Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Panthers' schedule: Of course it's hard

I have gotten a kick out of the folks I've heard complaining that the Carolina Panthers' 2011 schedule (if it is ever played) looks hard.

Of course it looks hard! The Panthers went 2-14 in 2010! They were the worst team in the NFL!

So unless the Panthers somehow had gotten an exception and had gotten to schedule a few college teams (too bad the Charlotte 49ers don't start until 2013), this was going to be a difficult schedule, because everyone was better than the Panthers.

That said, I think it could have been worse. The Panthers actually will have a chance in Week 1 (at Arizona) to start 1-0 under new coach Ron Rivera. Then they've got a couple of home games in a row (Green Bay and Jacksonville). So if they just have one good week out of three, they at least might be able to start 1-2 before an admittedly brutal October kicks in.

And hey, if it all goes south, at least they're home for Christmas (Tampa, Dec.24th) and in New Orleans for New Year's Eve (the season finale is Jan.1 at New Orleans).

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

CANNONBALL

Anonymous said...

What??? No mention of Cam Newton?!?

Anonymous said...

Scott, I like this one - just the right amount of NFL irreverence.

Lard Lad said...

Scab players will level the playing field.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the complaints either. I especially chuckled at the commenter on the article on the schedule that said the NFL has had a vendetta against the Panthers since 1995 and has carefully crafted the nastiest schedule possible for them every year. It's all a hard and fast formula - you play your division foes twice, everyone in your division plays the teams in one division in the other conference, and every team in one other division in your conference. Each time you play a team, it's in the opposite stadium as the last time you played. The only variables are 2 games, where you play the corresponding-place team in the 2 other divisions in your conference that you don't play. So, as last-place finishers in the NFC South, we play at Arizona (last in the West) and home against Dallas (last in the East). If they do agree on an 18-game schedule, even this variable will be eliminated - instead of every team in 1 division in your conference, you will play every team in 2 divisions (8 games), plus the division (6) games, and the one division in the other conference (4 games). Very cut and dried.

I'm not going down the list picking wins and losses until after the draft. We will have a better feel for how all the teams might look then.

If they don't settle this thing until August, we're going to have a 2-week free agency period and short training camp, and every team will look awful in September.

Anonymous said...

Another thought: let's not forget the breaks we got. We get our bye exactly halfway through the year, not after week 3 or 4. We don't have to go to Chicago in December or Tampa in September. And we get the Green Bay Frozen Tundras here in mid-September, when it's probably going to be 99 degrees at 1:00. They might be all melted by the third quarter and we could steal a win.

It could have been a lot worse.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Andrew Luck will be a Panther after all

Unknown said...

At least we'll get to see the Panthers play some Grade A talent. It would be boring to watch them in a snooze-fests every week against the rest of the NFL's bottom-dwellers.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Andrew Luck thought he could get away.

Sho nuff said...

Hey, cheap tickets for all!!!

Anonymous said...

If the Panthers pick Newton they will win no more than 2-4 games and Luck will be here anyway!

Anonymous said...

If the Panthers start Clausen for the 16 season games, we'll be 0-16 and pick Andrew Luck with the 1st pick next April. Go, Clausen!

Anonymous said...

Andrew Luck would rather eat nails than join a team that would start Jimmy Clausen for 16 (or 18) games for any reason.

Phil said...

Marty Hurney and Don Gregory are clueless when it comes to evaluating talent for the NFL.

How many more chances do they get to screw up this organization.

Anonymous said...

And now theres the 2 peas in a pod Scam Newtonites with usual screwup suspect Sorehead and now Fouler.

And now ESPN says 75% of NFL executives say Newton should NOT even be picked in the 1st round due to the worse ever baggage but maybe in the 2nd or not at all?

So what is new? Sorehead has been wrong about everything and screwing up for decades running off everybody HE didnt like with his bully pulpit like he did in MN before they ran him off there.

So Fouler knows more than 75% of NFL executives? Gabbert Locker or Mallet dont exist at the Disturber?

JR has already voted NO WAY HOSEA and has to approve any pick as one of those 75% execs.

Moral To Story: ALWAYS DO THE OPPOSITE of the Disturber.

Anonymous said...

IT WONT MATTER WITH GAS AT 4 A GALLON AND GOING TO 5-6 A GALLON SINCE NOBODY CAN AFFORD TO GO TO GAMES ANYWAY.

Anonymous said...

Wasnt the newer Person idiot also run off from The State newspaper sports dept in Colo SC? Par for the course ...

Anonymous said...

Tom Sorensen says C Newton is polarizing?

Well duhhhh ...

So was the OJ Simpson verdict.

Go figure.

viagra online said...

It doesn't matter our team will make our way!