Matt Rhule’s time with the Carolina Panthers has been rough, to say the least. But is it time for the team to move on?
Well, the Carolina Panthers were once again embarrassed on the national stage and saw their hopes at a playoff appearance all but disappear. A 33-10 drubbing by a Miami Dolphins team with only one viable receiver will do that to you.
Cam Newton completed a truly remarkable five passes for only 92 yards – more than 60 of those on a single grab by D.J. Moore. And Christian McCaffrey was once again an afterthought in the second half due to injury.
Those arent new issues for the Panthers but merely a symptom of how far the organization has fallen since David Tepper bought the team and morphed it into his own image. The blame, however, does not fall on the owner, but rather the people that he entrusted to guide the team into the future.
Matt Rhule was the hottest of commodities after taking both Temple and Baylor from the bottom of the barrel to true competitors for BCS rankings in three years each. The ability to rebuild a program in that short a time is something that any owner in Tepper’s position would relish and the Panthers were a prime opportunity for any coach.
With their mix of a supportive fanbase, building blocks, and recent success being incredibly attractive for any candidate.
So Tepper pulled the trigger and let Rhule start the rebuild and here we find ourselves staring down another losing season with no real hope for improvement on the horizon. No worthy free agent will want to step into this mess and no real quarterback prospects are coming out of next year’s draft judging by what we’ve seen so far.
It has been truly painful to watch the team slowly fall apart this season after starting out so strong. Carolina appears broken and something drastic needs to change for it to get fixed.
Something like finding a coach that can actually lead a team at the NFL level, which is clearly not Rhule.
So without further ado, here are five reasons the Panthers should cut their losses and find a new head coach.
Carolina Panthers have no energy
Every Carolina Panthers fan could see just how much life Cam Newton’s return gave the team and the fanbase alike. The former MVP electrified everyone with his “I’m Back” moment against the Arizona Cardinals and looked primed to lead the franchise into the sunset.
That energy carried over into a Week 11 loss to the Washington Football Team and even with that heartbreaking ending, there were good enough signs to give Panthers fans hope at things to come.
Sadly the team wasn’t able to capitalize on that energy and just about completely negated it.
A theme this year has been the Panthers getting discouraged and down in the dumps when anything happened to them. Whether that be a bad play, turnover, or a game that seemed to be lost.
There is no motivation for this team to keep going, their body language alone says it all. Just look at how the players react when something goes wrong. Hung heads and sideline shouting matches don’t win football games.
A true coach will rally the troops, circle the wagons, get his players back into the game and make sure they fight until that last whistle blows. Something the Panthers have never shown the ability to do under Matt Rhule’s guidance.
A loving hand will only get you so far, at some point a coach has to get in the face of his players and call them out for the whole world to see.
This team looked defeated before the fourth quarter even started and that showed. Players slowly walked to the line and were putting in nowhere near their maximum effort. Some of that blame lies on the players, yes, but a lot more lies on the coach not being able to get the best out of them.
The other side to this is how the team always manages to come out of halftime with zero enthusiasm or fire to compete leading to multiple blowout third quarters. The main job of the coach is to get his players fired up and feel like they can take on the world and Carolina just seems largely indifferent.
Mindset is key in every part of life and this team simply hasn’t had the right one since Rhule took over. That has to change.
Carolina Panthers cannot adjust under Matt Rhule
Four.
That is how many times the Carolina Panthers have scored in the third quarter this year. Not four times in one game, four times total.
My father has always said that you can tell a good team from a bad by the second half. A bad team may hang around for a while but then the better team will figure things out and run away with it.
Much like the Dallas Cowboys did in Week 4.
The Panthers have simply never been the better team, at least from a coaching perspective.
A good game plan is important, but even more so is the ability to adjust when things don’t go according to that plan. Make the changes that need to be made to put your team in a position to win.
Moves and counter moves.
Matt Rhule has shown a distinct lack of desire to deviate from pre-game planning all season and the proof of that is in the Panthers’ inability to do anything meaningful in the second half of a football game.
A true coach will see what the other team is doing, how they have planned, and tweak things slightly to counter that. Then when the opposing coach does the same they will change things again.
You cannot trot out and do the same things over and over and expect it to magically start working for you.
From running the same play sequences to even the same plays over and over again, the Panthers have become a boring and predictable mess on offense especially, and continue to run the same things for the entire game.
There is no spice, no creativity, and no adjustments to weaknesses on the other team. That is why the team goes three-and-out so many times – there is nothing to surprise the defense.
