About a month and a half prior to firing his offensive coordinator in Joe Brady, head coach Matt Rhule spoke of finding a new identity for the struggling Carolina Panthers. He sought a fresh response to the listless and directionless team they had settled into being.
“We’re gonna redefine who we are,” he said following a Week 6 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings. “And we’re gonna run the football and we’re gonna protect our quarterback and we’re not gonna turn the ball over anymore. That’s just the only way we’re gonna win.”
That disappointing outcome, a 34-28 upending that sent them to their third straight loss at the time, didn’t see Carolina do any of those things. But it was the miss on the first checkmark, even in the absence of star rusher Christian McCaffrey, that seemingly irked Rhule the most.
“We came in saying we were gonna run the football,” Rhule continued in that morning-after presser. “Early on, we weren’t running it great. We’ve gotten better running the ball every week when you look at the tape. I just don’t know if we’re not doing a good enough job as coaches of committing to it and staying with it. So I came into this week saying I wanted to run the ball 33 times. We didn’t get that done.”
They didn’t get it done, having run just 23 times on the afternoon. They wouldn’t get it done in their very next game either, as an embarrassing 25-3 thumping at the hands of the New York Giants resulted in an ever fewer output of 17 carries.
It was here where the first seeds of a schism were publicly planted. And it was here—even despite totaling 203 rushing yards on a gaudy 47 tries in the following outing along with the subsequent denials of any personnel changes—that once again showed us the disconnect within the organization.
Brady’s departure is just the latest sign in what’s been a laundry list of lapses and backpedals since Rhule was hired to head this rebuild. Under his watch, the Panthers have released and signed back Cam Newton, signed and shipped away Teddy Bridgewater and traded for Sam Darnold, who the team would probably love to move on from in 2022.
Except—on top of bringing in and taking out Brady—they’ve also switched general managers, extended McCaffrey on what’s so far been a nightmare contract and picked up Darnold’s weighty fifth-year option for next season. This has all gone down, mind you, in just 23 months’ time.
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Rhule’s constant failures at filling the quarterback spot, obviously, have been the most apparent of those missteps. You’re probably not going to succeed without a legitimate, constant presence at the most important position in all of North American sports.
Starting out by unceremoniously dumping the franchise’s most accomplished player in favor of a pricey pact for a very limited passer was not, well, great. So when that project met its inevitable end, they moved on to the next one—a former third overall pick who even the New York Jets realized was too volatile to continue with.
Now—through these ill-fated decisions—the Panthers are left with paying $7 million for a guy to play for the Denver Broncos, an incoming $18.8 million for a broken (literally and figuratively) investment and are left without second and fourth-round picks this spring as a result. Oh, and they’re back to square one at the will of Newton.
By the way, shall we also mention Rhule’s regime passed up on Justin Fields and Mac Jones back in April? Owner David Tepper may want us to . . .
Again, Sunday’s axing of the offensive wunderkind proves anything other than a sturdy, steady-minded, united front. While debating whether Brady did enough as a play-caller himself is a worthwhile discussion to have, that may pale in comparison to the greater underlying problem.
Rather, the more prudent issue to address is the lack of harmony and continuity that has and will continue to sidetrack this rebuild.
The only harmony this process has seen, as a matter of fact, is the perpetual tone of mistakes this regime has played in its two lousy years. And as the 5-7 Panthers head down their final stretch of this largely dull 2021, Rhule may have to find another note to hit before that bald, bold businessman upstairs redefines his identity.
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