Gantt says it's Davidson pending contract

[magnus]

Davidson's the guy, if, ...
Submitted by Darin on Tue, 2007-01-23 18:50.

All the Panthers have to do now is reach a contract with Jeff Davidson, and he'll be announced as their new offensive coordinator.

According to multiple league sources, Panthers coach John Fox informed the rest of the candidates of the choice earlier today. QB coach Mike McCoy, the early favorite for the job, will stay on the staff and have a heavy hand in the passing game.

However, this one came down to two things -- their desire to beef up the running game and a solid endorsement from Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, one of Fox's closest friends in the business.

 

[Elric]

I have to admit I was hoping for a bigger name. Maybe he'll be the best thing since sliced bread, who knows.

 

[Black&Blue]

Sounds like a John Fox Guy.



:newsmile54:



I'm lukewarm about this. On one hand, I don't think any candidate would have changed our offense significantly from where it was with Henning. We're going to be the same team, so expect the same amount of balls targeted to Steve Smith and the same amount of draw plays on 3rd and long (which we don't do more often than most teams, btmfw). He's a young guy, obviously not a retard (although he kinda looks like one), so we could have some stability there for a while.

On the other hand, we're basically hiring an average line coach to call our games.

 

[magnus]

Sounds like a John Fox Guy.



:newsmile54:



I'm lukewarm about this. On one hand, I don't think any candidate would change our offense significantly from where it was with Henning. He's a young guy, obviously not a retard (although he kinda looks like one), so we could have some stability there for a while.

On the other hand, we're basically hiring an average line coach to call our games.

And supposedly giving McCoy more say in our offense, to boot.

I could go either way. What I read is promising, but what happened in Cleveland, though it wasn't his offense, isn't.

What I read from guys like Weis is good. The idea of him skipping around to other teams because he wasn't named coordinator, that could go either way, but I don't put it against him that he wasn't named OC in NE. He was kinda forced to not be OC in New England, so that's promising. If Bellichick doesn't believe in him, it does seem Mangini and Weis do.


As for the ninja-edit stuff - I don't expect our approach will be different by much. I do hope, though, that the manner in which we do what we do changes, and that there's more variety.

 

[hasbeen99]

I have to admit I was hoping for a bigger name. Maybe he'll be the best thing since sliced bread, who knows.

A strong endorsement from Charlie Weis carries a lot of weight with me. LDE was right -- this guy was a Weis protege, and everything I've read so far sounds like he's pretty much everything most of us have been wanting out of our offense. The only glaring exception is strong QB background, which I'm desperately hoping McCoy can step up and remedy under new leadership. But prioritizing the rushing attack and including the TEs in the passing game (FINALLY!) should go a long way to making Jake look a lot better than he has.

 

[Piper]

edit.

I got my Ohio teams confused.

 

[hasbeen99]

I'm not sure where the idea that Cinci's line has been average to subpar comes from. Carson Palmer doesn't take a lot of sacks in a verticle offense. Rudi Johnson, who should not be confused with Larry Johnson, is a multi time 1300+ yard rusher.

Granted, he had more to work with in Jones, Anderson, and Steinback, all first round picks and high performers. But they weren't average. Far from it.

 

[Piper]

Oh hell, Cleveland, not Cinci. My bad.

Forget I said that.

OK, he's not had that much to work with in Cleveland. When Kevin Shaffer is your best player, you have problems.

 

[Black&Blue]

Bentley was also out, and then his replacement got roids.

Cleveland does have a terrible offensive line, but I can't say that was Davidson's fault. We have more talent here.


And I don't know if we should do something just because Charlie Weis says so.

 

[Piper]

He interviewed. He did that well, and got a job. Not sure about the rest of you, but that's how I was first hired. Your resume only get's your foot in the door. Good references usually only confirm the impression you make.

I can only assume that he impressed Fox.