A must win for Carolina? You bet your sweet hiney it is.

[Jeremy Igo]

Welcome to week 2 in the NFL and already a gut check for the Carolina Panthers.

The excuses have already been spent. Lack of preseason? Shaking off rust? Not on same page? Equipment errors? Time management issues? Ok, fine, but absolutely none of that should apply when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to play the Panthers on Thursday night. Those excuses are dead and buried. 

Not even the good ole "short week" excuse applies here as Tampa Bay will have an even shorter week with travel time taken into consideration. 

We now find ourselves at a pigskin precipice, a jagged cliff built on missed opportunities overlooking a yawning chasm of ineptitude. A loss would cause a catastrophic series of events not seen since the days of the one known as Pickles. I dare not speak his actual name.

The Panthers may be playing Pirates, but the mutiny would be occurring in Carolina as Panthers fans call for accountability. 

As such, I hereby declare on my authority that Thursday night be declared a must win. A convincing victory against the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers would help to rally the fans of Carolina and give hope to this season. It would validate all the excuses listed above as legitimate. Fans would again willingly place their hearts and hopes on Ron Rivera and the possibility of a Superbowl victory. A crisis averted, a season saved. 

So it is written. So it shall be. 

 

Love, 

 

JI

[Daeavorn]

If we don't win this game it does not look good for the rest of our first half season.  The bucs are as easy a team to beat as any in the NFL and our defense should be more than capable of stopping the run against a Tampa offense that still has OL issues.

The offense needs to go vertical early and often to keep the bucs D honest. Id love to see some RPO designed runs for Cam as well to keep the LBs on their toes.

No more Alex Smith football, please.

[LinvilleGorge]

Odds of making the playoffs after 1-1 start: 41%

Odds of making playoffs after 0-2 start: 11%

[Jeremy Igo]

12 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

 

Odds of making playoffs after 0-2 start: 11%

odds of making playoffs after 0-2 start at home? 1.8% (I made that up)

[bigdog10]

We lose to Tampa, they aren’t going to be able to give away tickets to the jags game. 

[Dex]

Division games are must wins especially after we just lost a conference game.

[Castavar]

All I gotta say is, if we lose to the lowly Bucs AT HOME, on a SHORT WEEK, with the talent we have, then heads need to roll ASAP. We would already be 0-2 in the NFC, 0-1 in our division, 0-5 our last 5 home games, and would be 0-10 in our last 10 games. That would literally be rock bottom and FINALLY time for change if we lose.

[WarPanthers89]

I fully expect a Buc beatdown

[raz]

a victory thursday night won't really answer any questions, but a loss sure will 

[Jeremy Igo]

29 minutes ago, raz said:

a victory thursday night won't really answer any questions, but a loss sure will 

I dunno. 45-10 victory would surely settle some stomachs. 

[PantherPhann89]

I'm not just looking for a win here,  I'm looking for a pounding, no backing off, no prevent,  no giving them momentum late in the game,  non of that.  #keeppounding 

[Ted Ginn Jr.'s Hands]

This is the easiest game left on the schedule, definitely a must win

[rhyslloyd]

Never underestimate the ability of a Ron Rivera team to come out and look like a peewee team.

[LinvilleGorge]

59 minutes ago, Jeremy Igo said:

odds of making playoffs after 0-2 start at home? 1.8% (I made that up)

LOL!

Now if we go 0-3, your made up number is actually spot on.