Zod Almighty's 2021 Carolina Panthers Season Prediction

[hepcat]

18 minutes ago, joemac said:

I just don't see Sam "failing" this year.  He had one objectively bad season in NY - last year, where the deck was stacked against him from jump.  poo weapons, poo coach, poo scheme, poo team overall, and the team was 100% in tank mode.  Other than last year, Sam looked like a young, talented, developing QB.  Hopefully last season didnt give Sam the "David Carr" treatment where hes just  damaged beyond repair.  Personally I don't see it, and I think this new life is going to give him juice.  Plus, I think Joe Brady is going to scheme is ass off all year and put Sam in the best possible position to succeed. 

I hope so. There's a chance Darnold becomes a serviceable starting QB in the NFL. He has one of the best WR and RB groups in the NFL to support him. Unfortunately the offensive line is bottom 1/3 in the NFL.

[Smithers]

I think so much depends on just how good or bad Atlanta and NO are.  Those 4 games will make or break our season.  If we win 3 of 4, I think we finish 10-7 or even 11-6.

[BurnNChinn]

Just now, joemac said:

LOL dude he completed like 75% of his passes for 160 yards and 2 TDs / no turnovers in 1 half of football.  I will take that every single game and so will the team. 

Yeah that was mostly second quarter with defense playing 2nd and 3rd stringers. But hey u come back to me after he plays a couple real games nothing really is going to change my mind right now!

[ladypanther]

@ZodOne of the questions I wanted answered from training camp was what kind of energy/feel did it have.  So...what kind of vibe did you get from the players? How did it compare to previous camps?

[Scott12345]

10 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Rhule never recruited particularly well in college. He is more of a "winning culture" guy, so I expect that might translate a little better to the NFL. 

We have some big challenges with the unprecedented dearth of talent during the rebuild but we looked ahead of schedule last season. If we nailed another draft class, it could accelerate our process even more. While we lack some key depth, we do have the talent to contend in the next few years. We just have to keep adding to the talent pool at a greater rate than it is being subtracted. On the surface, they seem to be doing that.

Coach doesn’t have to get us players….that’s fitt’s job

[TLGPanthersFan]

I predict 7-10. 
I really hope Darnold is more than serviceable. I want to get excited about a QB again. 
I think the defense will still have growing pains but be better than last year. 
I hope CMC stays healthy and the coaches realize having him constantly on the field isn’t sustainable. 
I hope our kicking game improves but that is the biggest question mark besides our O-line and QB. 
Finally I am just hoping for a fun season. Last year, while it had some good moments, was miserable, boring and sad. 
Here is to a better year.

[Tip Nicholson]

In 2015, the preseason predictions were for the Panthers to be the 21st rated team.

 

[chbright]

1 hour ago, Zod said:

 

Conclusion

The Carolina Panthers finish their 2017 season with a 9-8 record, narrowly missing a wild card birth due to a tiebreaker loss. While disappointing, this sets up an excited fan base for the 2022 season with the playoffs a real possibility. 

 

Hmmmmmmm. 2017? Who brought the hot tub time machine to Charlotte

[kungfoodude]

19 minutes ago, Tip Nicholson said:

In 2015, the preseason predictions were for the Panthers to be the 21st rated team.

 

And we have had losing seasons in which we were predicted as Super Bowl Champs.

You never truly know what you have until the football is real. For our team, we have so many young and new players, it is almost impossible to know what we will get 

[Toker Smurf]

1 hour ago, Zod said:

It is now time for me, your ruler, to weigh in on the Carolina Panthers 2021 season. I have taken into account all variables, known and unknown, and developed what I think is the most accurate season prediction possible. 

 

Let us begin. 

 

Fast Start

Out of the gate the Carolina Panthers appear to be a team on the rise. starting 3-0 with talks of playoffs starting once again. While the team does look much improved, their early success is also due to the weak front end of their schedule. 

