SPORTS

‘Your Team Sucks’: David Tepper’s Panthers Somehow Keep Getting Worse

“The trajectory is to find good football…”

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For fans of the Carolina Panthers, rock bottom remains elusive. The franchise appeared to plumb its lowest depth toward the end of last season, when irascible billionaire owner David Tepper – the architect of the team’s seemingly interminable implosion – showed his ass following an embarrassing loss to Jacksonville.

Worse was still to come, though…

After a costly offseason rebuild which included new players, a new coach and a new general manager, another rock bottom was thought to have been reached earlier this year with the benching of franchise quarterback Bryce Young. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Young posted an anemic 2-16 record as a starter prior to being replaced by journeyman veteran Andy Dalton.

Inexplicably, though, Carolina keeps going from worse to… well, worser.

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The latest nadir? A humiliating 40-7 loss on Sunday to the Washington Commanders – who were playing without injured starting quarterback Jayden Daniels. Seriously, Carolina got carved up by backup Marcus Mariotawho hadn’t started an NFL game in two years.

Following the latest loss, Carolina (1-6) ranked No. 30 out of 32 NFL franchises in yards allowed per game (385.7) and were dead last in points surrendered per game (34.7). The Panthers’ are more than a touchdown worse than the next-to-last team when it comes to getting scored on – and have given up the second-most points through seven games of any team since 1970. No wonder sports reporters are running out of adjectives – and historical context – to describe just how terrible this defense has become.

Having the worst defense in the league is never a good thing, but it’s even worse when you can’t move the football or score points when you have possession. Carolina currently ranks No. 29 in the NFL in yards per game (281.6) and No. 28 in scoring (15.7 points per game) – hardly the sort of outcomes Tepper was envisioning when he brought in a hotshot offensive “genius” as his fourth head coach in six seasons (that’s not counting interims, either).

“The trajectory is to find good football,” head coach Dave Canales said after the humiliating defeat at the hands of the Commanders. “That’s the greatest challenge.”

Wait… come again? “The trajectory is to find good football?”

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Canales’ statement (to the extent he even understands what he said) speaks volumes. He’s saying Carolina is so bad right now the franchise doesn’t even know what good football looks like.

Tepper got some similarly blunt feedback on the future of his franchise from the media following the loss.

“Your team sucks,” ESPN host Pat McAfee said on his latest show.

“Sucks” is too kind, to be honest. And there is nothing to suggest anything is going to change anytime soon as Tepper’s latest rebuild collapses around him. Under the liberal hedge fund manager’s “leadership,” the Panthers have posted an abysmal 32-74 (.301) record – the worst record in the NFL since 2018. Over that stretch, they have failed to reach the playoffs or secure a winning season. Conversely, in the five years before Tepper purchased the Panthers, the franchise went 54-31-1 (.621) – reaching the playoffs four times and making it to Super Bowl 50.

As I noted last week, that is a “definitional sustained collapse” – and it can all be traced to Tepper’s purchase and subsequent mismanagement of the team.

Carolina will try and figure it out next Sunday (October 27, 2024) when the team travels to Empower Field at Mile High for a showdown with the Denver Broncos. Kickoff has been set for 4:25 p.m. EDT with CBS providing coverage. Keep it tuned to this outlet to see if Tepper’s team can possibly go any lower…

BANNER VIA: PANTHERS/X

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks (Dylan Nolan)

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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1 comment

Anonymous October 22, 2024 at 11:52 am

David Tepper and all his stupidity have ruined a once perfectly good pro football team. He is here by nominated for Idiot of the Year based on his lack of common sence and thought. Hey David Tepper F O!

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