For older Panthers vets, it's Now or Never for another Super Bowl run

[Cookie Lyon]

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Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman and coach Ron Rivera talk about “sustained success” so often the concept could serve as the team’s unofficial mantra alongside “Keep Pounding.”

The idea is simple: Build a team – through smart draft picks and re-signing core players – that competes for division titles every year rather than go all-in for a Super Bowl ring by throwing money at high-priced free agents.

 

 

 

As such, Gettleman said in April he does not subscribe to what he called the window theory: “We’ve got a window, we’ve got to win now.”

That might be true, but for a number of the team’s older players, their window for getting back to the Super Bowl – and winning it – is closing.

“It’s definitely something that we’re looking at as older, veteran guys. It’s all about right now,” linebacker Thomas Davis told the Observer. “We have a really good football team and it’s important for us to take advantage of it right now. Some of the younger guys can probably look and say, ‘OK, I’ll be in this league for a while.’ But for us, it’s all about winning right now.”

 

After making the Super Bowl last season, several of the veterans realize they don’t have much time left to get back.

“We don’t say, ‘Something could happen next year,’ ” Davis said recently. “It’s all about taking advantage of the opportunity right now. That’s our mindset.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article94107492.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article94107492.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

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Gettleman locked up the team’s two most important players last year when he signed quarterback Cam Newton and middle linebacker Luke Kuechly to long-term deals.

Newton, the reigning league MVP, received a $103.8 million extension that runs through 2020. Kuechly’s five-year extension is worth $62 million and goes through the 2021 season.

So the Panthers have their franchise players in place to build around

Rivera, who received a contract extension in February worth $6.5 million a year, agrees with Gettleman on windows of opportunity. He says that doesn’t diminish his sense of urgency.

“I don’t think this team has a window right now and we’re not looking that we have to win everything now. I want to. Believe me, I really do. I want to get back, I want to win it. And I want to do whatever it takes,” said Rivera, who is under contract through 2018.

“But as far as saying there’s a window, I’ve never believed it, because we’re professionals and we should be able to transition at positions.”

 

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Rivera said the toughest position transition of course is at quarterback, and the Panthers are set there for at least the next five seasons. Newton, who turned 27 in the spring, should be in the MVP mix every season for the foreseeable future and would seem to have plenty of time to get back to the Super Bowl.

The clock is ticking for others in the organization, including Gettleman, 65, who was considered old when he was hired three years ago. The Panthers have not disclosed the terms of Gettleman’s contract, although he’s made it clear since arriving in Charlotte he wasn’t looking for a quick fix.

For players like Davis and Kalil, there won’t be many more opportunities to win a Super Bowl ring.

“At this point in my career, as long as I’ve played, I realize how difficult it is to get there. So I might have been a little bit more optimistic in my

younger days,” Kalil said. “I feel good about our chances, but at the same time it’s a really tough road. So you’ve got to win the division.

That’s the first thing. You’ve got to give yourselves a chance to get in the playoffs and then see where you go from there.”

 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article94107492.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article94107492.html

[Cookie Lyon]

Can someone tell me how to fix this? 

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

that stuff happens because there is code on the page the text is copied from to affix proper credit/links/whatever else whenever it's copied somewhere.  that doesn't always work properly depending on where the text is pasted and in this case it renders as the bizarre vertical text/links that sometimes appears.

about the only thing you can do to avoid it is to copy whatever you want to quote, paste it into notepad or some other basic text editor, copy it back from there (which "sanitizes" the extra junk and sticks it on your clipboard as plain text), and then paste it into your post and apply quote tags so that it looks like this:

 

Quote

 

Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman and coach Ron Rivera talk about “sustained success” so often the concept could serve as the team’s unofficial mantra alongside “Keep Pounding.”

The idea is simple: Build a team – through smart draft picks and re-signing core players – that competes for division titles every year rather than go all-in for a Super Bowl ring by throwing money at high-priced free agents.
 
As such, Gettleman said in April he does not subscribe to what he called the window theory: “We’ve got a window, we’ve got to win now.”

