Offseason thoughts....opinions???

[chrismcgovern]

Another year come and gone. Charlotte once again rallied behind the Panthers and believed in another great team. Once again though, we failed. What do you do when an organization (or footblll team) fails??? I think Andy Reid has the secret to success.....STIR THINGS UP. Sitting McNabb???? Brilliant. As far as the game goes it wasn't the best idea, but sometimes you have to just look at the big picture (aka Superbowl). I mean, isn't that the idea? Okay...anyone can just say change has to happen, but where do you actually begin??

wow...alot has to happen

Jake is another Romo....cracks under pressure. God, I love him, I really do, but he just is getting old and isn't the right fit for a reciever like Smitty. Yea, he can toss the ball up in the air and have great recievers catch it... but when it counts on clutch plays? Not so great.

SOOOOOOO......

1) New starting QB

a) This will be a work in progress. Usually (Matt Ryan is an amazing exception) a new QB doesn't come in and learn the play book and start playing as he's always been there. I really liked the play of Matt Moore last year. He wasn't a stand-out QB, but he really seemed to fit into the Carolina type of play. I may be wrong however, as this is just my opinion.

2) Peppers MUST stay.

a) Pretty simple. Our D-Line isn't great. He is the key component to it. Let's face it, he get's held and focused on every play. Yet, he still gets sacks and offenses are concentrated on him, thus causing our D-Line to be a force to be reckoned with. Yea, franchise Peppers. Loosing him hurts our defense TREMENDESLY, and also the morale of our already dissapointed fans.

3) Lucas

a) Great guy. Really, he has a great personality and there are some fans that really like him. SOME. He has really become a liability on our defense. Did anybody else get sick watching him get burnt left and right towards the end of the season? Marshall isn't going to cut it either. Big free agency moves have to happen. It's pretty much proven that rookie CB's don't get the job done. I mean, they might be okay...but when's the last time you heard of a rookie shut down corner???? I don't really have the answer to this one, but SOMETHING HAS to happen.

4) GROSS

a) Keep him. Whatever it takes. This one is pretty simple. I mean, we were defined as a great team because of our running game. This starts at the O-Line. Gross is a huge asset to that. I think this one is a no-brainer.

5) Being Physical

a) OKAY....so this was the idea behind the 08' Panthers. Worked great, until it counted. Our team is built to be a bunch of mean, tough players who don't care about anything but winning (RAVENS). Didn't work. I doubt I am the only one who noticed our team seemed kinda.....nice. We just seem to have that edge where we are tough and other's are scared of us. I mean, c'mon....other team's rate Bank of America Stadium as one of the easiest away stadiums to play at. This starts with US fans.....BUT it also starts with a tough...mean....ugly and rough defense. Something we don't have. Don't get me wrong, we have GREAT defensive players. However, to argue our defensive unit is a rough group is an argument that will quickly get shot down. FIX IT!!!!!!! THIS STARTS WITH US PANTHER FANS. REALLY, it almost made me sick when my section at the playoff game was sitting around on 3rd and short not even paying attention.

6) Swaggar

a) We don't have it. D-Williams and Smith do, but that's it. And let's face it, running backs don't usually remain as stand out players for too long (i.e LT, Addiah, Jones, ect.). We need to recognize that we are bad-ass, and play like it. People always complain that we don't get media attention, but can you not admit that we seem to just squak by in the games that we win??? When is the last time that you saw us just making Top 10 plays and blowing teams out?

Which brings me to my last point...

7) Run the score up

a) sportsmanship is great in pee-wee football. NFL? F-IT. Play for keeps, NUFF SAID.

WOw, I am really dissapointed in this year's team. I sincerely thought this was the best team we have yet to have, however, talent doesn't win champsioships, heart does. If only I could somehow foward this to Fox.....wow...I love that dude. Fox has heart, Smith has heart, you know they do. If only that could be transfered to their players..WOW what a team we would have. I am concerned about next year, as this year seemed to be a all or nothing season. Who knows though, I have been wrong about things like this in the past......

What do you all think??? I would honestly like to hear your comment's/suggestion's on my opinions.

PANTHERS '09.......09 is the new 2000..............08 is washed up and in the past. Let's make it happen. The quote Superbowl Bound should actually mean something this year.

True?

[Gazi]

Yeah. Hire Bill Cowher. He wants the job

[carpanfan96]

problem with the peppers needs to stay is his after game comments make it seem as though he isn't happy in carolina and wants out.

[chrismcgovern]

problem with the peppers needs to stay is his after game comments make it seem as though he isn't happy in carolina and wants out.

i know

and that worries me.

[carpanfan96]

lets make peppers happy, lets fire fox, hire cower and switch to a 3-4 bring in haynesworth as a DE. Let gross walk to sign pep and haynesworth. Move pep to olb

Lineup

Peppers Beason connors taylor

Haynesworth Make Brayton

[pantherj]

If Peppers walks then we can get a new QB. Peppers is held on most pass plays anyway. And with little to no pass rush up the middle, Peppers is mosty out of the play. I'm interested in an upgrade at QB. I have no confidece in this Jake led team ever getting to the SB again. However, a good QB would change my mind in a hurry. If that means Pepp has to go, so be it. We can win the Sb without Pepp. We can't win the SB with Jake.

