Carolina Panthers Monday Morning Optimist- 12/19/11

Once aganthat is one bad ass photo…The peppers pic was cool but seeing Jake and Cam shake is special.

It seemed like CJ and Hardy were schemed against perfectly, and there was almost no pressure up the middle on the majority of the pass plays. I like Neblett as a run stopper, but he’s not going to get much pass pressure, and it doesn’t seem like the other guys on the field yesterday were much better at generating push up the middle.

I was extremely happy to see Senn flying around the field though; it seems like he is getting better at being in position to make plays (he could always deliver a solid hit, but he played out of position a lot in earlier games), and I’m thinking that this game experience is helping highlight his talents as a great rotational LB at the least (I’m still worried about his size as a FT starter, but then again maybe he’s got the necessary mean streak to overcome that…it definitely doesn’t seem to affect his tackling ability)!

I was ecstatic by halftime and I loved to see what we had done against the number 1 defense however I wonder how much of an impact there was on that #1 defense because there defensive coordinator Wade Philips was not there.

It is exciting to see plays happen where even I have no clue what is going on! That Fumblerooski was perfect! The O-line waited patiently and did not hint the drive to the left and Cam played up the sweep to the right…

All in all we won on the road and played the team game very well.

The offense fell flat at the start of the third quarter, but a few series later Cam came back on the field fired up and led them on that long scoring drive. I didn’t see the mopey act that I’ve come to expect. The only slight concern I still had about Cam’s future as the franchise QB was his ability to bounce back in a game after a disappointment, but he seems to be learning how to handle it.

I’m feeling good about this team. Six, maybe seven, wins this season; shore up the defense in the offseason; legitimate playoff contenders next season!

This was the signature win against a quality opponent I was hoping for last week. We played a solid game for 3 and a half quarters. When the offense went stale in the 3rd and they could have said “oh no, here we go again,” they found a way to make a play, get a first down, and get that momentum back. I think that was big and this was a “getting over the hump” type of win.

We now know our offense can score on anybody if they can score all over the #1 defense in the league. This offense is going to be downright scary in the future.

was the third down pass to Legatron in the 4th. That play was a great one even though it was just a short little pass, Cam threw a pass that he usually struggles on perfectly (I can recall a few times where he overthrows Lafell or Smitty on the same route), Legadu caught a clutch pass and we converted a 3rd down late in the game.

But you get my rec simply because you used the word “chutzpah”.

I know he had one or two that were not terribly catchable, but I know he dropped one that he normally makes, and of course dropped that one bubble screen that probably could have gone for big yards (we had the numbers on that side of the field). I’m still firmly in his corner, but yesterday was a bump in an otherwise solid sophomore season…

Extremely optimistic? Albert Breer! I think that dude is a psychic or sold his soul to be right on his predictions. The dude is like 130-55 this season on his predictions ( somewhere around that number, I know it’s more than 2:1 margin) he predicted the win for us and he simply said “just a gut feeling here, on paper I should pick the Texans but I must have a strong feeling on this one.” by far the best analyst at predicting games.

Anyway yea this was a great solid win, I think 6-10 is a given for us this year. BTW isn’t that what the Lions went las year and now they are going to the playoffs and also Green Bay went 6-10 two seasons ago.

I do wish Cam got his passing yds record but it’s ok. We need to improve our O line, the last few weeks Cam has been getting sacked or flushed out of the pocket way too much. I think a Reilly Reiff or David Decastro might be a big upgrade.

BTW I meant to ask, is it often that players come back from a ACL injury and still play very well? I ask because I know Gettis is coming back, but is there any doubt he won’t be the same after his ACL tear? What other pro NFL players that have had torn ACLs come back and still dominate in the league?

Anyway yea this was a great solid win, I think 6-10 is a given for us this year. BTW isn’t that what the Lions went las year and now they are going to the playoffs and also Green Bay went 6-10 two seasons ago.

That can’t be possible, because that would mean they missed out on top 5 elite picks in the draft…and we all know you can’t win games if you don’t get an elite draft position. :-)

But does it make anybody else sick that Tim Tebow STILL has the main headline and photo on NFL.com after completing a total of 11 passes and losing the game?