That might be true, but for a number of the team’s older players, their window for getting back to the Super Bowl – and winning it – is closing.

“It’s definitely something that we’re looking at as older, veteran guys. It’s all about right now,” linebacker Thomas Davis told the Observer. “We have a really good football team and it’s important for us to take advantage of it right now. Some of the younger guys can probably look and say, ‘OK, I’ll be in this league for a while.’ But for us, it’s all about winning right now.”

After making the Super Bowl last season, several of the veterans realize they don’t have much time left to get back.

“We don’t say, ‘Something could happen next year,’ ” Davis said recently. “It’s all about taking advantage of the opportunity right now. That’s our mindset.”

 

 

[Kakarot]

Great read. Gotta win one here soon for players like TD, CJ, & for FO guys like Gettleman and Big Cat. 

Still irks we were not able to finish the job for guys like Peanut Tillman and Allen. They should have gotten rings last year

[CPF4LIFE]

I agree, it's time to win now. There is no such thing as a window to win when you have never won one to begin with to me.  Getting there doesnt justfy it, the team in the superbowl was nowhere near the team during the season. I Don't believe in conducting like a championship team with no championship. Panthers have to come out just as hungry as everybody else and take no team likely because it seems like thats what happened in the superbowl. We need to go all the way through this season. 

[PandaPancake]

1 hour ago, Cookie Lyon said:

Can someone tell me how to fix this? 

Ctrl-Shift-V when pasting

[Kevin Greene]

Win one for TD, I like it. But hell, let's win TWO for TD. He's got plenty of gas in the tank.

I do like the urgency though and awareness the time is now. Truly, anything short of another Super Bowl appearance will be a major disappointment in my mind. I'll take my chances once we get there, confident they will seize the moment.

EDIT: Cam is the Tom Brady of the next decade. Raising this Franchises' level of success, so much is ahead of us.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

11 minutes ago, PandaPancake said:

Ctrl-Shift-V when pasting

this works too and is easier than what i suggested

[Cookie Lyon]

28 minutes ago, PandaPancake said:

Ctrl-Shift-V when pasting

 

16 minutes ago, The NFL Shield At Midfield said:

this works too and is easier than what i suggested

I tried both of your suggestions, but I still couldn't get it to work. LOL. It looks better though.

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

:)

[PandaPancake]

1 hour ago, Cookie Lyon said:

 

I tried both of your suggestions, but I still couldn't get it to work. LOL. It looks better though.

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

:)

You copied too much. After the second paragraph it highlighted text below a photo and copied the photo.

Quote

Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman and coach Ron Rivera talk about “sustained success” so often the concept could serve as the team’s unofficial mantra alongside “Keep Pounding.”

The idea is simple: Build a team – through smart draft picks and re-signing core players – that competes for division titles every year rather than go all-in for a Super Bowl ring by throwing money at high-priced free agents.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article94107492.html#storylink=cpy

After two paragraphs they don't like giving away more. Notice the read more and the link? That wasn't typed on the page.

[Razeyfingers]

5 hours ago, Kakarot said:

Great read. Gotta win one here soon for players like TD, CJ, & for FO guys like Gettleman and Big Cat. 

Still irks we were not able to finish the job for guys like Peanut Tillman and Allen. They should have gotten rings last year

and Smitty and the Bunch last time around before that. We'll get one, it's coming. Cam makes it inevitable.

[FuFuLamePoo]

should have thought about this before they choked the last time they made the super bowl

[Jangler]

18 minutes ago, FuFuLamePoo said:

should have thought about this before they choked the last time they made the super bowl

[caatfan]

6 hours ago, The NFL Shield At Midfield said:

about the only thing you can do to avoid it is to copy whatever you want to quote, paste it into notepad or some other basic text editor, copy it back from there (which "sanitizes" the extra junk and sticks it on your clipboard as plain text), and then paste it into your post and apply quote tags so that it looks like this:

Notepad is great for filtering out graphics and normalizing font and pitch. I keep it handy and use it a lot.