[neverlosethefeeling]

lets make peppers happy, lets fire fox, hire cower and switch to a 3-4 bring in haynesworth as a DE. Let gross walk to sign pep and haynesworth. Move pep to olb

Lineup

Peppers Beason connors taylor

Haynesworth Make Brayton

Dear God,

Please wake me up from the terrible nightmare that is carpanfan96's post.

Seriously. Peppers to outside linebacker and us running a 3-4? Where's Davis and Diggs? Pleaseeee tell me you're kidding or were seriously drunk when you concocted that.

You have a better chance of seeing Trgo promoted to Head Coach.

[Mesmer]

The only player we have up front that would be suited for a 3-4 would be Kemo in the middle. Not to mention we do not have that much talent at linebacker to take advantage of having four of them running around free...even if we had the linemen to successfully run it. It pretty much stops after Beason and Davis.

I think the ol' 3-4 suggestion is just as annoying as the Cowher one. I guess that's why they are always seen together. It makes me sad inside.

[carpanfan96]

Dear God,

Please wake me up from the terrible nightmare that is carpanfan96's post.

Seriously. Peppers to outside linebacker and us running a 3-4? Where's Davis and Diggs? Pleaseeee tell me you're kidding or were seriously drunk when you concocted that.

You have a better chance of seeing Trgo promoted to Head Coach.

What's wrong with pep playing OLB, diggs and davis are backups of course(lots of switching out players depending on the down and distance......hmmm he doesn't want to stay here to play on our crappy dline with our crappy coach and even crappier defensive coach.

greg ellis is basically the same size as pep playing olb, but pep is faster.

He fits the mold well for an olb in a 3-4 he's a pass rushing beast that would be much more suited to having a head of steam when hitting the oline, he can play man coverage and zone coverage and is fast enough to cover some wr's and most if not all te's.

how bout offer something constructive instead of just trying to trash someone's else's post. You didn't even list reasons why.

if my post happens trgo is fired along with fox, Jake is gone as well as lucas. Finally some change in our stagnant franchise on the defensive side, something it's clear we need if pep is staying.

[carpanfan96]

The only player we have up front that would be suited for a 3-4 would be Kemo in the middle. Not to mention we do not have that much talent at linebacker to take advantage of having four of them running around free...even if we had the linemen to successfully run it. It pretty much stops after Beason and Davis.

I think the ol' 3-4 suggestion is just as annoying as the Cowher one. I guess that's why they are always seen together. It makes me sad inside.

which is why we make the offseason pickup of haynesworth to play de for us.

if you have a staple of davis, beason, peppers, taylor, connors and a draft pick......plenty of enough talent at the lb position to take advantage of the 3-4.

[carpanfan96]

Dear God,

Please wake me up from the terrible nightmare that is carpanfan96's post.

Seriously. Peppers to outside linebacker and us running a 3-4? Where's Davis and Diggs? Pleaseeee tell me you're kidding or were seriously drunk when you concocted that.

You have a better chance of seeing Trgo promoted to Head Coach.

I never said it was going to happen. lol

But at this point pep is gone and the only thing thats going to get him to stay is if we do something to make him want to stay.

same with gross.

At this point though coaching wise, id say we're better off with cowher as headcoach with bill shuey as d cord then fox and turgo.

[neverlosethefeeling]

What's wrong with pep playing OLB, diggs and davis are backups of course(lots of switching out players depending on the down and distance......hmmm he doesn't want to stay here to play on our crappy dline with our crappy coach and even crappier defensive coach.

greg ellis is basically the same size as pep playing olb, but pep is faster.

He fits the mold well for an olb in a 3-4 he's a pass rushing beast that would be much more suited to having a head of steam when hitting the oline, he can play man coverage and zone coverage and is fast enough to cover some wr's and most if not all te's.

how bout offer something constructive instead of just trying to trash someone's else's post. You didn't even list reasons why.

if my post happens trgo is fired along with fox, Jake is gone as well as lucas. Finally some change in our stagnant franchise on the defensive side, something it's clear we need if pep is staying.

You'd take two of our current starting linebackers and give them back up roles? For an injured rookie and 2 defensive ends? What?!

Diggs and Davis have been good for us this year. That just makes no sense.

And I love Peppers and all, but we're not going to change the entire defensive system just to keep him here. It's not worth it. One player may break a defense, but it sure doesn't make one. If he's not happy, let him walk! I'd rather bring in someone who wants to be here, than keep Peppers around if all he's after is money. If the money is his motivation, you're not going to get his best effort - especially if he's with a team he doesn't really want to play for.

Jake's not going anywhere. So get over that. Fox isn't going anywhere. Get over that, too. Trgo, I hope, is. But who they bring in isn't going to be someone changing the defense to a 3-4.

[Cyberjag]

If you want to start talking sense, here's a question. How much will we have to spend? Who can we restructure to increase that amount?

I'm thinking we look for another Tyler Brayton or two and that's pretty much it for the FA market.

[Zod]

That nanner pudding was awesome

highlight of my night unfortunately.