Give it up NFL.

Jeremy Shockey – Extremely Optimistic – I don’t know anyone on the team outside of Steve Smith that has more fun out on a football field. Shockey plays hard every week and brings that consistent veteran presence that Cam desperately needs. He made a couple good grabs, including a great catch and run for a TD. We need to lock him up for as long as he thinks he can keep playing.

DeAngelo Williams – Extremely Optimistic – Anyone who thinks D-Lo has lost some of his burst needs to look no further than his TD run yesterday. The moment that lane opened up, he was gone. The secondary took a terrible angle, badly misjudging his speed, and letting him scamper right in. This is the 2nd week in a row he has broken a big TD, further emphasizing that Chud is beginning to understand how to use our backs optimally.

Armanti Edwards – Somewhat Optimistic – Of course I have to give Money a shout out for his wildcat play, was it a frozen rope? No. But he did need to float it a little to get it over the edge rusher. Still, a great gain on the play. Hopefully we see more faith in letting AE run the wildcat moving forward, maybe a TD pass to Newton? He also had a heads up play on a punt return to prevent a favorable Houston bounce, diving to secure the football (although the play was, yet again, flagged for defensive holding)

Interior O-Line – Somewhat Optimistic – While the Texans were able to get some pressure up the middle, the guards and centers did a great job creating space for our backs and for Cam, particularly in the 4th quarter when needed the most. Hangartner in particular made a great block to spring D-Will for a TD.

Team Tackling – Somewhat Optimistic – Missed tackles were not the glaring mistakes that I have seen all season long, not even Sherrod Martin got burnt yesterday that I can recall. And as Ice Cube would say, it was a good day.

Team Psychology – Somewhat Pessimistic – I can’t quantify this, but when i watch our games now, i feel like I am more in tune with momentum than ever, which is usually something reserved for the college game. I am glad we got over the hump and won this game, but I can’t remember a team that is so affected by swing in momentum like the 2011 Panthers. I can attribute this to the youth on the team, but it is something I worry about.

Brandon LaFell – Somewhat Pessimistic – Not a condemnation on his season, and certainly he faced very tough competition in the secondary this week, but LaFell was all but absent yesterday, posting a bagel on the stat sheet and failing to provide Cam with a quality 2nd option.

I’ll take 6-10 anytime

Don’t know if I agree with that statement….I predicted 8-8 this year. I obviously won’t get that one right. However, after this season, a losing season will be totally unacceptable. We have to start building winning seasons, and to see what we have accomplished this year makes me think we will start to be a playoff contender for many years to come.

I agree…If you mean 6-10 “anytime” I don’t agree. That is the point I was trying to make. Maybe I misunderstood his intent.

go to the nfl site on the Panthers Texans game thread, click discussion, and click first posted, and read the comments. It makes me want to go troll them, but I didn’t.

http://www.panthers.com/index.html
for anyone wanting to watch

This is why a part of me wants us to go WR in the draft. Again I’m a big Lafell supporter but he’s not that WR that teams will double team and take pressure off Smitty. Yes we have a lot of WRs now but they are all 4-7th round picks. We need a true dynamic duo WR. Like Roddy White/ Julio Jones plus a true future WR to learn behind Smitty and replace him. Yes Gettis showed promise but he did just have one good year.

That’s why if we take a Blackmon, Kendall Wright, Dwight Jones etc I wouldn’t mind

We look forward to getting Gettis back, we also look forward to seeing how Armanti continues to progress in his first real year getting to play wide receiver.

It is pretty sad when you ask a simple question, and 1 of the editors tries to troll you for it. I expect this kind of behavior from the other team fans, not from staff of the team we all root for.

Also pictured… Jordan Gross’s Fathead.

That with added success we’ll see more bandwagoners crawling out of the woodwork and joining this site? And then causing a raucous when something goes wrong?

That word has been thrown around alot the past 24 hours. Save that insult for the dirty Steelers fans that deserve it. Also,

This guy takes offense being lumped in with the likes of BW