The Panthers Rebuilding Year: It's Here

Can’t agree on Brown for the price we paid. We could have taken him in second round. I can except maybe second round, but he was not and is not a first round talent. Other than that, good job.

Yes, he’s making these decisions but they are obviously falling within certain limitations that have been set by Richardson. Remember ‘the budget’ Fox mentioned back after the purge?

I bet Hurney would gladly take the same cap back since it also contained A FLOOR! Because certainly the previous floor is higher than his current limit! Our complete FA strategy was to be picky about who we take off the waiver wire.

Is terrible foresight by our management. Seriously… did you really think Matt Moore was the future? Especially during the 2008 draft? or 2009 draft? We should have drafted a QB of the future a long time ago, we could not afford to wait until the shit totally hit the fan, no team can. You need to have a legitimate prospect at QB developing behind your entrenched starter and backup… you don’t just throw a fresh rookie to the dogs. Drafting Clausen in 2010 was to little, to late, and I believe we have hurt his development already. He should have had the benefit of being the 3rd string QB holding a clipboard for awhile instead of being thrown to the wolves.

The same goes for wide receiver. You look at your roster and see that your stud #1 WR is approaching 30, and your reliable #2 is ancient. You have one legitimate prospect on the roster, Dwayne Jarrett, but he hasn’t shown any propensity to learning the playbook or putting forth the effort needed to be successful for you. So at best, you have a potential replacement for your possession receiver, but you still have no one you are grooming to be your future #1. We needed to be looking for rookie WRs back in 2008, or at least last year. Instead, we attempted to mask our stupidity by overcompensating and drafting THREE wide receivers this year, and throwing every last one of them into the fire.

We’ll have all of this young talent that has progressed a year, and we’ll have a ton of cap room, but what do we do with it? It wouldn’t make sense to bring in veterans who are going to stunt the growth of the team, but it’s also not going to sit well with me having to go through multiple years of rebuilding when this team should already be competitive. I think almost ALL of this team’s problems revolve around the play calling and the passing game. I think our defense has been one of the top 5 in the league. Statistics may not show it, but I’ve never seen a defense have to stay on the field for so long. They are partly to blame, because of the inability to make stops on 3rd down, but I blame the offense more. I think everything we are seeing from Clausen is expected from a rookie. Flashes of brilliance here and there, mistake prone in a lot of other areas. But to turn him into a franchise player that he CAN be, we are going to have to get him more reliable recievers and a better line to protect him. Lafell, Gettis, and Edwards aren’t starter caliber in the league. They are all 3rd string recievers, but I think Edwards’ spot is the slot. We’re going to war with people starting that should only be around to fill out the roster.

I pretty much completely agree.

Maybe it’s just that I don’t fully understand football, but for the life of me, I don’t understand why there even has to be a rebuilding year in the first place. Why tear down an entire structure when you can simply rennovate? I guess the economic situation freaked JR out and he thought he had to suddenly slash salaries to nothing. But it didn’t have to happen this way. As players age, or show susceptibility to injury, or show interest in wanting to go somewhere else, why not slowly bring in newer and younger players gradually while the others gradually leave?

I’m torn as to what I think the foremost need is – HC/OC/QB/WR coach replacements, or new guys for the O-line. I really think it’s a tie. As to HC/OC, the plays are ridiculously simple and predictable at least 90% of the time. As to the QB and WR coaches, do I even need to say anything? All of those need improvements. But at the same time, an O-line should be able to protect and give time for the QB and make holes for the RBs no matter what the call.

I’ve said it before, but we HAVE to have more depth and better talent on the O-line. Even if they thought the O-line would play well, they had to have known they would need more depth. Players get hurt – you have to have back-ups. Without a good O-line, not even the most talented QB available can buy enough time to allow the the receivers to separate themselves and finish their routes (especially the deep routes), and not even the most talented/powerful RBs can run the ball through the middle – as evidenced by the shut out of D-Will and J-Stew. Someone on here posted a video of Jonathan Stewart highlights from 2008. Even with the tiniest of holes, he rammed his way through the middle and gained serious yardage. The only way that we can possibly get anything done without serious improvements in the O-line would be to find a QB like Vick (who was interested in Carolina) or Denardo Robinson who is currently at Michigan. Each of them is practically capable of being a one-man offense. They just need a guy to snap the ball to them, and they can run it to the endzone. Obviously that’s a hyperbole, but hopefully you get my point.

That being said, I know we have major issues with the passing game between QBs and WRs.

I don’t even now where to begin with what to do at this point with the QB situation. And before I get started, please, let’s not turn this into a Moore versus Clausen war. That’s been done enough on this blog already. I’m just trying to give the most objective analysis that I can. Anyway – QB – it’s just a disaster. I think that the organization really thought they’d be okay with the QB position for this season because Moore truly did do a good job when he took over last year (4-1, with what, only 2 or so starts in the years before that). Was he Peyton Manning or Drew Brees? No. But he was good. And they managed to snag Clausen, thinking that Moore would be able to handle a season, and that Clausen would have more time to develop. Obviously that hasn’t worked out, and you can’t place ALL of the blame on the QBs in light of the O-line’s meltdown. We’re pretty much in a Catch-22 at the moment. Clausen’s statistics suggest that he looks slightly better than Moore at the moment, but I’m afraid of Clausen getting shell-shocked and regressing in development. Moore has played well in the past, but he’s struggled, too. As of now, we’re just stuck. I’m afraid that we’re still going to be rebuilding in that department into the next season.

I think we need to worry about other things first before we take any more action with the WRs. I know that Moose was getting incredibly old for a WR, that he wasn’t as fast or reliable as he once was, but he was still serviceable. The team should have been phasing in new WRs over the past several years and letting them learn under Moose. I think Moose would have been a good mentor for them, because we all know that Smitty’s just not a mentor. Having said that, we have enough capability for the moment between Smith, Gettis, Clowney, and eventually Edwards (I thought he looked pretty good considering it was his first time getting a jersey, and he was able to catch and hold onto well-placed throws). Now the team’s also added Thomas. And beyond the WRs, D-Will, J-Stew, Goodson, King, and Rosario are all capable of making catches. As far as pure physicality, I think LaFell has potential – he just needs to work a little more on the mental aspects of the WR position, and he needs some one-on-one attention with coaches on getting a better grip on the ball. He’s a fantastic blocker, and he’s had two fantastic catches – one being the one-handed catch while falling during the Titans preseason game (I was there, it was a great catch), and the other obviously being the 40+ yard catch near the end of the Bengals game. So, point being, the team needs to cool down with the WR acquisitions. I think we have other priorities to take care of first before taking further action in acquiring WRs.

Special teams has performed beyond my expectations, and I’m really not too concerned with that side of the ball. Although, as has already been mentioned, we need a single kicker who can take over the roles of Kasay and Lloyd. But Kasay still has it at the moment, and I’m not ready to replace him yet. But inevitably, he will need a replacement…so the team needs to start looking for one now.

And there could be some improvements on the defense (as Charlotte Bobcat said, we do need to work on third downs), but we still have some outstanding, smart, and hardworking players on that side of the ball. The overwhelming majority of the defense is playing on all cylinders every second it’s on the field. The Giants game was rough, and I really was worried after that first game. It looked like Marshall and Gamble weren’t even attempting to tackle. It looked more like they were trying to hug the players they were supposed to be defending against. But since then, I’ve been pleased with the LB trio, the corners, and the safeties. Pugh looked great for his first start. And really – how often does a player get an interception in his debut as a starter? I don’t know the statistics on that, but I can’t imagine that it happens that often. The D-line is serviceable (faaaaar more so than the O-line), but as has already been said, put Hardy in as a starter ASAP. I think he shows more flash and tenacity than any other player on the line.

I think the “rebuilding” process really should have been just a phasing in of new/young players over the years so that they could learn from and grow under their predecessors. That didn’t happen, so to quote dear ole Fox, “We are what we are.” But as of this moment, the “rebuilding” has to focus on a new HC, a new OC, and new coaches for the offensive skills positions. Meeks needs to stay, even if he isn’t promoted to interim or permanent HC. You cannot deny that his defense (with the help of special teams) is carrying the entire weight of this team. And it has to say something about his motivational abilities that he is able to continue to get the kind of production out of his players that he does. Because with the state of the team as a whole, it would be so easy just to give up knowing that any turnovers you take probably won’t be capitalized on (except the redemptive Kasay will probably be able to get a field goal if the offense can manage to move the ball far enough).

Now maybe you understand my point better about realism vs blind loyalty? Or hoping we’ll be good vs swearing we will be? Maybe? Maybe not.

Out of allllllllllll the QB’s over the past 5 years who started or received significant playing time in their first years, how many were ACTUALLY successful? you can count it on one hand realldy (Flacco, Ryan, Roethlisberger), and I refuse to include Sanchez because his team went 9-7 despite his play (or has everyone forgot his 5 int debacle against buffalo last year). I feel just as aggravated as everyone else over the fact that a 5 year old with down syndrome could call a better offensive gameplan than Jeff “I was let go by the BROWNS” Davidson, but the fact is that even with a decent OC in place, we’d still be going through some growing pains (definitely not as many but still apparent). Clausen has all the tools to be a franchise QB for us, and you know what? We got him for practically nothing! Think about it: St. Louis and Detroit are on the hook for almost 40 million GUARANTEED to their no.1 picks, no matter how they perform…..meanwhile we’re paying Clausen a mere pittance, and in exchange could finally have a QB prospect who actually works out for us (Delhomme wasn’t really a prospect, just never had a real opportunity; and despite Collins having a decent 2nd year, he was garbage here). Throw on top of the fact that we have 5 young WR’s to develop (one of whom, the 6th rounder of all people, is developing exponentially well), who are growing up with Clausen….learning from the same mistakes and building good chemistry for the coming years!

Like I said before though….Our playcalling is nothing short of hair pulling aggravating to watch (what happened to the sweep?! D-Will is the king of the sweep runs, but I have yet to see ONE designed outside run all year); on top of which it seems like Davidson has cut down the passing section of the playbook to about 10 plays (out of 3 formations lol), which is certainly not aiding us at all. But keep faith panther nation….once the offense cleans house on the coaching staff, we’ll be in far better shape than the rest of the conference in the post lockout years (Any Canes fans on here will tell you…we looked like SHIT right before the lockout, and what did we do the first year back? Oh nothing much….just a Stanley cup :p)!

ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas has been fielding a lot of questions on the status of Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox. The general feeling is that this is a lame duck season for Fox, and that the two sides will part ways in an amicable divorce at the conclusion of the 2010 season.

As for the next head coach, Yasinskas has some ideas. “First, there’s an old adage that if you fire a skinny coach, you hire a fat one. In other words, you move in a different direction. So, if [team owner Jerry] Richardson buys into that and he might after years of watching a boring offense, he’d bring in someone with an offensive background.”

“Second, current situation aside, there’s no doubt Richardson is a smart man and he learns from his mistakes. Look at his history. He’s hired two head coaches who were ‘hot’ coordinators (Fox and Dom Capers) and he hired one big-name coach who had been out of the league for a bit and paid him huge money (George Seifert). It didn’t end well for Capers and it’s not going to end well for Fox. But each of those guys had some success. Seifert was a total disaster and Richardson knows that. I’m guessing he doesn’t bring in some big-name coach who’s been out of the league for a few years and commands a high salary. I think he’s more likely to look for an energetic rising star and it will probably be someone fairly young because this team needs someone that’s willing to go through a building process that might take some time.”

Based on those remarks, it seems that Bill Cowher won’t be a consideration. Instead, consideration will be given to rising offensive coordinators — Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys and Brian Schottenheimer of the New York Jets come to mind. Of course, all of this speculation will ramp up as the season moves along.

Love that picture! It certainly spices up the page, and gives a great visual.

Very well written.

I was curious how the draft situation works if we don’t have a season next year? I know there will be a draft in April ’11 but will there be one for ’12? And if so, what is the order of the draft at that point? The same as the previous year? Hopefully someone know the answers to these questions and can shed some light for me. Thanks guys!!

I hadn’t seen the game from Sunday but was watching it tonight. Lafell in a word is bad. Until now it was not as evident as he wasn’t starting but he has a long way to go before he can seriously be a starter. I won’t be surprised when after the bye if either Clowney or Thomas are the starters opposite Gettis. Lafell just doesn’t seem to be aware of what is happening on the field. Not aware of his feet or his hands.

On the other hand, Gettis is making plays, picks the ball from the air, runs back to the QB, and is generally smart. Sure he has learning to do but he is way ahead of Lafell. It’s sad that Lafell an earlier pick just doesn’t get it. I know it’s really really early and Jarrett’s situation is fresh, but I’m getting the feeling that Lafell doesn’t care and isn’t putting his all into his development.

Also watching Clausen in this game, I have to say something is up with Clausen’s hands. He can’t hold onto the football to save his lift. I no longer believe that the majority of the preseason snap issues were the fault of the centers but mainly Clausen (sure they played a role, but not completely).

Don’t get me wrong I still think Clausen can be our future, but he better get his ball control issues fixed.

How about this what if situation. Davis comes back at linebacker and we do some switching from 4-3 to 3-4. Not all the time but could you image Conner and Beason in the middleand Anderson and Davis on the outside. We could blitz from any of the LB positons and really shake things up. Just an idea.

but am not sold on the 3-4….so many teams are switching to it, but really…how many are actually GOOD at it? Green Bay’s taking a step back (Dom Capers…good at surprising people, awful at adjustments though as we all know), Buffalo doesn’t even really have a defense anymore (not so much that you’d notice), the Redskins are already abandoning their blitz heavy scheme cause they were getting burned left and right…you get the point. We lack the personnel to pull a 3-4 (Johnson would be a mediocre NT), but we’ve got the pieces in place to have a very good 4-3.