Whether this comes down to Rhule’s inability to see what is going on and react to it or a lack of desire to deviate from the plan, it doesn’t win football games and a change has to be made if the Panthers ever want to be successful.
Matt Rhule’s made terrible personnel choices
This has become glaringly obvious as time has gone on this season and as injuries began to take their toll on the offensive line especially.
I even spoke on this recently when wondering why the team would decide to put John Miller back into a starting role that he had no business occupying. While that particular issue was rectified on Sunday, another more significant one popped up.
The Carolina Panthers have a left tackle on the roster, a player that the team drafted knowing that was his main position, yet they refuse to put him in the game unless all other options are exhausted.
Yes, Brady Christensen has had his struggles this season but the former BYU star is a rookie, those struggles are going to happen.
Why Rhule continues to put in Cam Erving or Dennis Daley at left tackle instead is mind-boggling. The team has a player right there on the sideline that knows the position yet the head coach opts to put in a player incapable of even making it at guard, which is a much easier position to play.
That isn’t the only issue, however.
The usage of Christian McCaffrey has also reared its ugly head with the All-Pro running back spending more time nursing injuries than running at this point.
With all of the talk about bringing McCaffrey along slowly and taking care of that injury history, Rhule still sent him out on almost every snap until he couldn’t take any more once again.
This hasn’t only shown on the offensive side either as the Jermaine Carter experiment has been disappointing, to put it mildly, and the team had a potential Pro Bowl player in Denzel Perryman on the roster and let him go for almost nothing.
Even the rotations and scheming have been poor from the start. Nothing seems likely to change that at this point.
Rhule needs to learn how to evaluate NFL-level talent so that he can put in the right player, at the right position, at the right time. That or someone else will start evaluating him and his time as a coach will come to an end.
Carolina Panthers are never properly prepared
How many times have I written about containing a specific player or portion of an opponent only to see the Carolina Panthers do exactly the opposite come game day?
I am no sage, neither am I a football expert. However, if I can see these things how can Matt Rhule not.
Jaylen Waddle was the only viable receiver that the Miami Dolphins had on Sunday and yet the rookie was still able to rack up 137 yards on the day. Putting Stephon Gilmore on their tight end was a large reason for that.
I get trusting your guys but Donte Jackson was coming off one of his worst performances as a pro and you decide to give him the duty of covering Waddle when the Panthers had a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year on the other side?
The level of nonsense is truly remarkable. Especially after Jackson, A.J. Bouye, and whoever was covering Waddle failed to live up to expectations for the most part.
This speaks to a lack of proper preparation and planning.
The team should have known what Waddle was capable of, that he was the only dangerous target, and not been surprised when that speed showed up and the ball went the rookie’s way. Instead, we got to see Jackson chasing down the speedy receiver on multiple occasions.
That isn’t specific to this game either, it has happened over and over again.
Carolina consistently looks surprised when an opponent does something that they have done all season. Like a mobile quarterback running through open gaps or a defense blitzing against an empty backfield.
Lack of proper preparation has doomed this Panthers team multiple times this season. When you pair that with an inability to adjust it just magnifies the problem further.
Matt Rhule’s personality
This may be a bit petty but it is important nonetheless.
Matt Rhule has consistently had the wrong attitude and said the wrong things throughout his tenure with the Carolina Panthers and frankly, it’s getting a bit tiring.
From calling out the defense when the offense had just lost the game or saying one thing just to turn around and do the exact opposite. There is no trust there from a fan perspective and one can only imagine how the players feel about it.
Just imagine playing your heart out while you endure a quarterback throwing multiple interceptions only to hear your coach blame you for the loss instead.
That is no way to win a locker room and besides that Rhule has never seemed to really be in control of the team. Players haven’t been gushing about his coaching as they tend to with a good man at the helm, not talking about how much they love their coach.
When you lose the locker room you lose the team and it’s beginning to seem like Rhule never had it to begin with.
There is no emotion, no fire behind Rhule’s eyes that the players can look to and feel inspired. While Ron Rivera rarely got animated on the sideline, that stern stare said more than any tangent ever could and the players understood that.
The players respected that.
Rhule has lost a lot of respect during his time with the Panthers and it’s beginning to look like he was better off in college after all.
With the University of Oklahoma now in need of a new leader, Rhule could be gone of his own volition before Tepper can even pull the trigger. A decision that would be better for both sides.