I feel this year’s team will either be horrendously bad or shockingly good, no in between.

[PanthersNC1984]

Believe me, I get it, completely new coaching staff, of course it’s going to be hard to predict. But this year’s squad seems unusually hard to really peg down. Even in 2011 during Rivera’s first year, I kind of had the feeling we would be a middling 6 or 7 win team that year and we ended up 6-10. But I dunno, it’s so bizarre this time around because I could see this team either going 1-15 or 15-1 and the odd thing is neither record would necessarily surprise me. In fact, as crazy as it sounds, I would be more shocked by a average 6 or 7 win season than I would be with either a 1-15 season or a 15-1 one.

I get the impression that Rhule isn’t a half measure middling type of head coach who will be happy trapped in NFL purgatory by just going at or below .500. He strikes me as the type that he’s either going to full tank, or he’s going to the NFCCG. No in between. Frankly I don’t mind one bit, I live by a saying. If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly.

[Khyber53]

If it is terribly bad, then there are a ton of reasons and good excuses, with the caveat that we will get better.

If it is good, then, well, considering everything, you'd have to give a round of applause to the new coaching staff and maybe rethink our opinions on some of the managerial decisions Marty Hurney has made.

A hungry, disciplined team will win a lot of games in the really odd environment of the 2020 season.

 

[Basbear]

Ive already talked himself into partly thinking - "Starters are not THAT bad, just remain healthy and playoffs are possible..........". Still feel 3-13 is about it, but any predictions in this season could be right. 

Wrong about the bears- if youre going to be a bear, be a polar bear. 

[jfra78]

This is a 6-7 win team

[panthers55]

It is going to be both. The offense will be good and the defense, not so much.

[Waldo]

4 or 5 wins. Lots of learning but the reality is this is not a good team. For us to hit good, we would need best case scenarios across the board which is unrealistic. I don't care either, it's Panther football so it's fun either way and we are rebuilding so that is where I am putting hope. 

[OneBadCat]

We might be able to take advantage of the fact that rest of the league is unprepared and we do have nice offensive weapons with an OC and QB that have experience together. 
 

The defense could be surprisingly decent statistically but I think they’ll have a lot of trouble on 3rd down. 
 

If we got 8 wins then Rhule might be good as Tepper hypes him to be

[mrcompletely11]

42 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

It is going to be both. The offense will be good and the defense, not so much.

Our offensive line is ranked the worst in the league.  Our defense and offensive are going to be a poo show.  I would bet anything we dont get 6 wins.  We will probably luck into 2-3.  There is just no way to mask our lines.  Quick throws or not.  

[jasonluckydog]

If we win 2 games this year I'll be shocked. 

[panthers55]

36 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Our offensive line is ranked the worst in the league.  Our defense and offensive are going to be a poo show.  I would bet anything we dont get 6 wins.  We will probably luck into 2-3.  There is just no way to mask our lines.  Quick throws or not.  

It is hard to know how the line will play because so much is chemistry and we have several new pieces. Still you underestimate the effect of quick throws. It tires out the defensive front and frustrates them while moving down the field. While the Saints have good line players, at least some of the reason the Saints line looks so good is because Brees is a master at eluding pressure and moving around until he can find open players. Given we will run a similar scheme, I think you will find that our line looks better than it really is as well. 

You do realize that off-season predictions and rankings particularly this year are like throwing darts in the dark.

As for the defensive line it is hard to judge as well but the talent looks fairly good. How well they play is another thing.

Clearly you are down on the team and you aren't alone. But I prefer to be optimistic and wait to make negative predictions when I actually see them play badly. But that is me....

[Riverboat Ron]

The team has talent and young developmental guys that can be developed into very solid players. Question is do we have x factor guys on defense like we do on offense? KK is a year removed from dominate play but who else has shown anything but flashes? I could see us lose games 45-42 early and sit at 2-6 to start out then flip it and finish 5-3 and land at 7-9 showing progress.

[Moo Daeng]

I think we win like 6

[mrcompletely11]

50 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

It is hard to know how the line will play because so much is chemistry and we have several new pieces. Still you underestimate the effect of quick throws. It tires out the defensive front and frustrates them while moving down the field. While the Saints have good line players, at least some of the reason the Saints line looks so good is because Brees is a master at eluding pressure and moving around until he can find open players. Given we will run a similar scheme, I think you will find that our line looks better than it really is as well. 

You do realize that off-season predictions and rankings particularly this year are like throwing darts in the dark.

As for the defensive line it is hard to judge as well but the talent looks fairly good. How well they play is another thing.

Clearly you are down on the team and you aren't alone. But I prefer to be optimistic and wait to make negative predictions when I actually see them play badly. But that is me....

Being optimistic is not being realistic after looking at the facts.   Your way of thinking about this team and season is with blinders on and blue tinted glasses

[kungfoodude]

2 hours ago, Basbear said:

 

Wrong about the bears- if youre going to be a bear, be a polar bear. 

fug that. I hate cold weather.