Cosell: Cats a mirage

[Fireball77]

Some tough words from Howahhhd's son. Not sure I buy all of it as being important/indicative of being a mirage, but he does bring up a few interesting points.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=inconsistencyonbothsides&prov=tsn&type=lgns

[Newtcase]

Written like a NY Giants homer....would like to seem him write an article that included the Browns - Giants outcome. Football is played by people, incosistency is the nature of the beast. For me you can throw all this fodder off the edge of the highest cliff you can find....The only thing that matters is W-L and we are 9-3, so suck it!

Great comeback players are always recognized....but how could you ever be a great comeback player if you were never down.....and how could you ever be down if you were always the best statistically?

[PantherBrew]

what a classic case of douchebaggery

[Pumpkin Eater]

The Panthers have beat a decent but underachieving Chargers squad, A good Bears team, the division leading Cardinals, a tough Falcons team, A decent Green Bay, and the supposedly super bowl conteding Saints. They've only had three "easy" games. I don't understand how you can beat those teams and be a "mirage"

[VA Panther Fan]

The article is spot on and really hits on the elements that we see week in and week out, which is why being a fan of this team is so damned frustrating. If you read between the lines here, what Cosell is basically saying is that the philosophy of the team is as much to blame as the personnel. The Panthers are too predictable to be taken seriously. That won't change, unfortunately, until a coaching change is made. I think the Panthers have reached the pinnacle of what a Fox coached team is capable of achieving. It's a shame, really, when you consider that the personnel could really do so much more.

[Pumpkin Eater]

Their three losses were at the hands of teams with winning records.

[Newtcase]

The article is spot on and really hits on the elements that we see week in and week out, which is why being a fan of this team is so damned frustrating. If you read between the lines here, what Cosell is basically saying is that the philosophy of the team is as much to blame as the personnel. The Panthers are too predictable to be taken seriously. That won't change, unfortunately, until a coaching change is made. I think the Panthers have reached the pinnacle of what a Fox coached team is capable of achieving. It's a shame, really, when you consider that the personnel could really do so much more.

WOW - I'm personally amazed that such a predictable team has pulled out 9 wins! The losing coaches must feel like idiots getting trucked over when they knew exactly what was coming!! Since Fox has been here the only thing that has killed success was injuries. Fox has kept healthy teams in contention, what more can you expect?

We've won 5 playoff games since 03' and are in the midst of another great season and ppl are buying this garbage?

[Pumpkin Eater]

The article is spot on and really hits on the elements that we see week in and week out, which is why being a fan of this team is so damned frustrating. If you read between the lines here, what Cosell is basically saying is that the philosophy of the team is as much to blame as the personnel. The Panthers are too predictable to be taken seriously. That won't change, unfortunately, until a coaching change is made. I think the Panthers have reached the pinnacle of what a Fox coached team is capable of achieving. It's a shame, really, when you consider that the personnel could really do so much more.

be careful what you wish for. The Browns fired Mary Schottenheimer in 88 for not winning enough, and have had only three winning seasons and 2 playoff appearances since.

[uncpanther]

A win is a win, nobody goes back after the season at looks at those games and says wow they won but they looked like crap doing it. I could care less if we look ugly all the way to the Super Bowl as long as we keep winning.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

Football is not played by robots, and that's part of the reason why people knocking the Panthers for their inconsistency doesn't bother me much. Hell yes we're inconsistent, but so were the last three Super Bowl winners. They just turned it on when they needed a win, and we've been doing that all year.

I don't see why we're getting so much heat for the way we've been winning. The Bucs have looked like warmed over poo the last few weeks, especially on the road against bad teams, but they're considered some kind of unstoppable machine and a lock for the division.

[Murph]

The Panthers have far too many drives of three plays and punt; 27 percent of their possessions this season have ended that way. Again, look at the Giants: only 15 percent of their drives have resulted in three-and-out.

What logically follows from this is the Panthers are not very good on third down. And they’re not, converting only 35 percent, near the bottom of the NFL in that all-important measure of offensive efficiency. Therefore, they don’t produce many 10-play drives, a defining yardstick of John Fox football.

We already know how Fox would respond to this but it is very telling. "9-3" might be the final answer to all the questions from the media and fans but there are legit concerns here.

Tampa is the perfect D that can really test these issues so we will see Monday night.

[monstercat]

One thing he failed to mention is that, up until two weeks ago, the Panthers have been plugging back ups into the O-line every single week. It's week 12 already and the starting five are just now getting a chance to build some chemistry together in regular season game conditions. That is a very big deal IMO.

Really though, the only thing that matters is how consistent they are from here on out.

[engine9]

The article was spot on. I don't think anyone here would say that we don't need improve our play if we're going to get to (and then go deep in) the playoffs. We have pulled out the wins, and we are buying ourselves some time to get better. Monday night could tell the tale.

[Rock_Steady]

Read the article and I can't find one thing I disagree with. He says we're inconsistent in the run game, mediocre at quarterback, inconsistent on defense, and can't convert on 3d down.

We are 1 quarterback and 1 good pass rush D away from the Super Bowl