Three Topics I want your opinion on....

I have read a lot of y'all's posts and I respect your opinions, so I want to put three things out there that I have a very strong opinion about and see if I'm off base, dead on or somewhere in the middle:

1). What do you think of Fox and his style of play

2). What do you think of Delhomme as your forseeable QB for the future

3). What do you think of the Peppers situation


I have definite ideas about all three of these and have had them for several years.

Let me know what you think please.

-Rain

OK Rain....this is an awesome thread and I will try my best to answer. I will say that some of my opinions change with the wind. LOL But I will give it my best and look forward to seeing how you feel.

1). What do you think of Fox and his style of play

I like the general philosophy of John Fox. I like hard hitting defense. I like emphasis on running the ball and stopping the run. I like that he values loyalty and doesn't bend to every whim of the fans or media. I am generally disappointed in a few aspects of his performance. He seems to have lost the ability to motivate his team. This year his teams showed a lack of heart at times. I also am frustrated at the lack of screen plays and the bland nature of the offense. We put the same team on the field year after year after year. I think our personnel favors a west coast offense and would like to see us implement some aspects of that style. Our defense has lost the signature stamp of John Fox. I'm not sure if it's because we don't have the right personnel in place or if we have watered down our attack. Either way, if he were sincere with you, I'm sure John would express some level of embarassment at the way our defense has played in recent years. Our first seasons with Fox showcased a defense not that unlike the one that Baltimore is putting on the field today. All in all....I like him. I hope he stays for the long haul. Remember, when he was hired, he promised us that we would be a factor every year. He never promised us that we would win the SuperBowl every year. Use Pittsburgh as an example. Cowher eventually got it done there. Fox will get it done here eventually. I just regret that the window of opportunity is beginning to close for this particular Panthers team.

2). What do you think of Delhomme as your forseeable QB for the future

Well....he's not the best QB. I prefer game managers. Like I said above, I would like to see an accurate pocket passer that would use this personnel in a west coast offense. I actually think that Delhomme would flourish in that type of system, rather than the vertical one that we now have. Beyond that, I would reference my blog article on this website titled "jake delhomme is my hero".

3). What do you think of the Peppers situation

If he did indeed say what is reported...that he wants to be wherever is best for HIM....if he wants to be the highest paid DE in the league....if he thinks he's all that....I say let him go. He has no moves. He's strong. He's athletic. He's fast. But it takes more than that. He has no swim move...no club move...no spin move...no twist. He isn't even that great in coverage. He is an incredible physical specimen that sometimes imposes his will on the competition. Pep gets beat the same way that martial arts teachs the small man to triumph over the big man. Once a tackle or tight end realizes that he usually attacks the same way, they are able to figure him out and keep him contained. I would like to keep him, but not at an extremely high cost. I'm not entirely sure that he doesn't suffer from our system. We only rush four and rarely blitz. We also never line shift on defense. This leaves Pep always attacking from the same angle. I guess what I'm saying is "I DUNNO." Those are just of my random Pep thoughts.

Sorry I couldn't be more coherent. Please reply and let us know what you think. Great thread Rain!!

Dkes great post. I'll post my thoughts tonight when I have more time. I'm at work now.

But briefly I thought your post on the Peppers situation is dead on. I want to elaborate on the other two a little more.

-Rain

1. I am still not totoally on board with Fox and his style when we are successful or ahead is still very suspect to me. It just seems he does not have that killer instinct that we need.
As far as the Defense, it just seems like our defense has fell off since del rio left. I hope he gets fired in Jasksonville and we can work on getting him back.

2. On Jake it will still take me a while to put sat. night behind. I do not see more than three more years out of him.

3. On Pep, this is what is going to make me nervous. I think he is leaving right at the moment and I do not want that, but there may be a back story that we are hearing so I am just waiting to see what happens next.

Remember, we do not have a First Round Draft Pick and I have a feeling that will come into play.

1. For a while I haven't really been able to complain about Fox and his coaching style, but now after that loss in the first game of the playoffs against the Cards I really am starting to doubt him. His other two playoff runs were good, but this was just ugly. He doesn't know how to play with the lead, and doesn't know when the to take out a QB that has had too many turnovers.

2. Jake should stay for the next few years, but starting this off season we need to bring in someone to compete whether it be Byron or some other FA, or a rookie. Maybe the competition will motivate him to play better, and maybe he needs another year to get used to the new arm.

3. Peppers needs to stay at all costs, unless we can find a way to replace him. I really don't know how we would be able to do that without even having a first round pick. Without him we will not be able to generate pressure and our D-Line will be a joke. Brayton his a good complementary player, but needs someone like Peppers on the other side. Charles Johnson is not quite there yet.

It just seems from day to day that the Peppers situation gets worse. :|

I agree GK. The only thing left to make things worse is the "HUSH HUSH Story" if he gets wrapped up in that. If he is involved, I sure hope we pull off the trade first. LOL

But if it is a team like detroit or Oakland, will HushHush really matter if they need him badly.

No it won't matter....but it might hurt us in negotiations. Teams know that we don't stand for too many off the field incidents. It would make our bargaining position weaker.

Amazing what some hoochie will do to a man.

What did I miss?

You probably remember this "escort service" that they raided in Charlotte, like last year. The "madam" is in prison now. Some of her customers were big businessman. Investigations continue and a report recently said that a Panther player could very soon be implicated. At the site where this came out, a poster (like one of us) said that they heard a rumor about 8 mos. ago that Peppers was implicated in the call girl scandal. I'll try to find the link to story and post it here.

Here you go jschnars!

