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Simple question.

hepcat

By hepcat,
in Carolina Panthers

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BadMoonRising Newbie

BadMoonRising

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Bad, perhaps... Worst team in the league? I can't agree with that one...

You stated that the defense was statistically the worst in the league... But that's not right, we're middle of the road against the pass, and bottom third against the run... Bottom third in scoring, too... I'm not pretending we're great, or even above average, but I don't feel like we're hands down, without a doubt the worst... I simply think there is more talent there than people want to believe... The problem is in the fact that they're not being brought together as a unit, and there are (of course ) holes needing to be filled... I think our most obvious and pressing need is for the DC to stop with the f'ing 15 yard cushions off of receivers... Now, I'm right there with ya saying we need to upgrade the DL and DBs, desperately... But there IS talent on this defense... Our defense isn't even the worst in our division, let alone the worst in football...

I feel the same about the offense, since we're talking about without Cam... I do think that Cam is the one that brings it all together, but I don't think we're the worst team in football without him... There are 17 teams 1-2 or worse... WITHOUT Cam, we are still better than Jacksonville, Cleveland, St Louis, and possibly Tennessee and Indy... Again, this doesn't make us a 'good' team, it's just my opinion that we're not rock bottom... The Panthers of 2010 were the perfect storm of 'bad'... Bad coaching, bad offense (a QB that had every bit as much pressure as Cam does now on him, and yes, he caved), bad defense, bad special teams, bad contracts for old players, and the talent that they did have was young and inexperienced... Experience alone would give them better results than the 2-14 nightmare...

I do agree with you about Cam having the weight of the organization on him... Same weight he had last year, and the same weight that he has repeatedly ASKED FOR... He wants to be the man, and this is part of it... I don't think he's damaged goods mentally, and I couldn't care less if he's seeing a sports psych... I don't care that he puts a towel over his head (media doesn't bother to make a deal out of it when he does it when we're rolling New Orleans)... I'm not real concerned about a Superman pose when he just pulled us to within 3 scores... You know me better than most, and you know I'm a big picture guy (the main reason I'm not one to scream for Hurney or Richardson's heads)... I like what he's done for this team, and the community... I like that after every score he makes a kid smile... I like that he gets Charlotte and the Carolinas talked about... Towel or no towel, he's good for this community and this team... Peter King is just a man with an opinion, just like us here (and curiously King sure did have a lot of positive to say about Cam last year)... And my opinion is that Cam will be just fine, and is already the leader the team has needed for years... (sorry, got preachy there on something you and I both agree on)

My big picture way of seeing things right now is simple... We're underperforming, and have a tough schedule... Teams aren't going to take us lightly this year... We haven't really 'brought it' yet, like we are capable of... It's entirely possible we flounder through this sluggish start and hit the bye week 1-4 (and imagine the implosion on here if we do), but even so I can still see 7 or 8 wins (Wash, Den, TB, KC, Oak, SD, NO, Chicago, Dallas and Philly all being games we CAN win) after the bye (provided we clear the funk we're in)... I think we're a fringe playoff team, fighting for the last WC spot with an 8-8 or 9-7 record... But they've got to play like we all know they can (and while much of that is on Cam, I put just as much on his OL)...

Hell of a post, Hats off bud.

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hepcat Grand Master

hepcat

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I think most teams would be in the running for the worst team in the league if they lost their starting quarterback.

That's not true. The true contenders can lose their QB and still at least be competitive. They might not be Superbowl contenders but they won't be picking #1. Look at Houston last year, still won a playoff game with a rookie QB. Roethlisberger misses games every year and Pittsburgh doesn't lose a beat. Seattle paid huge money for Matt Flynn to sit on the bench because of how good he looked backing up Rodgers in Green Bay. The Eagles won games with a rotating cast of QB's every time McNabb went down (From Koy Detmer, AJ Feeley, Jeff Garcia, etc). I don't think New England would even be picking in the top 10 if Brady went down.

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4Corners Grand Master

4Corners

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Bad, perhaps... Worst team in the league? I can't agree with that one...

