Panthers Playoff Match-up Scenario Ponderings

by Jaxon on Dec 29, 2008 10:52 AM EST

The Panthers may not have earned the #1 seed with last weeks' loss to the Giants but they are still set up pretty well with the #2 seed. The two teams I fear the most in coming to Charlotte is the Eagles and Vikings so the fact they are playing each other works out well. Here's the seedings in case you haven't seen it:

#1 Giants

#2 Panthers

#3 Vikings

#4 Cardinals

#5 Falcons

#6 Eagles

Now here's what I would call the NFC playoff power rankings:

...more after the jump...

#1 Giants

#2 Panthers

#3 Vikings

#4 Eagles

#5 Falcons

#6 Cardinals

For some reason the Eagles scare me the most, I might even consider them the #3 power seed. They completely man-handled the Panthers in the preseason and I guess that left a lasting impression on me. So the beauty of this arrangement is if the Eagles win they play the Giants whom I think they have a good chance of beating. A Vikings win gives the Panthers a chance at redemption against one of the teams they lost to on the road. That game would worry me as well but not nearly as much.

If the Eagles win as I hope then that brings the Falcons vs. Cardinals winner to Charlotte and neither of those teams scares me. Sure the Falcons beat the Panthers in Atlanta but given this game is at home where the Panthers went 8-0 will bring a lot of confidence. I can't see either of those teams delivering on the upset.

Now ponder this my fellow feline lovers...if the Eagles beat the Giants then they must come to Charlotte for the NFC Conference Championship. Now how rowdy would Panther stadium be at that point? I'm curious how many of you feel as I do so weigh in on my poll below:

Yes, we had a DJ Hackett sighting in New Orleans!

Poll

Which of these teams would you least like for the Panthers to play in their first 2008 playoff game?

Vikings

19 votes

Falcons

40 votes

Cardinals

15 votes

74 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

The Eggs aren't going to beat the Giants

They may not even beat Minnesota. You’re overrating them because they benefited from Dallas’ implosion. Well, I was under the impression that ATL was dangerous- I would have changed 3-6 to read ATL, PHIL, MIN, ARI. Now, you know ATL better than I do, so I hope you’re right. Everybody hopes to get a playoff game against Arizona, so I hope the Dirty Birds fail, I thought they were dangerous. Let me say that Philly is not super-good. They’re not top-tier, and I’d be more than amazed if they could play 4 consecutive good games. HOWEVER I acknowledge that they are a capable division rival and could forseeably upset the Giants. But I doubt it. And I think you’re overrating the Vikings as well. They played out C team – literally – yesterday, and it took a missed field goal by us, a 3rd-string cornerback falling over his own feet, and they STILL had to hit a 50-yarder at the end to eke out a 1-point win.
Let’s face it, this year Carolina and the Giants are the class of the NFC, everyone else is below their level. I hope it shakes down as a 1 vs. 2, It’d be the best for football! Good luck and don’t edge us out of the Cardinals sweepstakes!

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Dec 29, 2008 12:17 PM EST reply actions

Hope we can heal up

Vikings/Falcons game looks a lot tougher if we don’t have our DT, let alone our OL.

That extra week is going to prove huge.

That said, I’m cautiously optimistic.

1. None of the teams truly scare me.
2. The Giants have lost 3 out of their last 4, yet no one seems to be talking about this.

I get it, they beat us in their own house, and their final loss was with mostly backups.

However, the Giants of Dec 2008 are not the Giants of Dec 2007. They aren’t coming in scrappy and spitting fire. They’re easing into the comforts of home field advantage. I’d look for a possible upset with whoever comes to the Meadowlands in 2 weeks.

