As you can see by our "Inside the Panthers" blog on the offseason power ratings by Sports Illustrated's Peter King, the Panthers are once again being looked upon favorably by what remains the best sports magazine in the business.
I have long admired SI and have been a subscriber for 20-plus years. But there's one area the magazine often falls short -- predictions. Remember that time SI had Carolina winning the Super Bowl? And no, that wasn't in 2003.
We've got another good example here, as SI has Carolina way too high -- eighth! -- in its offseason power rankings.
Where would I put Carolina? At No.19.
I think Carolina is in store for a 7-9 sort of season -- not awful, but far from great and out of the playoffs. You can't tell me that a team that went 8-8 last season (and had to win its last 3 games to get to that point) has gotten better this offseason. The purge of veterans was too dramatic and too far-reaching -- some deserved to go, yes, but not so many.
Until proven otherwise, this is a middle-of-a-pack team with a quarterback who has only eight starts (good starts, yes, but can Matt Moore lead a team an entire season?), a coach entering the final year of his contract and a front office that is obviously committed to youth over experience and thriftiness over expense.
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9 years ago
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45 comments:
They have not improved through subtraction. They have however succeeded in reducing their salary which translates in to less experience and more losses. Does anyone know the difference in salary from last year to this year?
Yeah 19th sounds about right to me. But if you look at the big picture here; As a fan, I'd much rather see a hungry group of young guys go 7-9 than see a lazy group of expensive veteran guys go 8-8 like they did last year. (Very Disaapointing) At least that would show that we are building toward something. We obviously weren't going anywhere with what we had, so if you're going to NOT be in the playoffs at least NOT be in the playoffs saving money for the future. Saving and Investing in the guys we ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT afford to lose.
Best running game in the league? Yep.
Reducing turnovers by releasing Delhomme? Yep.
Cut a bunch of non-producing dead weight on D? Yep.
Getting back all the injured guys whose absence killed us? Yep.
Kept the guys that stopped the run in the second half of 2009? Yep.
Upgraded at WR? Yep.
Easier schedule? Yep.
Yeah, they're going to be worse. Can we buy a sportswriter with a clue?
Knowing Fowler's track record in predicting, we'll probably go to the Super Bowl.
Scott,
Your writing is atrocious. Every time I read anything written by you, I find a grammatical mistake.
Please proof your work. It is very frustrating to read a bona fide professional sports columnist's scribble and feel like it was written by a nine year old.
btw, this blog entry is about as thoughtless as you stating the odds of LB moving on at 50/50.
And the C.O. pays you for this garbage
I think 19th is a bit far in the other direction. I don't know about 8th, but maybe 10th or 12th. One other poster already mentioned this, but exactly where have we gotten worse? QB, certainly not. RB, same as before with a younger FB blocking. We didn't loose anyone that we'll miss on the OL. WR? Not realy. With Jake gone, we'll start to see players other than Smitty get the ball. The only area we've maybe regressed is on the DL, but I don't think it's going to be to the extent that many feel. I think that we are molding our defense to fit the scheme that we run. Speed makes up for a lot. This team reminds me of the Cowboys under J.J.(the coach, not owner). They were young and fast with some talent in certain spots and won two in a row. They ran the ball and played hard on D and won.
3:52 hit it right on the head!!! I can't believe that our own guy has us that low! He must still be on Jakes nuts!!! Mark it down, 11-5 and at least a win in the playoffs! Passing game is INSTANTLY 2x better this year, still best running game in league, defense that finished top ten will only get better with TD back in the lineup. Maybe cause he had such high expectations last year, he's covering his a**!
GO PANTHERS!
We have zero shot at winning 6 games. ZERO. WIth this joke of a roster, we will be very lucky indeed not to end up with a three or less win season. Best case 4-12. Good thing tho, this means very cheap tickets for the games!!
King sizing up the Panthers in May is one thing. At least he has national credibility and a passion for the NFL so I tend to pay attention. King admittedly spent weeks drawing up his rankings. Fowler whips out his rebuttal in one day! Scott, your columns are pedestrian enough, please save us your pointless predictions.
Observer please give us a real columnist with credibility and knowledge!!!
I am positive that the offense will be better just because Jake is gone. However, I am concerned that the loss of the only elite player we had on defense in Peppers will really hurt us. Also, did anyone notice that our front four wasn't any good until we got the veteran Hollis Thomas last year? Without him or another upgrade at D-tackle, and the loss of the dependable Nail Diggs and Chris Harris coming up for run support we will probably have trouble stopping the run this year. That will put us around the middle of the pack or a little worse. So somewhere around 18th or 19th like "Scott Says" is probably right.