You stated that the defense was statistically the worst in the league... But that's not right, we're middle of the road against the pass, and bottom third against the run... Bottom third in scoring, too... I'm not pretending we're great, or even above average, but I don't feel like we're hands down, without a doubt the worst... I simply think there is more talent there than people want to believe... The problem is in the fact that they're not being brought together as a unit, and there are (of course ) holes needing to be filled... I think our most obvious and pressing need is for the DC to stop with the f'ing 15 yard cushions off of receivers... Now, I'm right there with ya saying we need to upgrade the DL and DBs, desperately... But there IS talent on this defense... Our defense isn't even the worst in our division, let alone the worst in football...

The defense is awful again this year, but you can win games and go to the playoffs w/ a poor defense. You can give up yards and even points as long as you generate turnovers. Then you have to score points off the turnovers. It's worked for teams like the Packers and Patriots the past few seasons.

What sucks for us is the defense is in the lower third and the Panthers have to be near the bottom of the league in turnovers. Throw in an offense that is averaging around 10 a game and that my friend is an excellent recipe for a very long football season.

I think the Panthers are going to finish 6-10/7-9 and if we took Cam off the team I don't really see them swaying to far away from that record.

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panther4life Community Regular

panther4life

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That's not true. The true contenders can lose their QB and still at least be competitive. They might not be Superbowl contenders but they won't be picking #1. Look at Houston last year, still won a playoff game with a rookie QB. Roethlisberger misses games every year and Pittsburgh doesn't lose a beat. Seattle paid huge money for Matt Flynn to sit on the bench because of how good he looked backing up Rodgers in Green Bay. The Eagles won games with a rotating cast of QB's every time McNabb went down (From Koy Detmer, AJ Feeley, Jeff Garcia, etc). I don't think New England would even be picking in the top 10 if Brady went down.

He said most teams. Not all teams. Yes some teams can survive the loss of their starting qb, especially if they have a competent backup. Were you arguing that we don't have a competent backup to cam or that the whole team not named Cam sucks?

In 09 when we lost Delhomme and managed to finish 8-8 thanks to our running game carrying us through. Cam is our most prized possession no doubt. However to say we are the worst team in the leauge without him/saying our roster would like 2010 all over again is not a good assesment.

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iampantherman Newbie

iampantherman

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I think we may not be... we have tremendous running backs, that for some reason (obvioiusly JStew has been hurt some) we're not utilizing well... if we didn't have Cam, we'd be forced to use the running game more effectively than we have. So there's a chance that we wouldn't be THE worst.

I have to say though, and I was thinking about this last night, watching Cleveland play... yes, they're 0-4, but they could easily play with, probably beat us right now given the way their D is playing.

If our O doesn't come around, and soon, we're in for a rough, rough season.

This post reminded me of how we're always ass-backwards. I'd much rather have average to good running backs behind a stellar O-line than our situation of stellar running backs behind an average line.

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Stroupe-a-loop Newbie

Stroupe-a-loop

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That's not true. The true contenders can lose their QB and still at least be competitive. They might not be Superbowl contenders but they won't be picking #1. Look at Houston last year, still won a playoff game with a rookie QB. Roethlisberger misses games every year and Pittsburgh doesn't lose a beat. Seattle paid huge money for Matt Flynn to sit on the bench because of how good he looked backing up Rodgers in Green Bay. The Eagles won games with a rotating cast of QB's every time McNabb went down (From Koy Detmer, AJ Feeley, Jeff Garcia, etc). I don't think New England would even be picking in the top 10 if Brady went down.

Houston and New England are good examples and I'll grant you that. But they were both in pretty weak divisions the years that they won with backups.

I think most teams are fine for a game or two like the Roethlisberger and Mcnabb thing. I'd take Anderson over any of their backups for a game.

I don't really understand your point with Seattle.

For all those teams that play competitive without quarterbacks there are teams that lose theirs and have the ass fallout.

Last year the Bears, Buffalo, and Oakland looked like playoff teams until their quarterbacks were lost for the season or playing with injuries. The Colts went from certain playoff team to worst in the league.

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