Panthers News: Ejiro Evero, Shaquill Griffin, Hayden Hurst and Jim Harbaugh
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers defensive resilience
It's been a disaster for the Carolina Panthers this season. Dreams of winning the NFC South and making a postseason splash before the campaign were all influential figures seemed to talk about, so to have just one win from their opening 12 contests is a damning indictment of the current state of affairs across the organization.
This is something defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero immediately discussed during his media availability on Thursday. While the coach acknowledged things haven't gone as they'd hoped, he praised the resilience within the locker room - especially where his defense is concerned - during comments via the team's website.
"I just want to start off by kind of acknowledging where we are in the season; we're 1-11, things have not gone the way we planned. It's very frustrating, but I've just got to give a lot of credit and kudos to our players. They've done a great job of handling it. It's not easy, obviously, coming into work day-to-day and dealing with the frustrations. But the guys have been upbeat, they continue to work hard, they've been positive, they've been coachable, just doing things the right way, and I'm just so glad to be working with this group of players. And so, just want to give a lot of love to our guys, especially on the defensive side, who've done a great job all year."
- Ejiro Evero via Panthers.com
Evero has done a decent job of keeping Carolina's defense competitive despite countless injury complications to key personnel. It's on the offensive side of things where things get murky from a performance standpoint.
What the Panthers can do to solve this complex riddle over the next five games is anyone's guess. But with the defense getting healthy, they've got a good chance to end the campaign on a positive note under Evero's guidance.