Panthers Won't Have a Need for Excuses In January

by Jaxon on Jun 4, 2008 12:10 AM EDT Comment 7 comments

Seems like whether its good or bad, everyone has something to say about the Panthers chances of making the playoffs in 2008. Mike Florio with Sporting News thinks the Panthers look good on paper but in the end will be one of six teams making excuses come January .

6. Carolina Panthers

The Panthers have the talent. For whatever reason, they can’t put it all together. It has been that way for two seasons, since the Panthers lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship game on Jan. 22, 2006.

Once again, the Panthers look solid on paper, especially with a pair of first-round picks in running back Jonathan Stewart and offensive tackle Jeff Otah. But Carolina GM Marty Hurney still hasn’t done anything to establish a receiving threat across from Steve Smith or provide depth at quarterback behind Jake Delhomme, whose star is in danger of burning out for good.

Come January, then, it’ll be another round of excuse-making for a team that should have been good enough to go places in the postseason but simply didn’t.

Well let’s break this down paragraph by paragraph. First it’s true the Panthers have disappointed the past two seasons. "For whatever reason" is easy to figure out: injuries. In 2006 it was the loss of three o-line starters and RDE Mike Rucker. In 2007 the injury was Jake Delhomme. Fairly valid excuses for any team I think but I hate using them as much as anyone else. Is Florio predicting more injuries for the Panthers this season? If so you would think he would recognize the Panthers have tried to address that possibility with an active off-season and a huge trade during the draft. The result is the Panthers have the deepest level of talent on the roster in their history in my opinion.

The only negatives Florio can produce leaves me scratching my head. So the addition of FA WR’s DJ Hackett and Musin Muhammad do not represent a ‘receiving threat’ across from Steve Smith? I can’t wait to see them prove him wrong and I bet it won’t take long. Further, Florio is apparently another pundit who thinks the Panthers should have stashed another rookie QB on the bench behind Delhomme. If Jake stays healthy then what does it matter who the back-up is? Besides, I think it’s very clear the Panthers are content with Matt Moore (for good reason) backing up Jake. I wish these people would get off the "QB depth" crap. With the revamped O-line and a strong running game Jake will be fine and therefore any rookie QB drafted would be a wasted pick with regard to the 2008 season.

As much as this article pissed me off he actually gives the Panthers a back-handed compliment. He agrees the 'Panthers have talent' and that the Panthers ‘are good enough’ to go places. Why can’t he see that the reason for the recent disappointment is more indicative of bad luck than poor management? Also, he apparently didn’t consider that the Panthers have an easier schedule this season and play in what will again be a weak division (because of the other three teams!). I think any pundit worth his salt would recognize the Panthers streak of bad luck is bound to change. Combine that with the easy schedule and roster upgrades the Panthers won’t be making any excuses come January. Instead I think it will be Mike Florio explaining why he missed on the Panthers.

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SBN 2.0 Widget of the Week: "Share on SB Nation" button

Over the last year I've had a few other bloggers ask me why I don't use certain tools and widgets on my blog. My usual response is "I'm not a techie" and "I just blog baby". The truth is putting fancy stuff up takes time and was not easy to say the least.

All that changed with SBN 2.0. I know anyone who's been reading this blog or any SBN site recognizes the upgrade has been phenomenal but honestly you've only seen the tip of the improvements. The greatest improvements have been on the admin side where everything about managing this blog has been made extremely easy and intuitive.

All this is leading up to an email thread I got featuring this nifty little tool:

"Share on SB Nation" button

All you do is hit the FanShots homepage,
locate the button that says "Share on SB Nation," and then drag that
button/link to your bookmarks toolbar in the browser. Or you can right
click it and add it as a bookmark or favorite.

Once you've done that, creating a quick FanShot is as easy as clicking
this bookmark when you're on a page, picture, or video you want to
post. Images and video links should automatically get detected and
linked in your post; and any text you have highlighted on a text page
should make it in as a quote.

