The Show Will Go On.

[rayzor]

The past two weeks have been particularly frustrating considering the huge success we had during the regular season. We see our team go through hard times at the beginning of the year and go to be 12-4 in the regular season, unbeaten at home, and division champs. We get the #2 seed in the playoffs and have many believing that we are legit contenders for the Superbowl. We got respect that we were lacking for so long.

We find our running game and realize that we have not just one but two outstanding running backs that could be among the best in history. One of our RBs led the league in TDs. Our offensive line has become quite formidable and our team, as a whole, stayed healthy all year. We have had a lot of things go right this year for us. A lot of changes were made to help us be successful on offense. Are there problems? Yes. But overall we are headed in the right direction.

With all of that we find ourselves with the rug being yanked from under our feet. The team that we became so optimistic and hopeful about seemed to fall apart. Our defense caves in games letting opposing offense run and throw all over us and in the final game, which should have been our finest hour, our defense put the team into a hole that our offense couldn't get out of. We had all the flaws exposed that we had been able to gloss over with wins. What we experienced was humiliating.

Now we face a time when one of our favorite players, a panther icon who many thought was the face of the team, doesn't want to be a part of us anymore. It is like we are getting dumped. What makes it even worse is there are few who can blame him. I am angry but I am coming to the point that it has to be accepted. Peppers will not be here next year.

Now, what next? Well, we pick up the pieces and move on. We saw two very beneficial things this past year. We saw that we have a great team. Our guys pulled together during a time that many teams would crumble. Our guys, with the exception of Peppers, are very happy. More than that we have tons of talent on this team. Young talent at that. We also saw our problems. They are not hidden anymore but have been exposed to the light. It isn't good that we have them but at least we now know for sure what they are. We know were Peppers stands so we don't have to worry about that anymore. Now comes the time that problems are solved. Now is when things start to get exciting.

The Panthers want to have a championship team. I was convinced of that last year in the off-season. The changes that they made in personnel let me know that they weren't interested in the status quo anymore. Yes there are some more changes that needs to be made but still, they let people go that they at one time were loyal to for the benefit of the team The risk that they took on draft day to make sure they had all of the ingredients of a great running game let me know that that they were willing to get creative in making this team a success. The panthers exhibited a confidence that, although has been shaken in the last couple weeks a bit, we have something special here.

One thing that we heard quite a bit form players and coaches last year was "addition by subtraction." We got rid of many things that were holding us back. Could Jenkins have been useful during the season on the field? Absolutely. Was he holding the team back from all being on the same page and being unified? More than likely that is true.

We will hear "addition by subtraction" again. It will be true again. Peppers was a valuable part of the Panthers but the team will win without him. There are still many changes and adjustments that need to be made on both sides of the ball. There will be changes in personnel (players and coaches) and in schemes. The end result will be a team that will impress us all. They won't be perfect and they will lose some games here and there but they will be back stronger than they were this year.

The Panthers haven't peaked. They are far from it. We will miss Peppers but when all is said and done, we will have a better team. Doubt if you will but I believe that the Panthers are going to do what it takes to be a championship team. 2008 was only a taste of the good things that are going to be coming from this team for a long time.

[Baschski]

Well said. It's good to hear some sense from a Panthers fan that isn't having a massive heart attack.

[The Answer]

truth right hurr.

[Jangler]

How dare you, to try and make sense of all this!

[rayzor]

How dare you, to try and make sense of all this!

meh. i had my panic attack and vented and now i can see clearly.

i don't care about peppers anymore. he's just some schmuck that i used to care about.

my attention is on the future and the panthers. if he doesn't want to be part of it, screw him over. lets get something for him that will help us and let's get what is wrong with the team fixed so that we can win a superbowl while peppers sits on some loser team without a ring on his finger.

[goodlay]

meh. i had my panic attack and vented and now i can see clearly.

i don't care about peppers anymore. he's just some schmuck that i used to care about.

my attention is on the future and the panthers. if he doesn't want to be part of it, screw him over. lets get something for him that will help us and let's get what is wrong with the team fixed so that we can win a superbowl while peppers sits on some loser team without a ring on his finger.

Yeah, I have the same mentality. If he doesn't want to be a part of this organization, then :dita: to him and he's out the door. I really think we can be a great team next year, especially with some tweaks here and there, we can be down right scary.