Clueless sportswriters for $200 please.....
I think the Panthers are better than 19th just because they're better on offense and play a weaker schedule. However we are fragile on defense, the cumulative effect of losing Peppers, Harris and Diggs and continuing weakness at DT make us vulnerable.
The first post asked if anyone knew the difference in salary from last year to this yr. Following is the text of a reply from a similar question I asked a few wks ago:
The cap value spent for 2009 was $112,507,691. If we went into the season today without the rookie salaries etc, the team would have trimmed off 44% of their 2009 salary cap and and stands at $62,692,888 for 2010.
So for me it's obvious the Panthers are more interested in saving money than a "youth movement", since we're not signing any significant free agents.
To the person who asked the difference between the Panthers' 09 and 2010 cap, here's an answer I got 2-3 wks ago: The cap value spent for 2009 was $112,507,691. If we went into the season today without the rookie salaries etc, the team would have trimmed off 44% of their 2009 salary cap and and stands at $62,692,888 for 2010. Looks more like the Panthers are saving money than a 'youth movement'.
oops. didn't want to post x2
They drafted too many QB's only one can play at a time! they needed to draft more D-line. Carolina stayed the about the same, with everyone else in the south getting better. Passing game will be better...Defense will be a lot worst!!! 5-11! Carolina is PRO-Lockout! If lockout doesnot happen, team will suffer for 3 or 4 years( should of traded Peppers, instead of letting him walk)
I see three big holes in the Panthers D this season: Pep, Lewis, and Harris. They will not be better at either of those positions. On the offensive side I think they actually got better with Moore (QB counts as 2 spots) and the 2nd WR spot (perhaps not in the running game). The offense had a lot to do with the Defensive problems as they put the defense in bad positions constantly. I look for the Panthers to start off slow, but play better as the year goes along. The D-line is still a big concern however, so I can't see them any higher that 9-7, being the last team out of the playoffs.
They couldnt trade Peppers they didnt have a contract with him. Would you rather have seen them pay a 20 mil tender for him to play like he did last year? Other teams had players that had more sacks than he had & they didnt pay 16 mil for a year for them. Peppers isnt the total defense and was way overpaid. And as for letting Harris & Lewis go, what was it they did last season for the team? They now have young fast guys that can cover the field, that will help make up for Peppers. The more coverage on the field the less they have to rush the qb, but i suspect Brown will be rushing them just fine. People read about a few veteran players leaving & think doom & gloom out of panic. The Panthers had new players playing half the season last year & did just fine with them. Its far too early to be predicting how powerful the team will be, lets wait till we see a preseason game or at least some suited up practices. And how about a few articles about the players now?
Agreed.. panther fans, please stay level-headed at this point in the year.. it's way too early to start bringing the gloom and doom OR start touting for an 11-5 + season.. New England constantly injects youth and purges veterans, and STILL stays competitive year in and year out .. one thing is for sure, these Panthers are younger, faster, and arguably more talented than last year's squad, even minus the veterans(w/ the exception of Peppers).. we still have a very strong running game, oline, best WR in the league, strong LB core, and secondary is above average too .. they are not as experienced, but honestly the fun part will be watching to see how quickly the younger guys like Matt Moore, Clausen, guys like Dan Conner, Eric Norwood, S. Martin, and Jarrett / Lafell / Edwards progress .. Lets see how quickly they develop. Personally, I see two, possibly three guys, Armanti Edwards, Eric Norwood, Brandon LaFell, making instant impacts based on pure talent and desire this year.. I can see LaFell beating out Jarrett for the #2 just based on ability and talent alone, however, the competition to compete for a starting job could spark a fire in Jarrett.. Jarrett's slowness to progress has had some to do with laziness, the rest I believe was Jake's inability to get the ball to a receiver other than Smith .. Jarrett doesn't get as much separation as Smitty, but there really aren't too many WRs in the league that can get his level of separation.. Delhomme simply could not get the ball in the open window quickly enough to Jarrett, and as gunslinger as he was, he knew his limitations... my feeling is Jarrett is going to produce this year under Tolbert's guidance, and especially w/ Matt Moore being able to get the ball to him..
With Jake's 19 INT gone, and a defense that has learned the Meeks system, the Panthers will improve over last year. They win when the D forces turnovers and the offense holds onto the ball. Moore protects the ball.
