It was apparent, from the very first day on the job, that Matt Rhule had his own vision of what he wanted for the Carolina Panthers. But what he had imagined and what ultimately happened were two completely different things.
Buy Panthers TicketsCBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones, in a new report from Sunday morning, revealed some more unflattering details from Rhule’s disappointing three-year reign. Chief amongst those were the self-set standards the former head coach failed to reach, which were explained in a document obtained by CBS Sports entitled “The Way of the Panther.” Jones writes:
It amounts to a three-page treatise on the team’s process and vision under Rhule
“Pepsi tastes like Pepsi 24 hours a day! We have a Brand at the Panthers,” the document reads. “This Brand defines us both on the field and in everyday life. We are: The Toughest, Hardest Working, Most Competitive Team in the NFL.
Atop the document was “our Plan to Win.” It focused on common football metrics that can normally determine outcomes such as penalties.
But those metrics didn’t meet their desired outcomes. Here, as provided by Jones, were the specific stats Rhule sought to dominate in and the Panthers’ eventual ranking in those stats over his 28 games:
- Explosive offensive plays (gains of 20+ yards): 29th
- Explosive offensive plays allowed: 13th
- Turnover differential: 25th
- Yards per carry: 24th
- Yards per carry allowed: 15th
- Sack percentage: 21st
- Sack percentage allowed: 23rd
- Third-down conversion rate: 31st
- Third-down conversion rate allowed: 25th
- Red zone scoring percentage: 30th
- Red zone scoring percentage allowed: 27th
Jones continued:
The document states that “if you can’t write down” this plan and “the Brand,” the staff member is “not OOU.” That is an acronym commonly used in the building that stands for “One Of Us.” OOU was used regularly in the draft and free-agency process to determine what players Carolina should and should not target. The acronym came to be mocked regularly by some staffers in the last year-plus.
So, unfortunately for Rhule, “The Way of the Panther” only ended up getting him a one-way ticket out of Carolina.
