Old School Football

[Marguide]

I've been watching football for many years. Watching the Panthers over the last week brought back memories of some great teams from yesteryear. Teams like Madden's Raiders, and Chuck Noll's Steelers.

It doesn't matter if the D is a bit off. Our O can pummel you on the ground or in the air. And we aren't talking dink and dunk, but big throws downfield.

O has an average day? No problem. Our D can flat out humiliate you.

This is one of the more complete teams I've seen in my lifetime, and it will be a shock if they go down easily in the playoffs. We have it all. A great running game. A big play passing game. A stifling and opportunistic defense.

I hope some of our younger fans appreciate just how historically great this team is.

It's a great time to be a Panther fan. We get to witness history in the making.

[jbland]

We've had some pretty bad years. It's a great time to be a panthers fan. 

 

Keep pounding. 

 

[UpstatePanther]

7 hours ago, Marguide said:

I hope some of our younger fans appreciate just how historically great this team is.

I honestly dont. I mean, I've seen the 16-0 Pats season, the 14-0 Colts and 13-0 Saints. But I also saw the 9-0 Chiefs implode, and for that reason, I was scared to accept this team as an all time great. I remember those Ravens and Steelers teams that were so dominant last decade. 

But this is hard for me to appreciate. Could you talk alittle more about it from your perspective? Educate me? I'm not familiar with all those old teams. I've literally only been following football for 12 years, and half of that time, I couldn't even name all the teams in the league. 

[KB_fan]

Here's what Bryan Knowles wrote at B/R.  I think this talk about not just being a great team this year, but beginning to compare with some of the great teams in the history of the NFL is due to some of the streaks we're on:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2593425-panthers-vs-cowboys-carolina-grades-notes-and-quotes

Quote

 

The Panthers continued to extend their streaks.  They picked up their 15th consecutive regular-season win, tying the 1989-90 San Francisco 49ers and the 2010-11 Green Bay Packers for the longest streaks in the NFC in the Super Bowl era—it will have been over a year since their last regular-season loss when they take on the New Orleans Saints next week. 

They rushed for over 100 yards for the 22nd consecutive game, extending their league-longest streak and the longest NFL streak since the Houston Oilers had a 23-game streak in 1977-78.  They broke a five-game losing streak against the Dallas Cowboys and won in Dallas for the first time since 1997.

Most importantly, they continued their 2015 streak.  They sit at 11-0, joining only 15 teams that managed to reach that mark before.  They’re quickly moving beyond being a great team in the NFL at the moment and joining the ranks of the best NFL teams of all time.

 

It doesn't hurt either that Cam is almost certainly going to break Steve Young's all time rushing TDs by a QB record this year.  But it took Young, what 13 years?

[panthers55]

I have always wanted us to have a Jim Johnson blitz happy aggressive defense. Truth is that McDermott and Rivera may have put together an ever better defense. We still blitz but we seem to be more selective and don't give up the big plays that Johnson's defenses often did.

 

[Marguide]

4 minutes ago, UpstatePanther said:

 Could you talk alittle more about it from your perspective? Educate me? I'm not familiar with all those old teams. I've literally only been following football for 12 years, and half of that time, I couldn't even name all the teams in the league. 

Back then, there was less parity in the league, and it was before Bill Walsh and the 49er's made it more of a finesse game.

The mid-70's Steelers are the first team to come to mind when I watch the 2015 Panthers. They may have had that d!ckhead Bradshaw at QB, but they could dominate on both sides of the ball. The D, with guys like Mean Joe Greene and L.C. Greenwood would punish you to the point that opposing teams would lose their will to compete early in the 2nd half. On O, Franco Harris was a bruising running back that got stronger the more he carried the ball. And there was no dink and dunk going on. Bradshaw would chuck it up and Lynn Swan or Stallworth would go up and get it. YAC wasn't as important, as they would move down the field in chunks. They were the most physical team in the league, and no one wanted to face them.

This same description fits us perfectly (except our QB is multi-dimensional and isn't an ass).

 

[UpstatePanther]

17 minutes ago, Marguide said:

Back then, there was less parity in the league, and it was before Bill Walsh and the 49er's made it more of a finesse game.

The mid-70's Steelers are the first team to come to mind when I watch the 2015 Panthers. They may have had that d!ckhead Bradshaw at QB, but they could dominate on both sides of the ball. The D, with guys like Mean Joe Greene and L.C. Greenwood would punish you to the point that opposing teams would lose their will to compete early in the 2nd half. On O, Franco Harris was a bruising running back that got stronger the more he carried the ball. And there was no dink and dunk going on. Bradshaw would chuck it up and Lynn Swan or Stallworth would go up and get it. YAC wasn't as important, as they would move down the field in chunks. They were the most physical team in the league, and no one wanted to face them.

This same description fits us perfectly (except our QB is multi-dimensional and isn't an ass).

 

I can see the parallels. I grew up hearing about those Steeler teams cus my Dad raised me as a Panther fan in Central Pennsylvania. How many teams have gone 11-0 in the history of the league?

[KB_fan]

10 minutes ago, UpstatePanther said:

I can see the parallels. I grew up hearing about those Steeler teams cus my Dad raised me as a Panther fan in Central Pennsylvania. How many teams have gone 11-0 in the history of the league?

I believe we're #12 to do it. (corrected, I originally typed 16.  That was the stat for 10-0.  )

http://www.patspulpit.com/2015/11/17/9748416/every-team-in-nfl-history-to-remain-undefeated-after-10-games

 

[Fox007]

Cam is new school type of QB though...the rest is definitely old school...bashing and pounding on these new age throw it around 60 times a game sissy teams.

[cgarsmoker]

2 hours ago, panthers55 said:

I have always wanted us to have a Jim Johnson blitz happy aggressive defense. Truth is that McDermott and Rivera may have put together an ever better defense. We still blitz but we seem to be more selective and don't give up the big plays that Johnson's defenses often did.

 

The thing is, we show a lot of Double A gap blitzes that forces the o-line to change protection to account for the possibility of a LB shooting up the middle.  Just showing that blitz keeps the DE's from being double teamed and makes QBs immediately look for hot routes and check downs.  Which plays into our hands with the speed we have at LB when they bail out into coverage.  Of course just when they think it's another "fake" blitz, Thomas Davis goes flying through and breaks your clavicle again.  Very effective.  

[cgarsmoker]

1 minute ago, chris999 said:

I love our team for the same reason.

 

I swear that if I was no already a Panthers fan, that I would have probably switched to the bandwagon.

We are an old school football team. That comes from the top with Richardson, who was an actual old school player.

He brought in the perfect coach with Rivera, who is bulding a team that is molded from the stuff that his 85 Bears were made of.

 

Did I say I love this team?

I love it too. 

Unfortunately though, it's why we have so many doubters in the media and otherwise.  People forget that running the ball and defense wins championships.  Case in point, the Saints are often the preseason pick to win the NFC south because they're a passing team.  

Our players say it best, we may not always win pretty but a win is a win.  I get particular pleasure seeing us play so physical and bludgeon teams into submission.