D-line will be average, Connor is a tacking machine and upgrade over Diggs, Martin can replace Harris-who missed a lot of tackles. Beason is monster in the middle.
I don't think you can be taken seriously at ranking them 19th unless you provide the 18 teams you'd rank ahead of them and why.
I'm also confused about your dig at the team for winning its last 3 games. If they had gone 8-8 but had lost the last 3 games would you have them ranked higher?
It seems to me that if a team was winning at the end of the season it could be a sign that that they are actually better than their final record. That is, I'd expect more the next year from a team that lost its first 8 games and then won its last 8, then a team that did it the opposite way, though both teams ended up 8-8.
I stand by my post-draft prediction: 13th, 9-7 and first among non-playoff teams.
Improvements: WR (particularly A. Edwards), QB (Pick 6 is now in Cleveland), LB (Connor over Diggs, a healthy T Davis all year), DB (Harris was slipping, Martin got 2 picks off a HOF QB in his first-ever start).
Weakness: D-Line depth (coaches were high on Leonard and Tyler before they got hurt, not much behind them)
Needs no help: O-line, RB
I will go to my grave saying the '09 Panthers would have been 10-6 if they only had a decent QB all year. No way we lose the Buffalo and Dallas games with a decent QB. We probably would have beat the Jets as well.
You cannot villify management for trying to reduce payroll as much as possible. If we end up paying $75 million in salary, we're in fantastic shape for whatever the situation looks like after the 2011 season gets wiped out (and I believe it will). Suppose the owners break the union and get an $85 million cap? Just about every team will be cutting players right and left, and we'll be sitting there with cap room to spare. And if something similar to the last system is enacted, and the cap is $100 million or so, we have all the cap room in the world to sign any superstar we need to fill whatever gaps we have in our roster. Richardson & Hurney have done the wise thing with the payroll.
There is too much that we don't know in May to challenge anyone's intellect. Scotty still has time to change his mind. But surely he saw the last 3 games of 2009. That Panthers team laid low the team that should have been the NFC representative in the SB, and demolished a Giant team at the Meadowlands in front of an invited audience. Those games obviously made more of an impact on King than Scott. Though he has no hometown incentive, I believe it is King who has a clearer understanding of the strengths of this team and impact of schedule than our homie does. And King is not alone. John Clayton named the Panthers a surprise team and expected them to increase their win total by 3. Perhaps Scott is just a little too worried about being thought a homer than in providing an objective assessment.
A couple of you have posted that Dan Connor will be an upgrade over Nail Diggs at linebacker. What are you smoking? The NFL doesn't have the lackluster opponents that Connor faced while at Penn State. It's no secret that Diggs was getting older, but he solidified our starting linebackers when he was healthy. He was always in the right place, also good against the run, and did a decent job covering tight ends. A solid player that you can count on out there isn't that easy to replace. And as old as he is he probably today would outrun Dan Connor in the 40. If our d-line struggles to stop the run (and it will if no additional help is brought in from the outside)we are going to have to have 3 solid linebackers because Beason and Thomas Davis will get roughed up. Not having good interior linemen or huge space-eaters like Hollis Thomas means the linebackers will take on lead blockers more and generally just have to be more active. Both of them are kind of smallish guys for this level anyway and Thomas Davis is coming off an injury. I actually doubt that Dan Connor will beat out another limited LB in James Anderson for that third spot but neither of them will be as effective as Diggs.
Kenneth (or are you really Na'il because you are taking this a little too personally), Diggs was an average linebacker - not very good in any phase. So, I also think Connor will likely be an upgrade over Diggs, and I'm not smoking anything. Remember that Connor's primary position last year was in the middle to back up Beason. Beason never left the field but Connor still had 30 tackles. But I don't think it's a big swing either way, and what happens at that position won't end up having a huge effect on the record. And I think we'll have to wait on the DT situation. Though Louis Leonard doesn't quite have the bulk of Kemo or Hollis Thomas, he is 325. And let's face it, neither Kemo or Thomas were pro-bowlers. Leonard doesn't need to be a star for the LBs to be effective. There's a lot of young players at that position including Leonard, Tyler and Irvin. Maybe they'll surprise.
I hate two things about being a Panthers fan. #1 is our pathetic, ignorant, negative nellie fanbase. Panthers fans are always crying about anything they can find to cry about. I will get into why Peter King is closer to being right than Fowler in a minute. #2 is the Charlotte Observers writers. You guys are worse than our fans. Scott Fowler you are an ignorant hack. How you have kept from being fired is beyond me. The Panthers will be better in 2010 than in 2009 for several reasons. Let's count the ways. #1 reason is schedule. You morons who think we will go 5-11 make me laugh. Our whole team will have to get hurt for us to only win 5 games with this schedule. we have 4 ROAD games that our second string can win. We play the Rams, Browns, seahawks & Bucs on the road. If you are scared by those teams then just quit watching NFL football. The tough teams we play are all at home except for the Saints, Steelers & Giants. Considering that this team just beat the Giants 41-9 to close the Meadowlands I am not sure the Giants should be considered tough just yet either. #2 reason the Panthers will be better is the improved play at QB. Like it or not the NFL is a QB driven league. The Panthers had arguably the worst QB play in the NFL through the first 11 games. As a result they had a 4-7 record. Once Moore started playing this team got a lot better. Forget about experience. Moore has shown that he can take care of the football. If he can do that again this year he will remain the Panthers starter and the Panthers will be pretty good. If he doesn't then we now have talented young guys who can get their shot. Either way the Panthers are more talented at QB than they have ever been before. #3 the Panthers have cut a lot of fat. Think hard for a minute about what the Panthers really lost besides a lot of salary? Damione Lewis was solid but on the decline. Diggs was old and can't run. He didn't fit the scheme. Harris also was not a good fit for the new scheme. Peppers off and on attitude made him one of the streakier players in the league. Moose is very slow and we needed an upgrade at WR. The only vet I think may be missed is Hoover. There are a lot of unknowns on the D-Line but Just because you don't know what you have doesn't mean you don't have improvement. People forget about Louis Leonard & Corvey Irvin because they got hurt before we could see what they can do. I think those two will be surprisingly good. Tyler also looked good when he played last year. Charles Johnson & Everette Brown will also be good & Brayton gives the DE spot a solid steady guy. I also think Greg Hardy will surprise. We are very good at DB & LB. Beason & Davis are two of the best LB's in the league. Our O-Line is strong & the RBs are the best combo in the league. I just don't understand how or why people are so negative about this team. The Panthers are young and talented and will be a playoff team this year. They will be a lot closer to 11-5 than to 5-11. I will guarantee that.
I've read tons of forums on many teams and as a rule, the Carolina forum is consistantly the most unrealistic by far. You guys always start the season with delusions of grandeur thinking you are the best team in the league when, in fact you are seldom more than the third best team in your division. I hate to say it but Carolina fans tend to have the least amount of football knowledge of any fan base. First it's 'we're gonna win it all' then after you lose a couple of games it is instantly 'we will not win 3 games'. The Panthers will be LUCKY if they win 5 games and that is giving you two wins just by playing Tampa twice which given your franchise history is not a given. You will not be able to stop the run and will be only marginally better at stopping the pass. Think about that for a minute, you play Atlanta twice and Michael Turner was enroute to a 200+ yard day before he got a cheapshot on his ankle, now he's lighter, faster, and healthy. Once he gets going you then get to try to stop Ryan/Gonzolez/White....Good luck. Now you get to play the world champs twice, need we really even try to go into that? Guys you might win 5 games (Rams/Tampa X2, Cle, and maybe Seatle). Just be realistic guys, you have an unproven QB, ONE legit receiver, no pass rush, and your not accounting for injuries. Your backs cannot continue to carry the ball that much w/out starting to get worn out. Don't get me wrong, when healthy they are very good but they are due for decline. Your best defensive player (a player you all trashed when drafted btw, adding to your lack of knowledge) Thomas Davis will be far from what he was before the injury as it will take until the end of the season before he starts to be normal again. Oh yeah, have you guys ever had back to back winning seasons? You certainly brought that up every time you mentioned Atlanta until last year, now I think you might have the longest streak. Don't forget you also have a lame duck coach and always trade your draft picks away, yeah...the future is bright!
Mr. Anonymous who posted at 6:57 pm on May, 18th,
You have alot of nerve suggesting that I may be someone other than I claim to be. You're "Mr. Anonymous". I'm sure that takes courage. Go back and look at the film and you'll see how valuable Diggs was. Even though I mentioned the Diggs to Connor possibility the main thing I'm concerned with is stopping the run as a defense. The 3rd starter at linebacker is only a part of that. But a couple of guys mentioned Conner like he would be an upgrade. I'm guessing one of those clueless posters was you. Along with other changes along the front seven this could be a long year. If you don't understand that you just don't know football.
