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Optimism for the future (opinions on N.O)

bigdog10

By bigdog10,
in Carolina Panthers

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bigdog10 Experienced

bigdog10

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Just got back from New Orleans. Had a blast down there. Good food, cool sites, etc, etc.

Couple things about our trip down there that I want to point out before talking about why I'm optimistic about the future.

-First time in New Orleans. Deff. a wild experience on bourbon street

-Ton of Saints fans 70% classy, 30% a-holes (many thanked us for coming)

-Dome was ridiculously loud in the 4th quarter (was quiet enough to hear a pin drop in the first, except for the five of us who were jumping up and down when williams went on his run)

-If I hear one more Who Dat, I think i'll murder a bunny. Terrible chant, especially with the history of how pathetic the saints have been over their history.

-Drew Brees is a stud QB. He recognizes plays at the line, and when he audibles....the opposing teams coach needs to take a timeout. He is smart and extremely accurate. Good guy, great leader.

-Darnell Dinkins is a big dude. He was on our flight back this morning.

-I'm envious of the way the saints fans (true fans and the bush and brees bandwagon jumpers) support their team down there. Everyone was either wearing black and gold or blue and black. There was no inbetween. This wasn't like a game at B.O.A where you see just as many polos and khaki's as you do panther gear. Their town really has saints fever right now (8-0 plays a big part of it, but most of the fans I knew had a pretty good understanding of their team and ours *except for the one guy who kept yelling for me to go back to Jacksonville...moron)

-All in all a fun trip, would have been a blast had we won, although I may have missed my flight this morning.

on to the optimism

When teams in the NFL struggle in a year, it usually appears that the team will need to rebuild for the next season or two to get competitive again (see Tampa), however I don't think we are far off at all. We have almost every piece in place to make a big run next year.

Deangelo williams is an absolute stud. He has great vision and is quickly becoming the best carolina panther to ever put the uniform on. Jonathan Stewart is a load who is misused almost every play he is in the game. This man has no business being tossed sweeps. Give him the ball and let him run between the tackles. No misdirection, no tosses, no counters....just line em up and let him punish the linebackers. (I don't know who the heck our fullback was yesterday, but I thought he looked solid as well)

The offensive line is a unit that at times can be unbelieveably dominate in the running game, and for the most part yesterday I thought they did a good job of pass protection.

Tight Ends: We have so much depth at this position it is unreal. Gary Barnidge is scary good and under utilized. I focused on him yesterday and he gets open almost every play. The way he plays reminds me of Jason Witten (not making a comparison to Witten, because witten is good, just a similar style player)

The defense, for this being their first season in the tampa two, has played very well IMO. There are so many young players on defense that it is expected for them to give up big plays and be out of position. We have been getting pretty good pressure this year too. Which says a lot due to the loss of Kemo. Hollis Thomas has played well as well as Charles Johnson.

The big IF:

This team is a prime player in the NFC next year if these three things happen:

D-Line Depth: We must find someone who can rush the passer from the inside and free up Peppers, Johnson and Brown

QB change: I love Jake as a person and his leadership, but we have to get better at the QB position. I think a veteran QB who can distribute the ball to the WR's and minimze turnovers, can lead this team to the playoffs. A young QB can as well, and this is a prime year to take a young QB. This team is built in a way, that can aid a young QB in developing and relieve a ton of pressure.

WR postion: The most glaring. We need a viable number two or three. A speed guy who can stretch the field and take the linebackers out from underneath to free up our backs and tight ends. Jarrett has shown me enough to know that he can be decent, but we have to get a legitimate deep threat to help stretch the defense. A devery henderson type player if you will.

I know you are wondering why I didn't include coaching. I honestly think we can win with the guys we have as long as we can protect the football. I would like to see a change, but I don't know how it will go down. Regardless of who will be the coaches next year, I still think we are in a position to be a good team.

I know that was long, but just wanted to share my thoughts.

I don't think the season is over yet, but I don't see us making a run. My only goals for this team the remainder of the season would be to beat: Atlanta, Minnesota, New England, and New York Giants: If they could pull two of those upsets, I would be a happy man.

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SOJA Veteran

SOJA

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I created an account just to thank you Bigdog10, finally someone else who sees the possible very bright future for this team. I agree with everything you said down to the last period. I'm happy your trip to New Orleans was a good one, and as always Go Panthers.

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bigdog10 Experienced

bigdog10

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I created an account just to thank you Bigdog10, finally someone else who sees the possible very bright future for this team. I agree with everything you said down to the last period. I'm happy your trip to New Orleans was a good one, and as always Go Panthers.

Welcome to the huddle man. Don't get too caught up in all the negativity

Had the Panthers took care of business in Dallas and vs Buffalo, this forum would be singing a completely different tune.

I don't agree with Fox on a lot of things he says but I do like this one.

"You're never as good as they say you are and you're never as bad as they say you are"

That statement is very true

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SCP Enthusiast

SCP

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Thanks bigdog. I was saying the same thing to friends yesterday. Good to see I am not the only one thinking this way. Maybe it's just blind homerism, but I'm not sure a total blow up is needed. We need to figure out the Peppers situation and find a QB. I'm looking forward to the Panthers playing hard and going down with a fight.

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pamlicopanther Rising Star

pamlicopanther

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Just got back from New Orleans. Had a blast down there. Good food, cool sites, etc, etc.

Couple things about our trip down there that I want to point out before talking about why I'm optimistic about the future.