Honestly, all teams look VERY vulnerable, both AFC and NFC- and I think this will be as good a post season as I could hope for.

by the bomb dot com on Dec 29, 2008 5:44 PM EST reply actions

3 of 4

The reason nobody’s talking about it is that it’s not really much of a factor right now. Here’s why:

The Giants ended their season by playing TEN STRAIGHT GAMES against playoff contenders. They went 7-3, among their wins were the cream of the NFL: PIT, BAL, CAR, they also crushed Arizona, Dallas, etc…
They lost 2 games against division rivals (resulting in splits) because they were missing Jacobs AND Burress and several other players were banged up, Tuck played the Cowgirls with the Flu. Burress is replaceable, but Jacobs is the catalyst for the entire offense. That’s why they didn’t score against the Eggs and Cowgirls. And sadly, they just made no effort to win the Vikings game. If that was a must-win playoff game, they would have started everyone and won the game, I’d say, about 41-10.
In between all that, they made a full-strength effort one time. And it beat the 3rd-best team in the NFL.

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Dec 30, 2008 7:45 AM EST up reply actions

I don't wanna see...

any Mannings in the Superbowl. I don’t wanna see the Steelers in the superbowl, which are about as bad as Cowboy fans, both screaming about how they got 5 rings. Panthers can play up to their potential and a complete game they can make the Superbowl and win it. John Fox- total domination from start to finish is in order from here on out. Run the damn score up…it’s ok.

by Davejinxer on Dec 29, 2008 8:59 PM EST reply actions

Defense wins Championships!

We have definitely been winning on offense lately. Our Defense never came back from the bye week. Kemo and Lewis gotta get healthy and start getting pressure up the middle… that’s all that matters! If they were pushing QBs back and the pocket was collapsing, then we would have more sacks AND QBs wouldn’t be throwing as well on us… AND our secondary would look a lot better than it does!

C’mon D! Get-er-done!!!

on behalf of tha dirty south: soul food, carolina blue, southern hospitality, and tha queen city

by southtunnel on Dec 29, 2008 11:22 PM EST reply actions

As a Giants fan

it kinda pisses me off that our most likely opponent is gonna be the Eagles. Damn re-seeding…That said, I think you might be overrating them – just 9 days ago they got dominated by the hapless Redskins. They are such an up and down team, you never know who’s gonna show up. The only reason they frighten me is the fact that you never want to play a rival in the playoffs. That said, I think the Giants can and will handle them if it comes to it, and I really don’t think any of the other 3 NFC teams have a shot against us or you. I know it’s any given Sunday, but I’d be very surprised if you guys don’t get your re-match at the Meadowlands, and I really won’t even venture a prediction on that one. I think we’re too evenly matched.

All that said, I’ll be rooting against you, and praying to the Almighty that the Cardinals somehow beat you to make it to the NFC Championship game, and then run out of pixie dust or whatever it is they used, b/c they suck…

by cjmulrain on Dec 30, 2008 3:25 AM EST reply actions

The Falcons are going to hammer the Cardinals

I blog the Carolina Panthers at www.catscratchreader.com

by Jaxon on Dec 30, 2008 1:59 PM EST up reply actions

cjmulrain

I have to agree with you. I can’t stand the Eagles and their division is pretty weak this year. When you look at the Giants, though, look at their record with a healthy Brandon Jacobs. They have one loss. We also have one loss when Jacobs is healthy. I’m confident that we will be playing in NY for the Championship game, and I’m glad about it. To be the best, you have to beat the best. So we beat whatever clowns come to Charlotte in two weeks, and then we go to NY against the defending SB champs at home, who also have the best record in the conference. If we beat them there, which we know we have the ability to do, then we play for all the marbles. I don’t want any handouts. The Giants didn’t get any last year.

I’m confident we can beat them for two reasons – first of all, we almost did it once with questionable play calling (too many 2 yard runs on 1st down), and it’s hard to beat a team twice in the same year (look at our splits with TB and ATL). One last note, when the Giants have three receivers on the field, and the most productive one has never had a 1,000 yard season, we don’t need six DBs on the field to watch Ward run a draw. That’s absurd.

by usana_gaines on Dec 30, 2008 3:59 AM EST reply actions