BlindSite
01-04-2008, 03:18 AM
No matter what Fox’s short comings, and no matter what has happened in the past, John Fox at the end of the day knows football, and knows how to win.
While he’s only had 2 winning seasons out of six with the Panthers his first losing season was as a result of a poor team that he inherited from an inept staff. His next two were clearly due to injury, as in both years the team was last and second last in the league for players missing starts.
While it’s the front office’s job to build depth, there’s very few back ups around the league who can play up to the level of starters. Even if they can there’s no team in the NFL who can field a team of back ups and consistently win games. Let alone go on a six game tear.
In the years Fox and Co commanded stable defensive and offensive units John Fox has done two things, reached an NFC Championship game and almost won a Superbowl.
In 2004 the team almost again got into the playoff mix after losing 22 starters from either side of the ball and finishing the year with a 6th string running back.
This year the problems on both sides of the ball cannot be blamed solely on John Fox or for that matter his assistant coaching staff.
To begin with, losing Jake Delhomme, a player who when last healthy made the probowl hurt the team more than was shown by the team’s 7-9 record.
Delhomme is the team’s leader; he’s a large part of why Steve Smith is dominant and a big part of why the defence used to win us (the fans) championships. Without Delhomme the passing game clearly faltered, Steve Smith was definitely shackled and teams overtly ignored the pass gearing up solely to stop the run removing all possibility of offensive balance.
David Carr cost the team more than one contest through deplorable play and uncertainty from week to week between who would be slinging passes between he and Testaverde undoubtedly hindered team cohesion and preparation.
The uncertainty and inability on offense filtered down to a depleted defense. The Carolina Defense during its most successful years had two discernable defensive signal callers’ middle linebacker Dan Morgan and safety Mike Minter. The loss of those two players left a very young and inexperienced (though talented) nucleus of players to run a complicated defensive scheme.
Without these players changing assignments at the line and correcting players out of position the defensive woes were only exacerbated.
A combination of inexperience at back up defensive end, and the starter’s inability to get pressure this year lead to a major problem stopping passing games. This lack of pressure made it far more difficult for the secondary, already missing their veteran leader to stop wide receivers.
The defense, already with its woes got little time on the bench due to the offense’s propensity to go three and out on most drives.
Despite all these problems the Carolina Panthers coaching staff still got terrific play out of players like Chris Harris (an offseason addition), Matt Moore (another offseason addition), Kris Jenkins, Richard Marshall, Thomas Davis, Jon Beason (rookie), Jordan Gross, DeAngelo Williams, Jeff King among others at certain times.
The team still came with in reach of a .500 record. Had Delhomme, or even rookie Matt Moore started the latter thirteen games of the season the team’s record would undoubtedly look very different this time of the year.
It is for this reason that a rash decision shouldn’t be made at this juncture to remove John Fox and or Marty Hurney from office. There are still problems at wide receiver, on the offensive line and in the defensive secondary. But, realistically no other free general manager, director of scouting or retired personnel mogul would be able to do a better job this offseason with our current staff than Marty Hurney and no former assistant or semi retired coach would do a better job in 2008 than Fox.
The staffs deserve another chance, as does for that matter, Julius Peppers. The focus from here (as fans) should be on the draft and free agent pool. The front office’s focus should be on finding stable young leaders on both sides of the ball within house and adding youth in needed areas through the draft. The Panthers do not need an overhaul in any area. They do need intelligent, considered progression, which isn’t going to happen with a coaching change.
While he’s only had 2 winning seasons out of six with the Panthers his first losing season was as a result of a poor team that he inherited from an inept staff. His next two were clearly due to injury, as in both years the team was last and second last in the league for players missing starts.
While it’s the front office’s job to build depth, there’s very few back ups around the league who can play up to the level of starters. Even if they can there’s no team in the NFL who can field a team of back ups and consistently win games. Let alone go on a six game tear.
In the years Fox and Co commanded stable defensive and offensive units John Fox has done two things, reached an NFC Championship game and almost won a Superbowl.
In 2004 the team almost again got into the playoff mix after losing 22 starters from either side of the ball and finishing the year with a 6th string running back.
This year the problems on both sides of the ball cannot be blamed solely on John Fox or for that matter his assistant coaching staff.
To begin with, losing Jake Delhomme, a player who when last healthy made the probowl hurt the team more than was shown by the team’s 7-9 record.
Delhomme is the team’s leader; he’s a large part of why Steve Smith is dominant and a big part of why the defence used to win us (the fans) championships. Without Delhomme the passing game clearly faltered, Steve Smith was definitely shackled and teams overtly ignored the pass gearing up solely to stop the run removing all possibility of offensive balance.
David Carr cost the team more than one contest through deplorable play and uncertainty from week to week between who would be slinging passes between he and Testaverde undoubtedly hindered team cohesion and preparation.
The uncertainty and inability on offense filtered down to a depleted defense. The Carolina Defense during its most successful years had two discernable defensive signal callers’ middle linebacker Dan Morgan and safety Mike Minter. The loss of those two players left a very young and inexperienced (though talented) nucleus of players to run a complicated defensive scheme.
Without these players changing assignments at the line and correcting players out of position the defensive woes were only exacerbated.
A combination of inexperience at back up defensive end, and the starter’s inability to get pressure this year lead to a major problem stopping passing games. This lack of pressure made it far more difficult for the secondary, already missing their veteran leader to stop wide receivers.
The defense, already with its woes got little time on the bench due to the offense’s propensity to go three and out on most drives.
Despite all these problems the Carolina Panthers coaching staff still got terrific play out of players like Chris Harris (an offseason addition), Matt Moore (another offseason addition), Kris Jenkins, Richard Marshall, Thomas Davis, Jon Beason (rookie), Jordan Gross, DeAngelo Williams, Jeff King among others at certain times.
The team still came with in reach of a .500 record. Had Delhomme, or even rookie Matt Moore started the latter thirteen games of the season the team’s record would undoubtedly look very different this time of the year.
It is for this reason that a rash decision shouldn’t be made at this juncture to remove John Fox and or Marty Hurney from office. There are still problems at wide receiver, on the offensive line and in the defensive secondary. But, realistically no other free general manager, director of scouting or retired personnel mogul would be able to do a better job this offseason with our current staff than Marty Hurney and no former assistant or semi retired coach would do a better job in 2008 than Fox.
The staffs deserve another chance, as does for that matter, Julius Peppers. The focus from here (as fans) should be on the draft and free agent pool. The front office’s focus should be on finding stable young leaders on both sides of the ball within house and adding youth in needed areas through the draft. The Panthers do not need an overhaul in any area. They do need intelligent, considered progression, which isn’t going to happen with a coaching change.