-First time in New Orleans. Deff. a wild experience on bourbon street

-Ton of Saints fans 70% classy, 30% a-holes (many thanked us for coming)

-Dome was ridiculously loud in the 4th quarter (was quiet enough to hear a pin drop in the first, except for the five of us who were jumping up and down when williams went on his run)

-If I hear one more Who Dat, I think i'll murder a bunny. Terrible chant, especially with the history of how pathetic the saints have been over their history.

-Drew Brees is a stud QB. He recognizes plays at the line, and when he audibles....the opposing teams coach needs to take a timeout. He is smart and extremely accurate. Good guy, great leader.

-Darnell Dinkins is a big dude. He was on our flight back this morning.

-I'm envious of the way the saints fans (true fans and the bush and brees bandwagon jumpers) support their team down there. Everyone was either wearing black and gold or blue and black. There was no inbetween. This wasn't like a game at B.O.A where you see just as many polos and khaki's as you do panther gear. Their town really has saints fever right now (8-0 plays a big part of it, but most of the fans I knew had a pretty good understanding of their team and ours *except for the one guy who kept yelling for me to go back to Jacksonville...moron)

-All in all a fun trip, would have been a blast had we won, although I may have missed my flight this morning.

on to the optimism

When teams in the NFL struggle in a year, it usually appears that the team will need to rebuild for the next season or two to get competitive again (see Tampa), however I don't think we are far off at all. We have almost every piece in place to make a big run next year.

Deangelo williams is an absolute stud. He has great vision and is quickly becoming the best carolina panther to ever put the uniform on. Jonathan Stewart is a load who is misused almost every play he is in the game. This man has no business being tossed sweeps. Give him the ball and let him run between the tackles. No misdirection, no tosses, no counters....just line em up and let him punish the linebackers. (I don't know who the heck our fullback was yesterday, but I thought he looked solid as well)

The offensive line is a unit that at times can be unbelieveably dominate in the running game, and for the most part yesterday I thought they did a good job of pass protection.

Tight Ends: We have so much depth at this position it is unreal. Gary Barnidge is scary good and under utilized. I focused on him yesterday and he gets open almost every play. The way he plays reminds me of Jason Witten (not making a comparison to Witten, because witten is good, just a similar style player)

The defense, for this being their first season in the tampa two, has played very well IMO. There are so many young players on defense that it is expected for them to give up big plays and be out of position. We have been getting pretty good pressure this year too. Which says a lot due to the loss of Kemo. Hollis Thomas has played well as well as Charles Johnson.

The big IF:

This team is a prime player in the NFC next year if these three things happen:

D-Line Depth: We must find someone who can rush the passer from the inside and free up Peppers, Johnson and Brown

QB change: I love Jake as a person and his leadership, but we have to get better at the QB position. I think a veteran QB who can distribute the ball to the WR's and minimze turnovers, can lead this team to the playoffs. A young QB can as well, and this is a prime year to take a young QB. This team is built in a way, that can aid a young QB in developing and relieve a ton of pressure.

WR postion: The most glaring. We need a viable number two or three. A speed guy who can stretch the field and take the linebackers out from underneath to free up our backs and tight ends. Jarrett has shown me enough to know that he can be decent, but we have to get a legitimate deep threat to help stretch the defense. A devery henderson type player if you will.

I know you are wondering why I didn't include coaching. I honestly think we can win with the guys we have as long as we can protect the football. I would like to see a change, but I don't know how it will go down. Regardless of who will be the coaches next year, I still think we are in a position to be a good team.

I know that was long, but just wanted to share my thoughts.

I don't think the season is over yet, but I don't see us making a run. My only goals for this team the remainder of the season would be to beat: Atlanta, Minnesota, New England, and New York Giants: If they could pull two of those upsets, I would be a happy man.

Thanks for the positive post. I completely agree with you. Glad you had a great time - I have always wanted to visit New Orleans.

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bigdog10 Experienced

bigdog10

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Thanks bigdog. I was saying the same thing to friends yesterday. Good to see I am not the only one thinking this way. Maybe it's just blind homerism, but I'm not sure a total blow up is needed. We need to figure out the Peppers situation and find a QB. I'm looking forward to the Panthers playing hard and going down with a fight.

I don't think its blind Homerism. A winning formula for the NFL has historically been> play good defense and run the ball. It has shifted the past couple of years with the emergence of the passing game and Brady, Brees, and Manning, however the foundation of football is good defense, low turnovers, and a strong running game.

The beautiful thing about that is that we have 2 of those three pieces in place. I think the defense is progressively getting better in the infancy of the new system meeks has installed. Our linebackers have played great, Peppers has really been solid, and our other defensive ends (although overlooked a lot of times) play solid.

This team does not need to be blown up in the offseason. A change in philosophy (away from the Fox conservatism and lack of adjustments) along with better QB will make this team a very strong contender.

I'm with Zod as well on the promotion of Davidson, or meeks for that matter. Promote an offensive or defensive guy, and let him run his show, and let the other coordinator continue to make the defense better. Fox gets himself in trouble when he puts his hand in every cookie jar. Let them coach Fox and see what Davidson and Meeks can come up with.

I can't really fault the job Hurney has done as a GM. I think the Jake extension was poorly managed, but I also think his hand was forced due to the Peppers tag and lack of cap space. I think he and Don Gregory have done a pretty good job in talent evaluation and we have netted some good players under their watch.

Time will tell, I guess.

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bigdog10 Experienced

bigdog10

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So how long did it take you to get back to Jacksonville from New Orleans?

Haha.

I was shocked at how many people thought we were the Jacksonville Panthers.

One family (decked out in all saints gear) asked us with straight faces....who are the panthers? I just shook my head and walked away

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