Jaxon on Feb 10, 2009 7:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

good info

Good post about Milus stat. It’s real simple, we need to create more turnovers. If he can help us do that, then this is obviously a good move. I want more bump and run, more interceptions, and better run support from our corners. That’s not too much to ask.

by usana_gaines on Feb 10, 2009 5:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Creating turnovers

is good. Of course these coaches are going to be an extension of Ron Meeks who is an extension of John Fox, so I am being pessimistic and not looking for them to make great strides in the defense this year. I hope I am wrong. I wish the year did not end like it did or I would not be so negative about the defense.

by bengoodfella on Feb 10, 2009 5:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Im so sorry.

Coming from Battle Red Blog, your local Houston affiliate, to apologize for you linebackers. Dick Smith was one of the least aggressive, piss poor, and nearsighted defensive coordinators I have ever had the horrendous opportunity to watch. When he got fired, we celebrated – there may or may not have been sacrifices praising the NFL gods for his departure. I hate him, so much.

I hope he does better for you, but I doubt it. By about week 3, when you are wondering, hey why did Jon Beason turn into an unaggressive loser, we will see you over at BRB, cursing his name.

Good luck.

by Riott on Feb 11, 2009 12:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

We can hope

that going from a DC to a position coach changes some things.

by LittleKing on Feb 11, 2009 7:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I had a feeling this is the type of response we would get given he got canned

If the Packers people were asking us about Trgovac would we have anything good to say? Probably not much but he might actually do well coaching the d-line. Whether we like to hire or not he is ours for at least one season.

I blog the Carolina Panthers at www.catscratchreader.com

by Jaxon on Feb 11, 2009 11:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

you're wrong

Riott, you’re wrong…I really have nothing to base that accusation on other than my own optimism, but I’m saying it anyway. I have to admit, though, that Houston had a lot of talent on defense (Ryans, Williams, Greenwood, Robinson, Okoye), and there were some games where they were pretty dominant (held us to 14 pts in 2007), but I’m hoping that things turn around for our guys.

At the same time, you gotta think that guys know when something isn’t working, and they should come together to fix it. Did the Panthers players ever take the initiative to fix it themselves?

by usana_gaines on Feb 11, 2009 1:03 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

It's hard to say with Smith

He was a very inexperienced co-ordinator who didn’t work out with Houston. I dont’ know how he would do as a positional coach, but he’s one of the worst DC’s we’ve seen in Houston.

Even with how bad the Houston defense was, I don’t think it was because we didn’t draft any talent. I think he was really that bad. But as an LB coach it’s really tough for me to say whether he would be good bad or otherwise.

by b0ng on Feb 11, 2009 11:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs