NFL
By: Allan Erickson
I am a PSL owner, season ticket holder since 2004, and I continue to force myself to watch this abysmal Carolina Panther football team. However, I’m not sure how much longer this franchise can expect me to continue shoveling out my hard earned money to watch the product they’re putting on the field.
The Panthers went 5-11 in season one under Matt Rhule, and after starting this season 3-0, have now fallen to 5-10 this season. Injuries, setbacks, fired offensive coordinators, and bringing back Cam Newton… The Panthers have done everything possible to right the ship, unfortunately, it’s not working. There’s only one play for the Panthers- fire Matt Rhule, and find someone who can really turn this franchise around.
The Carolina Panthers have now lost five straight games, and 10 of their last 12 games. What really concerns me, is Rhule’s arrogance and pure idiotic calmness in response to this disastrous team. He said Sunday after the 32-6 loss to Tampa Bay, “Dave asked me to come here and build the program, build it for the long haul, and build it the right way. I know fans are upset, we’re not winning games, but the way we are building this is 1,000% working, though we aren’t seeing results.” I’m sorry, but no… What you are doing with this team is not working- the Panthers are worse now than they were this time last year. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards.
The Panthers had a lot of devastating losses last year. Mostly one-possession losses that you expect when you’re in the beginning phase of a rebuild. Fans, for the most part, were completely okay going 5-11 last season. The Panthers were competing last year. There was never a game where the Panthers were ran out of the stadium. They dropped 8 one-possession games in 2020. This season, they have 5 one-possession losses, and have embarrassing multi-score losses. We’ve all heard about the sophomore slump. Matt Rhule and the Panthers have been worse this year than last, despite Dave Tepper giving Rhule the freedom to get multiple free agents and the quarterback he wanted.
At the beginning of the season, the Panther defense was stout. I still believe the defense can be elite. However there’s been a drop-off in the defense over the past 7 weeks. A lot of that is due to the time of possession being dominated by the opponents. The defense is still a top-5 unit in the NFL. They’re gassed, they’re spending much more time on the field because the offense leads the NFL in 3 and outs since the start of November.
The Panthers offense has been abysmal for 2+ months. Christian McCaffrey going down hurt, no question. This team still has weapons. DJ Moore has over 1,000 receiving yards in 3 straight seasons, a feat that only Steve Smith Sr. and Greg Olsen have done before as Panthers. What’s more impressive, DJ Moore has done it with different starting Quarterbacks to start the year. Robby Anderson had some drop issues early in the year, but has played better as of late. Tommy Tremble has been solid as a rookie tight end, Chubba Hubbard has been solid. The playmakers are there. The two question marks remaining, are what they have been since the last time the Panthers went to the Super Bowl. Offensive line issues continue to be unaddressed, and the quarterback position is still bottom 1/3 of the league.
The Panthers offensive line has been in the bottom 5 of the league all season. Offseason additions Cameron Erving and Pat Elflein rank 38th and 40th in PFP grading for their respective positions. Matt Paradis has been hurt for some time. Brady Christensen has been okay, but he’s a rookie and it’s tough to put him out on an island, (as evident by how many times Shaq Barrett beat him on Sunday, and was able to sack the quarterback.) There is a lot of potential on our defense, but the front office and Rhule drafted skill guys in the first 2 rounds, and even drafted a long snapper in the 6th round of the draft. If Matt Rhule doesn’t understand the importance of protecting the quarterback, he needs to go back to Baylor. In the NFL, you don’t succeed if you don’t protect the quarterback.
Now, we get to the quarterbacks…
In the nicest way I can say it possible, Matt Rhule is showing he is a college coach, not ready for the NFL with his revolving door of use at the quarterback position. You cannot, I repeat, you CANNOT run a successful offense with quarterbacks rotating in and out in different situations. It is extremely difficult to get into a rhythm as a quarterback. It’s far more difficult to display any rhythm as an offense, when every other drive there is a different quarterback in the huddle.
On Sunday, Cam Newton played the first 2 series, and led the Panthers to a field goal the first time they got the ball. Sam Darnold came in for the 3rd series, and led the Panthers to another field goal. After that, the quarterbacks continued to rotate in and out, and the Panthers didn’t put anymore points on the board.
Simply put, there is nothing the Panthers are doing well, right now. The defense has been struggling for over a month. The offense has been one of the worst the Panthers have ever fielded, despite having some electrifying playmakers. The only thing that’s been going well for the Panthers, is kicker Zane Gonzales, and he got hurt during pregame warmups last week. Panther Nation should not have to put up with this. We shouldn’t be spending our hard earned money on the product they’re putting on the field. Rhule and company were booed on Sunday, and they deserved it. Dave Tepper should listen to this fan base. We’re tired of floating in mediocrity, and more importantly, we’re fed up with hearing Matt Rhule say “things are 1000% working, we’re headed in the right direction.” After losing 4 straight games by a combined 74 points. We were content to be competing last season, losing a lot of one-possession games was acceptable. This season, is inexcusable. Unfortunately, in this business, somebody’s gotta answer for it. And for the panthers, it needs to be Matt Rhule.
Sayonara, Matt Rhule. Expect another article when Dave Tepper does the inevitable, and gets rid of this awful excuse for an NFL coach… Until then, y’all Keep Pounding.
