Cat Scratch Reader, a Carolina Panthers community

Clay (Charlotte)

Quietly a good preseason for the Panther defense, particularly Hardy and Brown. Are you, like me, a little surprised? If Moore or Clausen turns out decent, is this a playoff team?

Gary Horton (4:14 PM)

No, I think they're far from a playoff team. Although I think they will play hard and play physical, I don't think they can mount a serious pass rush consistently in 2010. That exposes the back end that is not an elite cover unit, though they're not bad. The whole key for this football team will be to run the ball, eat up the clock, not ask their defense to be on the field the whole time and hope their QBs don't make mistakes. You're not going to see a lot of exciting plays and probably more than any other team in the NFL, this team needs to play mistake free football on both sides to have a chance to win.