The Wall

By game 4 the Panthers will hit a wall, mainly due to the weakness of their offensive line. By then, teams will be working around Matt Rhule and his system of hiding awful players via scheme. At this point, Elfein will be benched permanently and replaced by Dennis Daley with Deonte Brown becoming the new starting right guard. The line does not improve immediately , but instead sees incremental growth with each passing game. By November they will resemble a professional football offensive line. 

The QB 

Sam Darnold will flash moments of brilliance but also inconsistency. However, his play will be strong enough for the Carolina Panthers to compete in every game. Darnold will also do what Teddy never could, win multiple games in the 4th quarter. 

The Emergence of the Dominating D

This season will mark the return of a punishing, dominating defense in Carolina. Derek Brown will come into his own as Brian Burns gets All Pro numbers. Jeremy Chinn becomes the field general we all want him to be as Jaycee Horn improves as the season transpires and develops into our first shut down corner since Bradberry. 

Conclusion

The Carolina Panthers finish their 2017 season with a 9-8 record, narrowly missing a wild card birth due to a tiebreaker loss. While disappointing, this sets up an excited fan base for the 2022 season with the playoffs a real possibility. 

 

If you're including all unknowns, isn't it a foretelling, rather than a prediction?

[ZeroZeroSeven]

The real question for this season is...when will @SCP start dropping his massive prediction turds on the board?

[trueblade]

1 hour ago, 45catfan said:

 Also, in the NFL you typically don't have those monster swings in records either.  Teams with 1-2 wins aren't double digit clubs by the next season. Sure, it's happened, but SUPER rare.

Typical year over year delta in win total is +/- 4. With the longer season, this number may start to stretch to 5.

There are outliers, of course, but most teams will change their win/loss record by a maximum of 4 games per year which gives the Panthers a range of 1-17 to 9-8.

[Khyber53]

My hope: Darnold proves to be the guy he was supposed to be coming out of college. Return of CMC changes entire timbre of the games and converting third downs becomes easy. Offensive line gels and becomes decent as pass protectors, capable of clearing holes for CMC. On defense the little old ladies of 2020 are replaced by the new Monsters of the Midway -- Burns and Chinn both contend for DPOY and Horn is in the talks for DROY. New kicker means fewer desperation field goals but even greater number of extra points. Returners learn to just fair catch and let the offense do its work.

My fear: Darnold is the guy he was with the 2020 Jets, left broken by bad coaching. CMC withers under heavy workload as we lean on him to make up for QB deficiencies. Injuries and just bad play by offensive line creates a feast table for opposing defenses. Snow goes timid again and calls the games like he was worried about the team's laundry bills. Brian Burns and Jeremy Chinn look at another year wasted on a going nowhere team. Bad third down conversion rates mean we have to lean on new kicker for 50+ yarders again and we end up trying to get Joey Slye back. DJ Moore gets injured on punt return and CMC tells coaches no when asked to go in after making a quick business decision. Rhule and Co. return to college coaching carousel.

What will probably happen: We'll show some more incremental growth, Darnold will perform decently (like top 16 QB in the league levels), CMC will get close to 2000 combined yards and do most of our scoring. Defense will improve a bit, but still be weak as dishwater against the run. Offensive line will need complete overhaul by year's end, with Moton going R,L,R,L,R again in an attempt to get something solid. I'm feeling 8-9 here or 9-8, with a lot of talk about Rhule either continuing to build a team or that he might not be the guy. Snow will probably be the sacrificial coaching fire. I sure hope I am wrong.

 

[pantherclaw]

1 hour ago, hepcat said:

Anything under 7-8 wins this season will be considered a failure of a season IMO.

And that failure will probably rest on one player - Sam Darnold.

If he even plays at an average level, this team will compete for a playoff spot. If Darnold fails…and we all know the team didn’t bring in another starting option, it’s going to be an awful, terrible, miserable season. 

Super amazing outlook.