Thoughts on Week 10’s Game

After Week 10 let me start by saying I like coach Rivera, I really do.  After this week’s loss I’m starting to wonder if I like him for the right reasons though.  For one, look what we have to compare him to.  John Fox.  Fox was horrible in Carolina far more often then he was good.  Sir Purr could of come in as the head coach and I would have been full of optimism compared to the alternative of sticking with Fox.

Fox was Conservative. Rivera is Aggressive.

Fox made his players play in his system.  Rivera adjusts his system to his players.

Fox used his veterans.  Rivera teaches and develops his youth.

Fox tries not to lose the game.  Rivera tries to win the game.

They are polar opposites, so what is not to like right?

Well… after being in so many close games this season and getting completely out played coming out of a bye week I’m not going to lie.  I’m starting to waiver.

Coach Rivera is the gift and the curse.  He has raised expectations while at the same time disappointed us fans.  He has showed us our Carolina Panthers CAN win a lot of games but at the same time has not come through with the actual wins.

Normally this would not be enough to make me waiver.  The fact that:

• He is a first time head coach (he wasn’t a head coach in college).
• Our team is young.
• Our team has a new system to learn.
• We have one of the toughest schedules.
• And our team has caught the injury bug pretty bad.

Would still leave me confident in Coach Rivera being chosen to lead the Panthers into the future. But the same thing that had me high on coach Rivera is the same thing that may break my confidence in him.

A comparison.

The Rivera vs Fox comparison is what brought me confidence in our choice.

But the Ron Rivera vs  Jim Harbaugh comparison however has me starting to wonder if the Panthers did in fact make the right choice.

The Harbaugh coached 49ers have a record of 8-1.  Let me repeat that.  The 49ers have a record of 8-1!

How many of you Panther fans can honestly say that the 49ers have a superior lineup compared to ours?  I surely can’t.  Really the only major change from the consistently horrible 49ers of the past decade is Harbaugh.  And now they are unstoppable.   Where Carolina has not be consistently horrible, just horrible recently, yet we seem to look much improved on tape but not on the score board.

Remember, when the Panthers were shopping for a coach, they did not even consider interviewing Harbaugh.  If they had brought him in for an interview and ended up hiring him do you think the Panthers would still have only 2 wins?  Or do you think we would be atop our division much like the 49ers are?   Or do you think we would be worse off and winless at this point in the season?

I want to hear other’s opinions on this topic, what do you all think?

Do you think their weak division is the reason for their success or do you think Harbaugh is just that good?

Comment below.