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/01/12/charlotte-prostitution-ring-could-ensnare-at-least-one-panthers-player/

My feelings:

First let me start by saying I have been a Panther fan since Jerry Richardson was awarded a franchise. I have lived in NC my whole life so its natural for me to follow and be a fan of the Carolina Panthers.

I have watched, listened to or been present at 99% of the Panther games. The Panthers are my NFL team. However, I am not what people call a "homer". I do think the Panthers get it wrong sometimes. As a matter of fact I think they have as many hits as misses. As a fan I have strong opinions about my team some are positive and some are negative. I consider myself a true fan even if I don't agree with everything the team does.

Now with that being said and giving you an opportunity to know that I didn't just become a fan this season here is what I think about the questions I posed.

1). Fox and his style - In a nutshell I believe he is too conservative on defense and offense and I also believe his playcalling and his gameplan are too predictable 90% of the time. I know he is a disciple of Chuck Knoll and I believe he is stuck in that era of football where imagination hardly existed as it does today. I also believe that the OC and DC get their direction from Fox since I have not seen much difference in Dan Henning or Jeff Davidson. For example on his playcalling, I know that if the Panthers pass on first down and it is incomplete, 99% of the time they will run up the middle on 2nd down. I know that if they get ahead by one score they tend to shift into neutral and hope thay can then grind the game out. Thats why all of our games are close. I know that everything I see and read when describing the Panthers has the word vanilla in it. I also believe that if you play for Fox a veteran has a very hard time losing his job. I actually think Fox would be a great coach if he would just mix up the plays and keep the defense off balance and on defense I think he has the talent to attack, not use the bend but don't break "D". Good offenses can and will take advantage of that "D" because they can string a bunch of good plays together resulting in a score not a punt. Thats why I think our "D" struggled at the end of the year. They played a lot of good offenses.

If he did this I'd be behind him 100%. My wife told me while watching one of the games late in the season "it seems to me if you want to win a superbowl you've got to take some chances".

2). Jake Delhomme - I think he is a gambling average Quarterback. I believe Scouts Inc got it right when they rated him the 11th best quarterback out of 12 in the playoffs. He does have the "it" factor in the 4th quarter and the the Panthers are behind. But I think he locks in on his targets, he has avg arm strength, he throws off his back foot when he is excited, his mechanics are suspect and he takes too many chances. I think he can control or get better at four out five of those mentioned but he doesn't seem to care about improving on them. That bothers me about him. When you don't ask him to do too much and he takes fewer chances he is productive. I don't believe we have good Jake and Bad Jake I think we have avg. Jake and Bad Jake. I do believe he is the best QB on our team and gives us the best chance to win. I just don't think that makes him a good QB in the NFL. I want us to develop, starting now, a "good" quarterback.

Dkes: based on your story and what I have seen of Jake outside of football he seems like a great person. I just wish he was a little better QB, with a willingness to work on what even non football personnel see as a problem.

3). Peppers - Oh my...I change on this one with the wind. I love him and then I don't. I think he is used incorrectly. I think if you have a DE like him you use him like the Colts use Freeney. Tell him to line up and go get the QB. I think we tell him stay in your lane and look for the run unless it's an obvious passing down and even then he will be told to drop back into coverage. But I hadn't thought about what Dkes said about him being a one dimensional rusher. Once Dkes brought it to my attention I realized that I had never seen any pass rush moves except the bull rush and the wide speed rush. I don't know where I stand on this one now because I wonder what he would be like if he was told not to be as conservative on watching for the run and just go get the QB. I guess either way it goes trade or contract I can live with it.

And just to let you know I don't have problems with everyone I love D-Will, Beason, Davis, Otah, Wharton, Smith, Muhammed, Harris, Gross, Stewart and even Peppers. And when they get enough playing time I think I'm going to love Godfrey, Connor and Hilee Taylor.

Regardless of what happens in the offseason I'll pull hard for the Panthers and my favorite players. I'll even pull for Fox and Delhomme. I'll just wish Fox was more aggressive and unpredictable and Delhomme was more conservative.

-Rain

Finally we see where Rain stands!! Awesome post. I think you are dead on....particularly on Fox. It's weird though....it's his conservative nature that makes sure that our bad years we still go 7-9. I think that if we got REAL OC's and DC's (not promoted line coaches) we would stand a better chance of Fox mixing things up a bit. Hell, I think our offense was more dynamic with Henning than Davidson. We all wanted to fire Henning and what did he do. He went on to run a pretty cool offense. Hennings career looks awesome except for the years he coached in Carolina. Tells you something doesn't it.

As for Jake.....like I said he damn sure ain't great! LOL But do we want one of the FA's available this year? Take Cassell out. He'll be franchised. Take Warner out. He'll be in high demand. Do you want Garcia? Leftwich? I think Garcia would be awesome but I don't know if he would considerably better than Jake. I dunno. I miss Beurlein! LOL

Anyway....great thread and post Rain! Keep em coming.

I agree Henning wasn't bad after all.

And I agree that we shouldn't pursue any of the FA QBs. But I do want to find someone to groom. And I really want him to turn out to be, at a minimum a good QB. I'm not asking for much am I?

-Rain

No. You're not asking for too much. I just wonder if we've made up our minds on the feasibility of Moore being that guy to groom. I know he had a bad preseason, but I think he is still may be serviceable (sp?). It's hard to hit a home run on QB (like Matt Ryan) unless you know that you don't have a QB at all. Reference ATL and BAL.

I actually would like to see what Moore could do. He looked good in the last three games of the previous year. But if they don't think he is the answer lets get somebody in here that is the "answer" and start getting him some experience. I don't want a has been or retread.

-Rain