Is Panthers' sky falling?

[Rod Butsecks]

(By Scott Fowler, [email protected]) I must be missing something regarding the histrionics concerning the Carolina Panthers' August so far.p/Yes, they are 0-2 in preseason games entering Saturday's home exhibition vs. Baltimore (because, in part, the Carolina third-stringers can't hold a lead. Shame on them!).p/Yes, they lost DT Maake Kemoeatu to a season-ending injury. Yes, both LBs Jon Beason and Thomas Davis are sidelined by sprained knee ligaments (MCLs, in both cases). Yes, safety Charles Godfrey has a broken hand. Yes, backup RB Jonathan Stewart has injury problems again.p/But my gosh, is it this serious? Judging from what I hear in person and on talk radio and read via the Internet fan comments and the headline in my very own Charlotte Observer on Tuesday (3 injuries rip heart out of defense), we've reached the crisis point. And we're not even at Fake Game No.3 yet.p/OK. Look. Let's all calm down here. The heart of the defense has not actually been ripped out. Nor has the heart of this team.p/Now if Beason is hurt seriously, that one will sting badly. The Beast is a total stud and the team's most versatile linebacker. But other than that, c'mon. I've never heard so many people talk like the fallen Kemoeatu was the team MVP or something. Yet fans mostly ripped Kemoeatu while he was the starting DT or else paid him little attention at all, because he didn't make the big plays that Kris Jenkins did when he was here in all his eccentric glory.p/I'm not arguing that Kemo is not valuable; he is. But he's also not irreplaceable, like (you can insert sound of knocking on wood here) a season-ending injury to Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams or Jake Delhomme would be. Beason falls into that irreplaceable category too -- Dan Connor is serviceable but no Beason -- but there's no reason to believe right now that Beason's injury is incredibly serious.p/In other words, nothing THAT bad has actually happened yet to the Panthers in August, Carolina fans. It's OK. Really.p/I've covered this team since its inception in 1995, and I can remember a lot worse moments for the Panthers in previous Augusts. Here are 3: Kerry Collins getting his jaw broken by Bill Romanowski in 1997, Steve Smith punching Ken Lucas in 2008, Sam Mills being initially diagnosed with cancer in 2003.p/So let's put all this in perspective a little, shall we?

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[WolfPack]

Well, I am going to have to agree with you here. I also don't think that losing Kemo was the end of our defense and we still can find someone almost as good to fill in if we work for it. Also, losing in the preseason is no big deal, especially considering Moose, Smitty and J Stew did not even participate. Beason will be fine, and our defense's weak spot right now is in the secondary. We are not the kind of team that is going to get flashy in preseason games and show off everything we have like Miami did. To sum it up, I would like to see another DT added and some depth on the O-line, but I think we will still have a great season and are being underestimated again!!

[frash.exe]

if it's one thing i hate it's the fact that every time there's a problem on this team that concerns a select group of people this fuging banal, worthless, insipid cliche is thrown into the pan

jesus every time someone mentions the words "sky", and "falling" within 3 words of each other i wish i could grab their face and bite their neck fat

[LelouchBritannia]

My only problem is that losing Kemo has somehow made people forget that Damion Lewis is terrible.

[Delhommey]

Anyone who has used the phrase "squandering the preseason" loses his right to publically hate other phrases.

Sorry. House rules.

[frash.exe]

Anyone who has used the phrase "squandering the preseason" loses his right to publically hate other phrases.

Sorry. House rules.

at least it was original

[Jangler]

I tell ya, we need some cookies, OJ and some B12 shots for all the people that are trippin' a little too hard on the Panthers this preseason. Just relax breathe deep and put on some inspirational music and mellow. Let's wait until October before we start freakin' out!

[monstercat]

That article does bring up a good point about Kemo. I remember defending him on this board a couple of years ago. Some people were mad because he wasn't getting sacks or making a lot of plays that showed up on the stat sheet every week. If there was ever a perfect example of how stats don't tell the whole story, this is it.