I've tried it and it actually works. I'm still geeked at this one and the whole slew of little features that make managing and contributing to this blog so much easier. So come on people, try it out. See how easy it is to post a video, picture or quote and tell me if you aren't amazed. Seriously, it's like going from an IBM 386 (who remembers those?) to one of today's 5 gig laptops. Ha! Enjoy.

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florio's comments

He’s right about the past couple seasons. We had some injuries in the last couple years, but there were also some bad plays that may have cost us as well. The Chris Gamble pass to Richard Marshall on a punt return that ended up being a fumble recovered by the Vikings cost us a win. Jake threw a late game interception in the end zone against the Eagles and Bengals. Let’s be honest, if Gamble gets tackled, we win that game. If Jake throws TDs instead of interceptions, we win those games. That ends up as 11-5 and not 8-8. However, 11-5 might not have landed us Jon Beason and Ryan Kalil. We weren’t talented enough that year to win it all, so 8-8 plus Beason was fine. Last year, Jake’s injury was the difference, obviously. Matt Moore can be great in this league. I think he will lead us to a couple superbowls, but he won’t take over for another three years. Jake’s injury lead to Jon Stewart, Otah, Connor, Godfrey, Barnidge, and Taylor. Last year’s team had the talent to win it all, but didn’t play up to it, especially when Jake got hurt. Drew Carter and Keary Colbert are very talented, as is Dwayne Jarrett, but they choose not to build on that talent by improving their skills. That’s why they’re gone.

We’re going to be a dominant team this year, and secretly, many people are jumping on the band wagon daily. They’ll all come out when we go on a tear.

by usana_gaines on Jun 4, 2008 10:23 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Half our problems the last couple years were injuries. But the other half of our problems in my opinions are mental lapses on the field. Like Usana said chris gambles pass to Marshall should never have happened. Delhomme trying to force passes in the endzone that get picked off. Our defense taking bad angles and missing plenty of tackles. If we limit those mental lapses on the field and keep injuries to a minimum than their’s no doubt we are a super bowl caliber team. and I can’t help but think that Fox might work the team a little extra harder now that his job might be on the line.

by JStew28 on Jun 4, 2008 11:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

mental lapses

JStew was right on about the mental lapses. When we went to the Superbowl, we beat the Eagles and everyone was surprised. That was the first championship game when the away team committed no penalties and no turnovers throughout the game. We played a perfect game to beat the more talented Eagles. Now we’re one of the most talented teams in the league, but injuries and mental mistakes have been our downfall. We are fixing that right now, and fixed a lot of it already. Carter and Colbert couldn’t consistently run correct routes and catch the ball, Carr was too scared to take chances, and Foster fumbled too often. We’ve already increased our 3rd down conversion percentage by getting rid of those two receivers and Foster. Another mistake Jake used to make was eyeballing one receiver too long. That was partly because we only had one good one at a time. Now we have too many for him to handle, and he has a better OL and a stronger arm. It’s going to be beautiful.

by usana_gaines on Jun 4, 2008 1:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hi

just a friendly reminder…..plan on some excuses now, because your Black and Gold daddy is going to take the NFC, let alone the division.

Seriously though, reading your comments looks like an old Saint’s article, “ohhh if we could have not blown THIS play or THAT person wasn’t injured” I’d like to say that I hope it comes together for your kitty’s this year, but a couple of things are stopping that from happening right now…..A) I don’t want to and B) I don’t think you are going to.

I am not close minded enough to say that you don’t have talent, and if you stay injury free, you will perform better than the disappointing years you seen lately.

by asaint on Jun 4, 2008 4:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Those funny Saints fans

They win one playoff game and they think they have a dynasty. I think you been partying on Canal street a little too much lately ASaint. I’ve resisted engaging you guys so far cause its early but it just may be time. You know, if wasn’t too long ago you guys wore bags on your heads at games and called yourself “Aints”.

So who are your receivers? CB’s? LB’s? Heck, you signed our guy Dan Morgan who I’m sure was an upgrade even when he was hurt. You better make sure the 2006 Drew Brees shows up before talking too much smack.

I blog the Carolina Panthers at www.catscratchreader.com

by Jaxon on Jun 4, 2008 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs