A few notes in advance of 1-10 Carolina's game against 5-6 Seattle Sunday:
-- It’s going to be weird Sunday not turning on the TV until 4:15 p.m. for a Carolina game. The Panthers are so thoroughly a “Sunday at 1 p.m.” team – the place TV networks love to stash bad teams that don’t draw a big national audience – that this will be their first non-1 p.m. game of the season and comes only because the game is on the West Coast.
-- Five years ago, these two teams met in Seattle in the NFC championship game, with the Seahawks winning easily and advancing to a Super Bowl they would ultimately lose to Pittsburgh. The two teams haven’t played in Seattle since, but they sure have gotten worse.
-- Seattle got creamed in rushing yardage last week, 270-20, in its 42-24 loss to Kansas City. The Panthers’ chance Sunday hinges on the team gaining more rushing yardage than its season high of 151, set last week in Cleveland.
-- Seattle coach Pete Carroll once tried hard to recruit Jimmy Clausen to Southern Cal. Clausen, who grew up in California, chose Notre Dame instead but then never beat the Trojans in his college career. He’d love to get his first NFL win over Carroll Sunday, although the very loud crowd in Seattle won’t be easy on a rookie quarterback.
-- The Panthers actually have a shot in this one, mostly based on their running game. But I’m 8-3 picking Panther outcomes this season, and that’s because I almost always pick them to lose. I’m not going to mess with that formula now. Prediction: Seattle 24, Carolina 16.
-- Note to "Scott Says" readers: This post represents the 1,000th blog post I have filed since the "Scott Says" blog went live in 2008. In honor of that anniversary, I will have a random giveaway of "Tales from the Carolina Panthers Sideline" -- the book I wrote on the Panthers back when they were actually a very good team.
You can only enter by e-mailing your name and address to ScottFowlerBooks@aol.com by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, Dec.3rd (I'm using that e-mail address for this instead of my Observer one due to e-mail space considerations). Please put "Panthers book" in the subject line (although it does not disqualify you if you forget to do that -- it just helps me with my bookkeeping).
Five readers will win a signed copy of the book, and those five will all be notified via e-mail by 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec.4th.
Good luck -- and thanks so much for reading "Scott Says."
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9 years ago
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7 comments:
All I want for Christmas is this football season to end. Period. End of story. We all will be home watching somebody else in the play in the play-offs.
GO FALCONS!!!!!!!
It is a foregone conclusion that coach John Fox will be leaving the Panthers when his contract expires after this season. And there's already talk centering on one of the candidates to replace him. The Panthers will consider hiring Cardinals assistant head coach Russ Grimm to replace Fox, according to two NFL sources. Grimm is a logical candidate for a multitude of reasons. For starters, Grimm's credentials make him one of the top assistant coaching prospects available. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson also is close to Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, whose team trained Grimm as a coach. When Richardson made his first head-coaching hire, he hired former Steelers defensive coordinator Dom Capers. And Grimm's former head coach with the Washington Redskins, Joe Gibbs, who is popular in NASCAR country in Charlotte, has been pushing Grimm's candidacy. Grimm would not be as pricey as a coach like Bill Cowher, which would make him even more appealing to Richardson. But when the Panthers sift through head-coaching candidates after this season, Grimm is firmly expected to be on or near the top of the list.
It all makes too much sense. Marty Hurney is still close to the guy that hired him, Bobby Beathard. Beathard had Russ Grimm in Washington ans is also a strong advocate of him.
Just make sure we get Andrew Luck. If we don't draft him, I'm selling,(or probably going to give them up because no one will buy them), move back to Atlanta and become a "Dirty Bird" fan. Get Luck, and we'll fast become very good again with our first "franchise" QB. Grimm, Harbaugh(my choice) or Gruden, (if JR will spend the money, will be fine.
It's just a silly ball game people.
You people are ridiculous. I hope John Fox stays. Players love to play for him. He just needs to be less conservative on the offensive side of the ball. Panthers will be a good team next year. We don't need another QB! The Panthers need to parlay that pick into a good offensive lineman and a good receiver. Hey Atlanta fan, good riddance. Atlanta fans are the worst...if the Falcons were not playing so well no one would be there.
If John Fox or Marty Hurney stays, I may shoot myself!
Just Be Realitic said...
All I want for Christmas is this football season to end. Period. End of story. We all will be home watching somebody else in the play in the play-offs.
GO FALCONS!!!!!!!
December 3, 2010 10:49 AM
U GOT DAMN LUCKY FRI NITE
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