ohhhhh Anonymous posing as an atlanta fan .. Turner is good but if you think you can expect to pound it down the Panther's throats all year, think again.. We got really tight against the run in the latter half of the year, and that's without our starters.. the players have adjusted to Meeks system, so get over it.. we will be OK vs. the run, just like last year.. this year, we will force Ryan to beat us through the air and that's when his INT issues will resurface.. we have alot to be optimistic about and I believe you don't like all the optimism so you come in here w/ your troll behavior, as does every other Atlanta troll..
you don't see too many Carolina fans in there probably .. that's because most have class, unlike you.. so I guess picking on your fellow atlanta fans got boring, so you come in here w/ your BS about Turner and btw, WTF happened to Matt Ryan in his second year???? .. so take your stupid pointless sh1t back to the Atlanta boards where you belong, where you can boast all day about how Turner "might" have success against the Panther's run D in maybe 1 out of 2 games next year .. troll
actaully Shaun I based my comments about Carolina fans from the forums on this site....dthrasher, slash, and the rest of the bunch. I dont normally post on any boards, I just find it funny to ready Carolina's. And btw, Ryan actually didn't have a bad yuear last year. Atlanta had the fourth hardest schedule in the NFL last year, played 4 teams coming off of bye's and he missed a couple of games and still threw for close to 3000 yards. You really want to trash QB's given Carolina's? Oh wait, I bet you wouldn't trade Moore AND Clausen for Ryan would you. Go take your Lithium and take your nap. Only way Carolina beats anyone this year is if they let Rae Caruth out and he shoots the opponents.
AND BTW! the whole purpose of us having a 2 back 50 split system is to keep Double Trouble from wearing out, idiot! it's a fail safe method and very smart use of 2 1st round RBs if you ask me.... aside from that, we still have 2 very talented RBs in Tyrell Sutton and Mike Goodson .. you are smoking crack if you think any of us should be worried about our running game! it's YOUR management that sure is riding on the hopes that Turner can stay healthy all year long (not that it matters), because we really aren't that afraid of Norwood !
PS. Get ready for Matt Moore, yes Matt Moore to shock the NFL when all he has to do is protect the ball, throw a sharp pass downfield, and every once in awhile throw while scrambling on the run, all of which he has a proven 75% success rate doing through half a season's worth of football! Why is that all he has to do? Because our system is built on winning w/ the run.. what's the strength of this team, thank you? Matt Ryan who? The other Matt had a 8-2 TD- INT ratio through 8 games last year? if Moore, continues doing what he's doing, I'll take that anyday over Ryan's 22 - 14 stats last year .. ANYDAY!
oh cry me a river, did you know the Panther's had the 2nd hardest schedule last year and still won EIGHT games despite having atrocious QB play from Jake Delhomme (pick 6) through most of the year??? cry me a river about the Falcon's 4th hardest schedule and only winning 1 more game than us.. cry me a river!
Whether it's 1 or 10 games, it is still a better record and they flat out quit in several games. Be sure and remember all this when the season starts and your team does what it is known for, under achieving and choking. I know well what that is like as I lived it every year when the Smith's owned the team here. Btw, Turner and Norwood aren't Atlanta's only backs, Snelling is more than capable and we have one of the best fullbacks in the NFL and don't forget, Turner has really only played two years as he backed up LT for a few years so he hasn't taken the beating most backs have. Please feel free to resort to name calling, I had expected that given your inability to articulate in any other manner with such a limited vocabulary. You have the two running backs as you had to draft the second one as you thought the first one was a bust, he just happened to start living up to potential. I don't, nor did I ever, question Carolina having good backs, all I said was they are due for an injury given their physical style of running. RB has the shortest average career length in the league. You also made an interesting point albeit for the wrong reason. You blamed your season on horrible QB play. Well, your QB is gone but, the lame duck moronic coach that left him in is still there so I ask you, who is making the decisions, same guy right, same result! I don't see how you could support a team that is basically screwing it's fans anyway by using the possible lockout scenerio as an excuse not to spend money on players yet I am betting ticket and concession prices increase. Tell me, does JR leave a mint on the pillow or money on the dresser when he leaves after screwing you? Perhaps the team wouldn't be in this situation if it would think about keeping a draft pick every now and then.
Anonymous said @ May 19, 2010 11:07 AM "in fact you are seldom more than the third best team in your division."..... Never say "in fact" when your facts arent facts. Since the nfc south started the Panthers have only been 3rd or 4th 3 times. They have been better than 3rd 5 times, that is not seldom better than 3rd that is seldom worse than 2nd. The Falcons on the other hand, were 3rd twice & 4th twice 1st once. The Panthers were 1st three times. You should do a little research b4 you spout out retarded nonsense.
