Part 2 of my three part series covers the midseason performance of the Panthers offensive. This unit had nowhere to go than up after last season's epic failure. With the hiring of dynamic OC Rob Chudzinski and the drafting of QB Cam Newton we were hopeful the offense would show some improvement in 2011. We have not been disappointed in that regard. Using stats from Football Outsiders and NFL.com the Panthers offense has made unbelievable improvement:

Though I've been quite aware of the vast improvement of the offense and the passing game in particular it's the Panthers rushing offense ranking that surprised me most. I would have thought it was middle of the pack at best. But once you consider it includes the yards and TDs put up by QB Cam Newton it makes sense. Newton has 7 TDs and is averaging around 50 yards a game.

I am most pleased with the improvement in 3^rd down completion percentage. It took the Panthers a few games to get it going but have improved 3^rd downs tremendously the past few games.

Though the Panthers have a top 6 offense in production the scoring certainly has room for improvement which can be tied to the turnover issue as well. The Panther offense and QB Cam Newton in particular needs to protect the football better if they are capitalize on their red zone opportunities.

So has the Panther offense met your expectations? Take the poll.