Teams on the Way Up

[Chaos]

Positive talk about the Panthers = good writeup.

[X-Clown]

Positive talk about the Panthers = good writeup.

This guys gets it!

[Lout]

There's a separate article he wrote yesterday that pinpoints 8 teams that will fail to live up to expectations, which includes both the Falcons and the Bucs.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6934823/grantland-mega-nfl-preview-part-ii

10 wins is normally not enough to win a division.. especially a division like this. Underwhelming for the Saints/Falcons could mean 10 wins for those teams. We would still need 11-12 wins to beat them out.

[Jai.]

Good read.

[UNCrules2187]

Yeah, nowhere in the article does he state he expects us to win the division (except the best/worst case scenarios, but every team's write-up is like that). He just thinks we'll be better than last year. 5-11/6-10 is better than last year, and I'm inclined to believe we'll be around that range.

[HoFBound90]

2.9 is better then 0. Leeetttttttttts goooooooo.

At the very least this article supports what I have been telling my friends who hate on the panthers and say they are the worst team based on last years performance, without taking any of those circumstances into consideration.

[AviationMX]

it was just my opinion, honestly I would guess NO will win more games and the panthers will have score more points this year with the defense I've seen in preseason-which will be a problem...but it's been a division where last and first swap allot and rather give credit to better teams, it appears to me it's more of teams not performing that allows lesser teams to ramp ups wins....so in a back wards manner, we have a chance....

[UNCrules2187]

it was just my opinion, honestly I would guess NO will win more games and the panthers will have score more points this year with the defense I've seen in preseason-which will be a problem...but it's been a division where last and first swap allot and rather give credit to better teams, it appears to me it's more of teams not performing that allows lesser teams to ramp ups wins....so in a back wards manner, we have a chance....

If things hold as they have for the NFC South historically, we'll at least win 9 games. I believe since the NFC South began, the last place team has won the division the next year all but twice (2008 and 2010), and both those teams still had winning records (Falcons at 11-5 and Bucs at 10-6). So, who knows, maybe Cam puts it together and we go 11-5 and win the division. But I'm not counting on it.

2003 Carolina Panthers. Went from 7-9 to 11-5 and reached the Super Bowl.

2004 Atlanta Falcons. Went from 5-11 to 11-5.

2005 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Followed a 5-11 season with an 11-5 year.

2006 New Orleans Saints. Jumped from 3-13 to 10-6.

2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Went from 4-12 to 9-7.

2008 Atlanta Falcons. Went from 4-12 to 11-5.

2009 New Orleans Saints. Followed an 8-8 season with a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl championship.

2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Went from 3-13 to 10-6.

2011 Carolina Panthers. Going from 2-14 to at least 9-7?

[AviationMX]

exactly:

2003 Carolina Panthers. Went from 7-9 to 11-5 and reached the Super Bowl.

2004 Atlanta Falcons. Went from 5-11 to 11-5.

2005 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Followed a 5-11 season with an 11-5 year.

2006 New Orleans Saints. Jumped from 3-13 to 10-6.

2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Went from 4-12 to 9-7.

2008 Atlanta Falcons. Went from 4-12 to 11-5.

2009 New Orleans Saints. Followed an 8-8 season with a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl championship.

2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Went from 3-13 to 10-6.

2011 Carolina Panthers. Going from 2-14 to at least 9-7?

But in each season,other teams fell short of the projected wins and gave the division leaders some wins...It would be interesting to see the pattern of who gave up the wins in each season...in a way, the panthers gave away a bunch of wins to artificially raise the record of our fellow division mates...we need to figure out who fails this season and give us three wins...lol

[footballisasport]

Wow...A writer who actually does his job and isn't afraid to make some real predictions.

I couldn't help but notice the comments about Derrick Andersen, thou.

[Zithers]

well it would be kinda hard for us to be a team on the way down considering we were the absolute worst team in football last year

[smitty_89]

I will settle for 5-6 wins

[Jangler]

Positive talk about the Panthers = good writeup.

[Catalyst]

I sure as hell hope we're on the way up because I'd hate to go down any further.