Road to the #1 Seed in the NFC

[t96]

Only threats to our seeding in my opinion are the Cardinals and Vikings. Falcons clearly not as good a their early record suggests and the Packers would need to get 4 more wins than us from now on to overtake us which is extremely unlikely, so let's take a look at schedules.
 

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Panthers (9-0) schedule going forward:

vs Redskins

at Cowboys

at Saints

vs Falcons

at Giants

at Falcons

vs Buccaneers

 

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Cardinals (7-2) schedule going forward:

vs Bengals

at 49ers

at Rams

vs Vikings

at Eagles

vs Packers

vs Seahawks

 

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Vikings (7-2) schedule going forward:

vs Packers

at Falcons

vs Seahawks

at Cardinals

vs Bears

vs Giants

at Packers

 

 

Looking at these schedules I personally don't see a chance in hell that we don't get the #1 seed. Vikings and Cardinals play each other so it's extremely unlikely they'd both be threatening us for the top seed and they both have some really tough games. Our toughest are probably the Falcons and Giants and Cowboys...

 

Vikings have the Packers twice (who I don't believe are "dead" yet), as mentioned the Cardinals, the Seahawks, the resurgent Bears and the Falcons as well. They haven't really beat anybody of note and I can't imagine them overtaking us.

 

The Cardinals seem to have a better chance but they too have some tough matchups going forward, against the Bengals next week (though it is at home and the Bengals just got beat in Cincinnati by the Texans they are still a top team and this isn't primetime so maybe Dalton will show up...), at the Rams who they already lost to once at home, the Vikings as mentioned, at the Eagles who will likely have Bradford back by then and could be fighting for a playoff spot, the Packers at home and a rematch vs the Seahawks at home who could be fighting for a wildcard.

 

The road is looking really clear to that top seed boys. Our divisional games are key, especially against the Falcons but I'm confident we can handle all of them. We are so God damn mentally and physically tough right now that we can handle anybody, and certainly the teams on our schedule, including all the soft teams in our division. Playing the Cowboys with Romo back and the Zebras on Thanksgiving will be tough but absolutely winnable, and the Giants shouldn't scare anybody. Redskins certainly aren't a gimme game but this team this year doesn't play down to the competition and at home I don't see us losing it, no matter how determined Cousins is to show his cancer-ridden father how great he is (gonna have to hope some other team on their schedule fires their DC and hires Ryan if he wants another game like that. 16-0 isn't statistically likely, but #1 seed should be in the bag. The team can't feel this way, and I'm sure they don't, but we as fans should be excited as hell right now. Love this team.

[Kevin Greene]

It's ours to take. We just need to do it.

[The Huddler]

Im sitting here thinkin my panthers will go undefeated like ..

 

 

i did not see this comming!!

 

GO PANTHERS BIIITCH

[Daddy_Uncle]

My only question is are the Panther going to recreate the Super Bowl shuffle with Ron

[The Huddler]

14 minutes ago, Daddy_Uncle said:

My only question is are the Panther going to recreate the Super Bowl shuffle with Ron

We will invent our own iconic and traditional poo . 

[CarolinaNCSU]

12-4 would probably be good enough for the 1 seed this year.  13-3 and above is my goal then, obviously.  But hey, make it easy on the fans and just go 16-0. 

[lightsout]

Cardinals don't scare me. They've struggled against the run...we run the ball. They've struggled against good offenses in general. They have a high overall defensive rating because of a few really bad offenses. Limit their big plays and get pressure and you win. Not worried about their run game as long as they don't get on the outside, which I don't see happening against us (if we have to play them).

Vikings are pretenders. They'll fold before the end of December. Mark my words.

Packers aren't dead. It will likely be us and them for the NFC championship. We better sure up some stuff defensively and stay healthy, because if that happens, they'll be more focused and determined. We have to stay hungry until we're not playing anymore if we want a Super Bowl. We let up a hair, the Packers will jump on us.


All this aside, I'm trying not to think of anything. I've maintained a "everybody is 0-0, let's get this win this week" mindset all season. Washington is a good team. Let's beat their eyes out.

[t96]

34 minutes ago, lightsout said:

All this aside, I'm trying not to think of anything. I've maintained a "everybody is 0-0, let's get this win this week" mindset all season. Washington is a good team. Let's beat their eyes out.

I wish I could do that. Can't get 19-0 out of my mind. Glad the team has the 0-0 mentality though.

[CPantherKing]

1 hour ago, JakeR6 said:

Look at who the Vikings have played and who they have left. Not sold on the purple drag queens just yet. 

The Vikings offensively struggle against any reasonably sound defense. Their defense looks good right now, but they have not faced any strong offensive teams. That will change with the second half of their schedule.

The Cards record against the Seahawks, Rams, Steelers, Bengals, Vikings, and Eagles will tell me what I want to know about their offense.

I believe you will see teams like the Packers, Seahawks, Rams, and Eagles raise up in the standings while untested teams like the Cards and Vikings fall back to the pack.

Similar situation in the AFC. I see the Steelers, Jets, and Texans stepping raising up in the standings with the Bengals, Broncos, and Patriots falling back in the standings. I was surprised to look at the Patriots schedule and see they have yet to face anything better than an aver defensive team. I am interested to see how the Patriots offense with that weak OL handles a tougher run with divisional games book ending a defensive gauntlet of the Broncos, Eagles, Texans, and Titans. Their defense will have it easy, but I want to see their offensive performance in those games. Then they finish with 2 divisional road games before the playoffs.

As far as match ups go, the Broncos, if they can get their offense rolling, is the only team I think the Panthers could struggle with for the remainder of the year. Of course, that would have to be in the Super Bowl.

[gibletmc1992]

It's a funny one, and obviously I think we'll win the division - but just read this and it's an interesting look at the NFC South from a UK-based site. Being a massive Panthers fan from London - I'd love to get your perspective on how we see the NFC South over here.

 

Here's what I'm talking about: http://www.realsport101.com/realsport-roundtable-who-will-win-the-nfc-south/

[PoundCat]

I think the road game at the Giants could be a tougher game than some might expect. They will also be playing for their playoff lives in late December, so they will be highly motivated to win.

[UpstatePanther]

I'm of the mind that both Minnesota and Arizona will take a late season plunge. It may be only two games for each of them, and we might still lose a few games too. But both those teams have a tough schedule over the final 7 weeks. Truth be told, as long as the Panthers keep their eyes on the next opponent and play each week like it's the Super Bowl, we could well go 16-0 with our remaining schedule. Won't be easy, but we can. 

I don't have faith in the Cardinals and Vikings just yet, so I'm not worried about home-field advantage. I want to see Carolina win 3 or 4 more games before I start to get confident about a perfect season though. I will say that it will be a supreme disappointment if we don't make it to 13 wins this season, not with how the season has gone thus far.

And anything less than the NFCCG will also be a supreme disappointment.

[ThPantherFan]

Going forward will be a test for Ron.  Every team will be trying to put together different schemes to keep our O and D off guard.  Titans did this and it almost worked.  Ron will have to keep the team more focused going forward.  They will be seeing many different options and will have to quickly adapt.  That will show just how good the coaching staff is.

[nctarheel0619]

One game at a time, this isn't College Football.  Just fuging win.