Why Have the Panthers Historically Done So Bad in Week 1?

[Marguide]

Good research.

I don't agree that week 1 is a "must win" any more than any other game. It's a long 16 game season.

One of the years the Pats won the Super Bowl, they were blown out by the Bills week 1. Iirc, the score was like 44-0.

Yes, it would be nice and would set the tone, but calling it "must win" is just not reasonable imo.

[Panths]

You could certainly see how last 3 seasons' first games pretty much encapsulated how that season played out. 2009 vs eagles was a complete meltdown clusterfug. 2010 vs giants was a trainwreck circus act that was downright laughable. 2011 vs. arizona was a disappointing loss that displayed potential and was at the very least exciting.

I wish for once we would just come out of the gate blazing and put the buc's in their place like we did so well last season.

[panthers55]

Hard to believe that someone really would post that a week 1 game is a must win. If we lose I guess we should mail it in and give up.

It sure predicted the season in 2001 when we won our opener.

Oh wait.........................

[Carl Spackler]

He's just saying we need to win our opener more. We do.

[Real Emotional Trash]

I think the general argument is that the Panthers need to win more.

[Rubi]

The Bucs will be much improved this year. They also had injuries. The pieces they added in free agency and their 1st two picks in the draft were solid. The South will be an absolute gauntlet this season. I think we will be ok as long as our Defense isn't snake bitten again w/ injuries. Adding Kuechly was huge. ok 2 cents added. $$

[Panthro]

I am going to run a few stats based on our score differential week by week. Might make a new thread though.

I'd love to see our record after a bye

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

I like the Panthers offense vs the Bucs defense BUT, i also like the Bucs offense vs the Panthers defense. Opening day games are hard to judge especially when a team has a new coaching stuff with very little game film to go on. The Bucs will be a dangerous team no doubt about it. Why do the Panthers suck on opening day?? Because they pretty much sucked since joining the league. Hopefully times are a changing.

[Raleighcat83]

True. But 35% vs. 47% overall is still statistically a significant drop. I'm sure it eats at Richardson as it does the rest of us b/c it implies a lack of preparation for Week 1, when you would think there should be no excuse for a lack of preparation (last year notwithstanding).

Other than the playoff losses, losing in Week 1 is about as deflating as a loss can be. I am hopeful the trend will be reversed with Cam/Rivera.

35% is not a statistically significant difference from 47% when considering a sample size of only 17. And week 1 is not a must win game.

[KendrickPanther]

I think of the Bucs like the 2008 Panthers. In 2008 we came out with a healthy young OLine and 2 stud running backs and surprised the Chargers. I think the Bucs can surprise us. Ron loves to talk about run fits. Hopefully this year they figure those out because our bad run defense setup our bad pass defense.

I think teams that start 0-2 have made the playoffs like twice. Teams that start 0-3 never make the playoffs. So it is important to start strong.

[Marguide]

I think teams that start 0-2 have made the playoffs like twice. Teams that start 0-3 never make the playoffs. So it is important to start strong.

Since 1990, 22 teams have made the playoffs after starting 0-2.

[jarhead]

Because we historically suck

[Leeroy Jenkins PhD]

I'd love to see our record after a bye

POint dif -.082 (n 17, min -27, max 25) win% 47.06

[Leeroy Jenkins PhD]

Interestingly we have never in our history as a franchise had a week 8 bye.

12 of our 17 bye weeks between weeks 3-7