Scott Fowler On Keith Larson

So I listened today to Scott Fowler discussing the Panthers on Keith Larson this morning. The two agreed that Scott is an expert on the subjects of the Tarheels, Panthers and Charlotte sports as a whole.

Scott touched on some subjects that suggest maybe John Fox was at the end of fan patience. He implied the fans love him and the Panther’s have been greatly successful in winning the fan base and the hearts and minds of Charlotte, but it was time to produce with the product.

As you see months ago I had already come to this conclusion.
Here I was pointing out it was already time to start balming Fox.

Scott pointed out that a 3-13, 4-12 season could mean the end of John Fox.
How do you spell “Duhhh” ?

This seemed like saying the “sky is blue”.

Firstly, if Carolina was to have a 3-13 season that would perhaps mark the most dissappointing season for a team in decades, I don’t see Carolina possibly winning less than 6 games. This was a pretty silly comment because it is such an obvious comment. I dont believe Fox should be surviving 8-8 seasons in this weak NFC conference, so a 3 or 4 win season is just plain silly to think is possible.

If Carolina goes 8-8 or less this season without a reason such as major injury to Steve Smith or Delhomme for most of the season, then Fox needs to go.

I would hope he would leave on his own as better coaches have done in the past. A true show of football knowledge would be to know when even your own system can’t get it done, or that you have stopped invoking emotion in your players on a personal level.

Marty Schottenheimer just lost a job after a 14 win season, becuase you measure success based on the product you produce from the parts you are given.

Fox has far too much personel to miss the playoffs again, I would hate to see great careers like Smith’s languish further under possible coaching stagnancy.

The fact is I know football far beyond the limits of the normal armchair wannabe quarterback. Scott mentioned that Carolina has two of the top 10- players in the league in Peppers and Steve Smith. I agree with this statement, clearly the top 15 players, likely top 10 is a fair statement.

The fact is the Panthers outcome has been the number one disappointment in the entire league this past year.

Carolina was considered the 2nd or 3rd most likely champion coming into 2006 behind only San Diego and maybe Indy. Carolina had essentially played their way out of the playoffs by week 11. They only had a decent chance of the playoffs late in the season due to the embarrassingly bad NFC conference.

Position by position, Carolina is one of the top 8 teams in terms of talent. Injury excuses are just not acceptable since New England did alot more with much less. New England, whom is my mortal enemy as a Bills fan, had almost no receiving core and riddled with defensive injuries and still proved to play like a top 5 team.

The true weakness with Carolina is that they are weakest at the most crucial points. They have a quarterback that is prone to mistakes at the most innopportune times, and they apparently have a coach that is so stuck on a weak game plan that he allows his team to fail almost weekly. I believe Fox’s Slow moving game plans leave other teams within striking distance and leave the door open for Jake to make the one “error” that Sinks the Panthers in the 4rth Quarter of many games.

I believe Carolina lost ‘6′ 4rth quarter leads last year? That is a statistic that should get a coach fired immediately.

Even the great hall of famer Don Shula eventually had nothing else to offer his team in Miami and had to move on so thee team could win.

When you dont invoke emotion in your players, then you game plans will never be enough.

A coach that has a telented team and not the mentality that team’s attributes require will be doomed to be out of its element.

With a great open field back, a great deep threat and two receivers that can go over the middle on short fast routes, Carolina may be better suited for a west coast offense that fox isnt providing. Im not offering this as an answer, just an example of what may be the mismatch.

I wish the best to talented teams like Carolina. Im a Bills fan, but respect the Panthers in all their talent and history of being defensive fighters. The games with Tampa were groundbreaking games for the Carolina sports fans, and defined Carolina as a great and scrappy team. The issue seems to be that the team has an identity, and the coach no longer has the ability to channel it into a concentrated effort or game plan.