Thursday, December 16, 2010

I'm picking Panthers Sunday

Some notes about Sunday's Arizona-Carolina matchup -- which will be the Panthers' final home game of the season:

-- Who was the most recent quarterback to throw five interceptions in this series?
If you said Jake Delhomme, you’d be wrong. Yes, Jake did exactly that in the infamous playoff game Jan.10, 2009. But it was Kurt Warner who unraveled in November 2009 in the Panthers’ 34-21 win in Arizona, throwing five picks.

-- These two teams’ troubles at quarterback have been close to mirror-image this season, too. You know the Panthers’ issues. The Cardinals, meanwhile, starting in August have gone from Matt Leinart to Derek Anderson to rookie Max Hall, back to Anderson and now to rookie John Skelton.

-- With two rookies scheduled to start at quarterback Sunday – Skelton for Arizona and Jimmy Clausen for Carolina – let’s just say that the blitz will be a well-used weapon. Skelton won his first start last week with the Cardinals, even though he completed only 15 of 37 passes.

-- In the awful NFC West, the Cardinals are only 4-9, sit in the division cellar and still aren’t eliminated from the “race” to win the division. They are just two games behind co-leaders St. Louis and Seattle, who are both 6-7. Somebody from the West is going to end up with a first-round home playoff game, which is just plain wrong.

-- The Panthers rushed the ball very well at Arizona last season and will try to do exactly the same thing Sunday. It has been enlightening to see Mike Goodson become such a big part of the offense in DeAngelo Williams’ absence.

-- I’m 10-3 picking Panthers’ games this season. I’ve picked them to lose so many times in a row I’ve lost count, but I’m thinking they will do just enough Sunday behind their revived running game to possibly mess up getting the No.1 draft pick in 2011. Wouldn't that be sort of typical?

My pick: Carolina 17, Arizona 16.

29 comments:

Mr.Know it all said...

I would venture to guess that Fox calls for less than 1 blitz a half. The fact that the rest of the world knows that we need to blitz does not affect his thinking. He is completely unable to think outside his very myopic box. This is why he will NEVER get another head coaching job in the NFL.

Anonymous said...

Countdown to Scott writes 5 things I didn't like about the Panthers after the game.

Anonymous said...

WE better not win. I will be so mad if we do. You are also assuming we somehow get decent qb play from clausen HAHAHAHAH. John Skelton is about to show you what a rookie qb should play like, AVERAGE.

Kristin C. said...

Hey Don G., the Panther's Director of College Scouting is back in town for some pre-draft meetings this weekend.

He's staying clear of the Emerson Joseph Salon nowadays. Rumor has it he's not going out with any of the massage therapists there anymore. (No more :) endings).

Rumor also has it he would like to draft the junior defensive lineman from Clemson in the up coming draft.

Anonymous said...

Like last year, 100% of blame always lies only on the head coach, quarterback and of course the cheapskate owner as they say.

Did SSmith tell some on the OL not to block for the QB thus all the sacks?

Anonymous said...

Winning Sunday will be Fox's final kiss off to this team. He's going to screw up our draft position.

Sportsdon said...

Regardless of the records this is always a good game for these two and the matchup promises to be worth seeing.

I was a Cardinal fan first and always feel conflicted when they play each other. I think AZ has the edge in this one with Skelton outplaying Clausen as the difference. Wiz is a much better coach and will alter his game plan unlike Vanilla Fox.

Panthers4Life said...

Hey,
Even if we do win we will still be in last place since Cincy beat us so they have the tie breaker. You guys truely aren't giving Clausen a chance.

Anonymous said...

I'm a Detroit fan this week . . . COME ON DETROIT!!

Anonymous said...

I'm a bengals fan this week. Let's go bengals

Anonymous said...

to the dude who said we have the tie breaker, think again. i thought this about two weeks ago, but after studying the tiebreakers for draft position, I unfrtunately realized that head to head isn't even in the equation. Seems stupid but if two teams are teid the first tie breaker is SoS. which currently doesn't look to be in our favor.

Anonymous said...

Would be just like the Panthers to not even lose correctly. And Fox to screw over the Panthers one final time. I am just hoping the Bengals can pull off a win against the Browns.

Michael Procton said...

Uhh, know it all: How exactly do you figure that we never blitz when James Anderson is second on the team in sacks? And how did Richard Marshall get a sack? Did he rotate down onto the line in a nickel situation?

Anonymous said...

take away all the paying "vanilla" fans and how long would the nfl be in business?

Anonymous said...

If I was Andrew Luck I'd stay in college for a year rather than play for the Panthers. Remember Kobe and the Hornets???

Billy said...

The biggest middle finger salute Fox could make to the ownership that gutted the team this year in order to "set an example" for how to do business in an uncapped year (an example nobody else followed - Jerry went over the wall into machine gun fire and none of his fellow owners went over with him), would be to win one of these last two games, this one preferably, and ruin our chance at the #1 pick. You know he'd love that.

Anonymous said...

GAS GOING BACK TO THE MOON AGAIN OVER 3 BUCKS A GALLON.

CUT NFL SALARIES 50% ACROSS THE BOARD. CUT ALL PRO SPORTS SALARIES50%.

WHY IS EVERYTHING GOING UP? FOOD, GAS, CLOTHES, CABLE BILL, PHONE BILL, ETC ETC?
ITS THOSE DAMN NFL SALARIES. YOU DONT HAVE TO OWN A PSL TO PAY MORE.

AND THEY WANT MORE MONEY. THAT TRANSLATES TO YOU WILL PAY MORE FOR EVERYTHING

Anotheridiot said...

Wow man. So NFL player salaries dictate the US economy. Who woulda thunk it. So if there's a lockout next year, does that mean gas will come back down to $1.29?

J-beason said...

Procton, could be that Anderson has so many tackles because the porous d-line lets runners thru to the second level. Sound plausible? I think so.

Anonymous said...

We need to get Donovon McNabb next year and draft A.J. Green

Jim Scholle said...

4 upper level seats 4 sale
Car Vs. Arz
$52 face value
Any offers welcome

Anonymous said...

If we lose....it will make us a better franchise for years to come.
This could be the 2nd most important game in the history of the Panthers, (only the Super Bowl apperance was bigger). Ironically both should be loses. Luck-Harbaugh can only be accomplished by a loss. GO PANTHERS.....NEXT YEAR!

Michael Procton said...

3:52: I didn't say a word about Anderson's tackles. I mentioned his 3.5 sacks, a number that ranks second on the team. Mr.Know it all suggested that Fox's teams never blitz. If that were true, Anderson would have 0.0 sacks, because any non-DL player rushing the passer is blitzing by definition.

Michael Procton said...

Scholle: I think you might want to reset your aim. Perhaps $52 for the quartet?

Anonymous said...

"Vanilla is plain and unoriginal?"

Whos definition? The pc code word racist hood ebonics dictionary?

Is the opposite of vanilla not chocolate? Why not call for a chocolate offense?


Brittanica definition:

Definitions of vanilla (n)
va·nil·la [ və níllə ]
vanilla pod: the long narrow fleshy seedpod of a tropical climbing orchid.
vanilla extract: a substance with a mild taste extracted from vanilla seedpods or produced artificiall1va·nil·la noun \və-ˈni-lə, -ˈne-\

Dictionary Merriam-Webster:

Definition of VANILLA
1a : vanilla bean b : a commercially important extract of the vanilla bean that is used especially as a flavoring
2: any of a genus (Vanilla) of tropical American climbing epiphytic orchids
See vanilla defined for English-language learners »
Examples of VANILLA
The frosting is flavored with vanilla.
Origin of VANILLA
New Latin, from Spanish vainilla vanilla (plant and fruit), diminutive of vaina sheath, from Latin vagina sheath, vagina
First Known Use: 1662

climbing plant: a climbing plant of the orchid family that produces seedpods from which vanilla is extracted.

**Bottomline: Beware of liberal bigots and their codewords.

Reid said...

just as long as we only win one more game this year, we get the #1 pick. remember that we lost to Cincy earlier in the year so we'd have to finish with a better record to relinquish the #1 pick

Anonymous said...

Here are draft order tiebreakers:

• Strength of schedule for the previous season is the first tie-breaker for teams with the same winning percentage. The team with the lowest strength of schedule percentage wins the tiebreaker and picks ahead of all other teams with the same record.

• Divisional and conference records are the next step in the tie-breaking procedure.

• As a last resort, a coin toss is used to determine the order of selection for teams with the same winning percentage.

As you can see the fact that Panthers lost to Cincy has no bearing on the draft order.

Anonymous said...

I will not pick the Panthers to win at all for the rest of the season. I think I have a pretty good chance of being right. The only thing this team has proven is they are losers, the coaching staff is unimaginative, in fact there is no coaching on on. This team ought to just forefit the rest of the season and go home.

Anonymous said...

Winning this game won't keep us from getting the top pick. We'll lose to the Steelers and Falcons and Cincy will win at least one of their remaining games, making us the only 2 win team in the league.