Slow Starts A Concern?

Sure there will be. No doubt.

But professionals always keep their heads while others are losing theirs. And, like I have said before, those who were stunned/shocked/appaled by Muhammad's release either don't understand the logistics of NFL business, or they have an agenda.

 

Then leave it to the professionals (members of the organization) to keep their heads. If Marty Hurney was a TBR member, and he was sulking over how bad things are, then I'd be a little disturbed. But I doubt that's the case.

 

Fuck that.

This is a good lesson in trust. Trust is not handed out, it is earned over the course of time. John Fox has earned my trust. He knows football, and he knows his team more than any of us. So, I don't see it as blind faith. I have faith in this staff because they have impressed me.

 

Regardless of how much trust or faith the the fans have or don't have, it won't effect the end result. If they've earned your trust, that's good. They've earned mine, too. If you trust them, don't get caught up in what everyone else thinks, because then it shoudn't matter. Part of having faith is believing something is right regardless of what other people say.

 

Sure enough.

And no one's opinion here will ever change the way I feel about the way this team has been/continues to be constructed. Just a healthy debate. Patience vs. Panic.

 

I'd really rather you not decide what I'm thinking before I have the ability to think it.

I don't think Fox is a bad coach. I think he brings fight to this team that no one else has. Doesn't change that, for all the smoke a person can blow up his ass, he's had devastating losing streaks in two of his three seasons, and a nearly-devastating one in between.
It doesn't change that we choked and went 1-2 with playoffs on the line. I think that's mostly resistance to change, which is concerning, because that condition itself will never change.

That said, I've gone back and forth on Hurney. I think the thing that edged him back in the negative for me was that he came out and suggested that he doesn't evaluate talent, he just facilitates the needs of the team. Meaning he's just a glorified accountant. That's concerning, because he'll have no power if he's just there to give Fox whatever he wants.

And that's the thing - I don't outright think Hurney's bad. Nor Henning. The parallel is that both are trying to give Fox what they think he wants, and he's not experienced in the position to know what he should be getting.





Either way, the point you're taking issue with, isn't really refutable. If we have another offseason like the last one, where we lose important pieces and replace them with unimportant players, and yeah, we will have some major issues.

 

Ahh. See, that's not healthy, to position yourself as logical and the other side in a panic. It's displeasure, and no less/no greater an opinion.
Same difference as calling myself a realist and you a pollyanna optimist, nothing good comes from that.

 

Well, I feel as though my optimism has been portrayed as pollyanna-ish since I've been here. You are a blunt realist. Not a bitch, or an asshole. I don't really know you at all, and I don't know what you do with your spare time. So I have no personal issue with you.

All I know is that I never saw Moose coming back, so I didn't really feel the need to piss all over the fact that we signed a couple of special teamers to less-than-lucrative deals. It's as though Smart and Ross are preventing Hurney from keeping Moose. Moose was gone the day that original deal was restructured to a $10 Mil bonus. He played lights-out down the stretch, but do you really feel it would have been wise to pay him what Chicago is paying him now, given the financial disparity between our situation and theirs.

I felt like giving Moose that much would end up really hurting us as he begins to hit the twilight of his career. Because I, for one, do not see him putting up those kind of numbers for more than another year, maybe two.

It's a philosophical difference. And, to me, there is very little gray area in how you see the decisions Fox/Hurney make. You either agree or disagree. Given the cap situation, I agreed 100% with this one.

 

>>It's as though Smart and Ross are preventing Hurney from keeping Moose.

Missing the point. They aren't, and shouldn't be the focus. They aren't important, nor is Bill Ferrario. Muhsin, Mark, Mike, all three Panthers who are as big of the heart and soul of this team as anyone, and all three could be gone. While we worry about special teams. Did you ever have concern as to whether Rod Smart would come back? Micah Ross?

I'd seriously doubt it. But if someone questions the FO on it, then there's a defense.

We got worse last year, and then we got hurt. But we still were a lesser football team, because of our decisions. I don't want that to happen again.

 

I think Smart and Hankton are the best overall ST'ers on this team. Given ATL's success last season, I would hope you'd agree that ST are important now as ever. Are you asserting that a street-FA could come in and become the tackler on ST that Smart or Hankton is? I just don't believe that.

Ross, yea. Who the fuck knows. He impressed me last year.

Ferrario, I could have passed on that, but like I said, I don't think he's getting any sort of big money out of this.

Just because something does not show up on KFFL does not mean it is not a focal point for the folks making decisions in the FO.

I think they are focusing a good deal of their attention on Minter, Fields, Spoon, and other core players. You just don't hear about every little detail on KFFL or the wire.

So while I respect your opinion and understand your frustration, I think that business is being handled exactly as it should be right now. I don't think that the money that was allocated to Smart and Ross and Ferrario have a great deal to do with the lack of funds available for Moose, nor the lack of funds available for the other FA's we would like to keep or restructure.

Here's what I would be doing as Panthers GM this evening:

*Restructure Minter.
*Re-sign Fields
*Keep an eye out on Spoon, see to it that he stays.
*Cut Willig and Hawkins immediately.
*Get Dan Neil's agent on the phone.
*Touch base with Scott Pioli in regards to an RFA offer for David Givens, as DG gives me more of an instant return at a need position than anyone I could draft at 14.

Now, will you agree with all of my thoughts. Nah. But I would be taking care of all of this immediately. I agree that this team got worse after 2003, injuries notwithstanding. So, let's get better now dammit.