By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

As sports fans, whenever our teams start to struggle, there’s always someone we blame.

Sometime it’s the star player; sometimes the head coach. When it came to the Carolina Panthers that scapegoat used to be former Offensive Coordinator, Mike Shula. For Falcons fans think Steve Sarkisian type hatred, to the tenth degree.

When Shula was relieved of his duties following the season, you could hear that collected sigh of relief coming from the Panthers fan base.

It’s been a few weeks since Carolina brought in Norv Turner as Shula’s replacement, with tepid excitement.

Turner’s success as an NFL head coach has been less than stellar, to put it politely. His history working with quarterbacks and his reputation as an Offensive Coordinator, has been well earned.

Two accusations that followed Shula during his tenure was mundane play calling, as well as an inability to help Cam Newton realize his full potential. (I was not a huge fan of Shula, but I always thought the latter was a little unfair. I mean, Cam did win a MVP under Shula’s direction).

Turner has never struck me as someone who was an innovative offensive mind but rather someone who was an excellent play caller. It’s kind of like going to a music concert; would you rather hear the hits or songs from their “experimental” album when they were trying to find themselves?

Turner isn’t going to reinvent the plays being run, he’s just going to do a better job of calling them.

As for the part about Cam’s lack of development under Shula, that really shouldn’t be an issue with Turner. The new Carolina OC has a history of getting the most out of his quarterbacks.

His influence on QB’s like Troy Aikman and Philip Rivers are well known, but he has been very successful with those who aren’t current/future Hall of Famers. Take his time in Minnesota; his most recent NFL stop before Carolina.

In his three years with the Vikings he helped turn Teddy Bridgewater in a Pro Bowl Quarterback and was calling plays when Sam Bradford set an NFL record for completion percentage.

Cam has a lot to work on- footwork and accuracy being two of the larger ones- but it’s obvious the talent is there; just look at what he accomplished three years ago. Working with Turner every day, you’d expect to see some of the growth missing over the past few years.

There is some trepidation with the hiring though. For one, outside of his coaching gigs, Turner’s stay with the Vikings, 3 years, has been his longest stop since he was Wise Receivers with the Rams in the late ‘80’s.

Like I mentioned, some of those stops were short lived because of head coaching jobs, but overall he is not someone who stays in one place for an extended period of time. I don’t know if it’s because he wears out his welcome fairly quickly, or if he’s a “grass is always greener on the other side” person. However, for a franchise like Carolina that puts a premium on stability, Turner’s one night stand history is a little worrisome.

There have been a lot of changes to the Panthers organization since the season ended, both on and off the field.

The firing of Shula was one most fans were happy to see. The jury is still out on Turner. If history repeats itself, the Panthers should see some success in the offensive side of the ball. Just don’t get too excited, it may only be for one year.