I agree that the 'in fact' comment was a poor/incorrect choice of words. What I should have referenced was the overall record in head to head matchup versus Atlanta. Especially since Atlanta has such a poor history in general but, with the new leadership this has changed. A time better forgotten for sure.
Kenneth, what you're saying (because you clearly know football) that because Diggs is no longer with the team, the front seven suffers greatly. Hmmm.... very astute, Kenneth. Very astute. Though Diggs only had 9 more tackles than Connor in 2009 while playing both first team D AND special teams, you're saying there is no possible way to replicate that production. WTF? Now if you mentioned the loss of Peppers and said said the front four wouldn't be as good, then you might have an arguable point. But you've made an absurd extrapolation by including the LBs. And, btw, Connor will be an upgrade.
another season, another slew of lame "scott says" articles
Not only was the "in fact" comment a bad choice of words, the whole comment was wrong. The Panthers overall win/loss record since the nfc south began is 71-57, the Falcons is 64-63-1, making them barely average. The Panthers have had more 1st place finishes than the Falcons & less last place finishes than the Falcons.
I must say that I am impressed. Aside from the comments from Shaun, who I assume is either impaired or clearly drank the Jim Jones Kool-aid there are some very estute comments posted regarding this ranking article though I think you might find Carolina closer to 23-24 when all is said and done. Perhaps he had a moment of clarity although the more likely scenerio he got confused looking for the 'any key' on his pc and gave up. Kudos to those replies that were realistic. Keep in mind that I am in no way predicting that Atlanta is going to do what N.O. did last year, just saying that what Carolina's ownership is doing to the fans is a travesty and it shouldn't be supported. Don't get me wrong, Peppers should have been gone a few years back and if you think about it based on what he should have been versus what he was (look at his numbers, most of his positive numbers came in a concentrated amount of games with him being on vacation for the majority and he'll get Lovie Smith fired) he was close to a bust but, what JR is doing and the way he is lining his pockets with the fans money is criminal at best.
dude, I'm befuddled, as is probably just about every other blogger in here by your absurd rationale here.. LMAO it's a travesty what our ownership is doing to the fans?? and then you have the nerve to act like everyone in here is on your side?! okk I see what's going on here. you're just trying to stir the pot if you think Carolina comes close to 24th.. Matt Moore's competence and accuracy alone easily gives this team at the very least 1-2 more wins than last year.. it's not rocket science. NOTHING serious has changed except their starting QB, top DE and slow SS from last year.. you can't argue that Matt Moore isn't a better QB than Delhomme right now.. they lost nothing but underachievers, dead veteran weight, or players that really didn't want to be here and replaced them with some serious talent in the draft and all of a sudden you think we are going to regress?? anyone with a half a brain realizes that New England does this religiously, year in, year out constantly purging veterans and injecting youth with success, and Fox/Hurney have finally gotten a similar system going here.. there's nothing kool-aid about that! honestly, I think you know deep down this team is going to be good, but just like any other troll, you prefer to come in here, downplay the situation and talk a bunch of trash.. reaally? I'm drinking kool-aid? really? I'm not saying the Panthers are going to the Super Bowl, what I'm saying is they're a playoff caliber team right now and w/ our weakened schedule anything is possible. but hey I'm glad I've hit on a few key points and that I've gotten under your skin, troll, because good you deserved it, troll. I'd stay here all day troll but then I'd give you exactly what you wanted, troll, which is turning a normal football debate into a personal trashfest..
have a nice day!
I would put the Panthers higher than 19th, but I thought the placement at 8 was a little high. Their offense is basically intact, a strong running game and hopefully the rookie receivers will upgrade the passing game. The passing game has got to get better. I think Matt Moore is going to prove to be a good quarterback and a huge upgrade over the Delhomme of last year. The question mark to me is the D line. Will they be able to stop the run and rush the quarterback. Their linebackers are strong and fast. The secondary is better than average although the depth at safety is now questionable with the trade of Harris. I see them going 9-7 or 10-6 with the easier schedule. They clearly have more team speed.
I believe much of this off season's release of older players has to do with the coming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Richardson is one of the two main negotiators for the owners. I think he is setting an example.
To me it comes down to quarterback. Who would you rather have, Matt Moore or say, for example, Chad Henne from Miami? I would have to go with Chad Henne...
19 is too high.
19 is not too high when you are guessing the amount of decent Panthers articles during an off season.
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