# Ron Rivera to coach Panthers (unconfirmed)



## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6011884

Not confirmed yet, but it seems likely since he's one of the leading candidates. Be interesting to see who he hires as OC. Seriously our defense isn't our biggest problem and the offense needs a huge amount of work.



> Former San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera has agreed to become the Carolina Panthers' next head coach, league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
> The Panthers are now putting the "finishing touches" on the agreement with Rivera.
> 
> Rivera, a former linebacker with the Bears and a member of Chicago's Super Bowl-winning team in 1985, has been with the Chargers since midway through the 2008 season. Rivera also was the Bears' defensive coordinator from 2004 to '06.
> ...


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## Coatesvillain (Jul 17, 2002)

I wouldn't be shocked if he chose James Urban as his OC.


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## nutmeged3 (Apr 11, 2005)

Peter King said something the other day about John Ramsdell from San Diego. Whoever it is they need to have some experience developing a QB so we can hold out hope that Clausen still has something. Although he better not be our starter this year.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

I just can't stand the thought of Clausen starting...He can barely throw the ball in the freaking field of play. Stevie Wonder is probably a more accurate passer.


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## nutmeged3 (Apr 11, 2005)

Haha way I've seen it on other boards people are thinking Clausen starting = shot at Luck again so even though it'd be great to have him it's not worth it. I'm just hoping to be competitive again and this is a good start


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

nutmeged3 said:


> Peter King said something the other day about John Ramsdell from San Diego. Whoever it is they need to have some experience developing a QB so we can hold out hope that Clausen still has something. Although he better not be our starter this year.


He helped develop Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger in St. Louis and more recently Philip Rivers. It's hard to separate the impact of position coaches from the player and coordinator or even head coach, so I'm not really sure what else I can say. You never hear quarterback coaches in press conferences or mentioned anywhere else.

As for Rivera, he has done a great job with the Chargers defense. The improvement was already visible last year which was his first full season as DC, this year it really took off although it wasn't reflected in points allowed because of woeful special teams and the offense turning the ball over a lot, thus resulting in a plethora of short fields to defend. The personnel isn't outstanding, the biggest strength was that there wasn't really any weak link you could point out and attack. Usually, Rivera was able to make adjustments although sometimes it would take halftime to get things corrected. 

Overall, most Charger fans were very happy with him and wish him the best. Again, it's hard to say if he will be successful as a head coach because the profile you need for that job is drastically different from being the DC. We saw it again with Jason Garrett, he came off as rather dull when he was the Cowboys DC, turned out that he can be pretty fired up. I can imagine Rivera being similar, in the brief interviews I have seen he always came off as very level headed and the players liked him. With all due respect though, the Panthers have to find a quarterback and soon because in that division you're not going to win many games if you don't have one.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

Hell we're right back to mediocrity if we fix the line and somehow get competent QB play. If it's necessary I say we give Moore a reasonable deal and let him have another shot. We've seen play competently and if he could play the way we expected him to play this season he'd be a decent qb, especially if we rediscovered the running game.

One thing I am confused about is whether or not DeAngelo is a FA next year....I think that half the league might be free agents depending upon the way the new CBA works out, but I can't find a definitive explanation of who our FA's actually are. Rosario, Moore and Wharton seem to be the biggest guys I am sure of...maybe it was another linemen and not Wharton. Wait...Beason or one of the LB is a FA too I think.


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## nutmeged3 (Apr 11, 2005)

Williams, Ryan Kalil, Charles Johnson, Richard Marshall, and James Anderson are our main free agents off the top of my head. Thomas Davis is in there too if you wanna include him but I think we'll be able to bring him back pretty cheap. Wharton signed a big deal 2 or 3 years ago. Marshall said in an interview something about the team telling him he wasn't in their long term plans so he's probably already gone. Rest of those names have to come back. I'll try and find a full list.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

Did your OL have a lot of injuries or were they just plain bad? If you don't do anything with QB, I'd at least try to bring in some new linemen.


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## nutmeged3 (Apr 11, 2005)

We lost Jeff Otah for the year and let our starting RG go during free agency. The line was really bad at times this year but I think it was mainly due to Clausen being behind center. He didn't seem able to read a blitz and was sacked constantly on free blitzers that, from what I saw, he didn't signal the line to pick up. Getting Otah back and signing a couple guys to compete at RG should be enough to bring it back to '08-'09 form.

Might need to start looking for a replacement for Gross soon though. He was really inconsistant this year and his pro bowl vote was not deserved.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

Everyone knew that Clausen sucked too...we got run blitzed about twice as much as you'd expect to be...Everyone knew we couldn't throw the ball. Everyone knew we wanted to run the ball...And Clausen doesn't know what he's supposed to do when the other team is selling out on the run.

Our Line was overrated going into the season too. WHen Stewart and DeAngelo both went over a thousand they were doing an awful lot of it all by themselves, breaking tackles and breaking ankles after not getting a hole that merited the name.


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