2010 Panthers 4th WORST team in the NFL

[ladypanther]

I have said this year's team will be an 8-8 or 9-7 team. I'm lumped in the pessimistic crowd. However, to be the 4th worst team in the NFL means probably 5 wins tops. Is this how folks...not just jounalists, view our team?

Problem is that they do not know the team. This team has not been sexy enough for them to invest much energy in...so far. Most of the expert analysts out there know little about the Panthers beyond a few soundbites. They are of little help to us.

[panthers55]

Skipping a few pages to respond to this point.

Unless Smitty gets injured, I don't think we have anything to worry about at any of the positions you listed.

D-Line: we've got a ton of unproven talent and in most peoples eyes, all of this talent is relatively close. So if we lose one or two, the drop off shouldn't be HUGE.

O-Line: we can handle one or two here, we've done it before. Now if we lose 3 thats really pushing it. 2 would certainly hurt, but I don't think it'd spell doom.

WR: Look above, outside of Smitty we can afford an injury here now that we've got 30 WR's without a bona fide second receiver.

LB: We've got our PSU boy fighting with Anderson for OLB who could sub in for Beason (Or Anderson if Andy gets injured after winning the batter) and picked up/drafted 2 decent guys.

QB is even debatable. We don't know if Matt Moore really is all that great, and if Clausen lives up to his hype he should be able to at least be able to hand it off and throw 10-15 passes a game without losing it for us.

I agree if Smitty goes down we are hurting but believe the others are just as important.

If Gross goes down we will suffer. Not only would it hurt our starters given we will be replacing Vincent and Gross, but we would have little depth if both Bernadeau and Schwartz were now starters. Robinson and Petiti would be about it. Not good at all.

On the defensive line we have one starter in brayton, two guys with Panther experience in Johnson and Tyler, several coming off injuries wich already makes them big question marks, and a bunch of guys with potential but little experience. We will struggle to find decent starters as it is. If the pool of potential guys goes down so will the chance we might have a decent line.

As for WR- you seem to be saying that injury won't be a problem since we don't have anyone very good outside of Smitty. I guess if you look at it that way perhaps you might be right. Still I think that Lafell will be the next Moose and if he goes down we are back to counting on Jarrett.

As for quarterback we absolutely will be hurting if Moore gets hurt. Clausen won't be able to run this offesne and score enough points to win the shootouts we will be in until the defense gets better. The offense is going to have to do more than not lose the game if we are going to be competitive this year.

Injuries have always been our down fall and with so little experience and quality depth, we can't afford to lose the few veteran leaders we have left.

[Guest silver82blade]

we have depth at every position. the only injury that will seriously hinder our efforts is losing whichever defensive tackle is stuffing runs, if there is one. other than that we can lose 2 or 3 guys at every position and still go into games with a decent chance to win.

[RockyTopVol]

Our worst season since going 1-15??? This guy knows that we got rid of Jake Delhomme, right?

[chbright]

I've always been a big fan of your posts but I do think we will surprise folks this year as our defense jelled at end of year and the value of having a great O Line and running game will make whatever Quarterback we have look Good.

Winning Season in my opinion 9 or 10 games

the defense that was anchored in those games by hollis thomas in the running game, and a julius peppers who was playing for a fat contract at the end of the year? oh and the run supporting SS in harris is now gone too. this isnt the same defense that jelled at the end of the season at all, very far from it. we dont have a guy on the line that can flat dominate like peppers did against the vikings, or to a lesser degree, the giants.

so many people overlook the impact the anchoring NTs have on these boards. everyone vastly under-rated the impact kemo had in 2008 until he was out, and same again in 2009. same is happening to the impact of hollis thomas (and kemo) this year. oh he's old and fat and cant move, we will be fine without the guy other teams couldnt move because he was a plug in the middle. leonard, landri or johnson have to be that guy, as hayden, irvin, and tank are not NTs or we would have not brought hollis thomas in last year.

i hope the faith people put in the D-line works out, because right now the line is beyond sketchy.

[thefuzz]

Top 5 pick...probably not.

Top 14 pick...most likely.

Lots of young talent, but focus on the young part for a bit. We could be a very good football team in a couple of year, especially if we start hitting on some draft picks, and Clausen is as good as we all hope.

9-7 would be a fantastic year, I am still saying .500 or under most likely.

[slainte20]

If you look at Ron Meeks history, he likes the smaller quicker D-line. And we have a lot of people who fit that mold so the d-line stays fresh.

Losing Peppers productivity stinks. BUT, I think even if he stayed -- with a new fat contract -- his production would have dropped. Think about it...how many big-name D-line free agents have signed for big new contracts and then gone out and earned them lately? Jared Allen is the only one I can think of in recent years.

We are SET at LB!! Beason and Davis are Pro Bowl caliber and Anderson, Connor, newly acquired Jamarr Williams, and (hugely underrated, I think) draft pick Eric Norwood give us competition and depth at that position!

I'm concerned about the loss of Harris, but his performance had dropped off recently (slightly) and I don't think they would have traded him if they didn't have confidence that we had that position covered.

The only position the Panthers have had difficulty drafting effectively is WR! Colbert and Jarrett were overrated. I'm hoping that LaFell, who was a first round prospect last year but managed to (la)fall to us in the third round, turns into a young Moose and that Edwards turns out to be the electric playmaker that made Hurney/Fox target him before the draft.

If you don't know much about Edwards, you should read up. He was second ALL-TIME only to Steve McNair in college production. For those too young to remember, McNair was a Div I-AA legend!!