The Panthers Will Make A Push

Two weeks ago I mentioned my belief that the Panthers were going to make some noise in the NFL's second half to this season. Companion to that belief was my hope that they would hand a loss or two to N'awlins and SanFran in the process. What I was unaware of was that Carolina had not yet played ANY of its Intradivisional games.

Their victory tonight puts them at 1-0 in the division and brings them over the .500 mark for the first time in 5 years.

I'm calling them the NFC's surge team that makes the playoffs as a WildCard or otherwise.

I agree. They are starting to gel.

Cam seems to be maturing.

Definitely agree. I love their front 7 and with Cam on offense they should be in every game they play. Going to Carolina in week one and getting a win in a 10 AM game was a great job by the Hawks. Carolina is no joke.

Panthers have a lot going for themselves. They need some better WRs to go with Smith. Newton has been playing better ball end of last season and in many of this year's games. The NFC East seems to be the one NFC division right now that doesn't look that formidable.

I still expect the Giants to get better in the second half. I think right now, the NFC playoffs will have some strong teams vying for the crown. And who knows, maybe Dallas or Skins go on a roll?

As long Cam continues to play within the team, I think they'll be pretty good. Instead of forcing it to average WR's minus Smith, he seems to be more conservative and taking his checkdowns or running when nothing is there

They have a very tough schedule, and all the games they've won have been against terrible teams. I don't see it happening this year.

A lot of people were happy getting a 10AM win against that team. The pessimists now see why. They can beat NOLA and SF, and it's a good thing any rematch against Seattle will come at Century Link.

I will reserve judgement until they are kicking Niner ass. Until then, they got their ass kicked by the Cards and crawled over .500 against a winless team.

Looking at their schedule I see an 8-8 season.

Vpk0718":1romlmw6 said:

They have a very tough schedule, and all the games they've won have been against terrible teams. I don't see it happening this year.

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I agree . Their schedule is brutal, but tell me. Assume one Wild Card comes from the NFCWest. Is not the other down to Green Bay/Detroit, or Carolina? Unless you think Washington/Dallas?

the key for them is going to be the NE, NO (at home), and @MIA games, win 2 and I can see 10-6

They're our direct threat for a division title now, hopefully they just eliminate any hope of a Falcons surge next week. For some reason, we've been having problems matching up against them the past few years. In the last 2 years we're 2-2 against them, with two of those being decided by 3 points or less.

This year we play them twice in a 3-week span, with the Rams game between, Weeks 14-16.

Their defense is no joke, now. A Rams fan coworker wouldn't even take a $1 bet with me yesterday when I said I'd bet him a dollar that the Panthers win by 12+ points.

I'd be happy to host Carolina again.

With the exception of a few ridiculous, infamous bad calls at the conclusion of our 05 season, things went rather well for us after the last time Carolina stopped by for a play off game.

I don't think the Patriots match up well against the Panthers. The Pats aren't really good. The Panthers beat the Saints twice last year and the Panthers lost to the Falcons, because their rookie safety couldn't catch a hail merry at the 50 yards line. Panthers were winning the game.
I think the Panthers will win at least 2 out of the three games against Atl, NO and NE.

joeseahawks":3gsf7ba4 said:

I don't think the Patriots match up well against the Panthers. The Pats aren't really good. The Panthers beat the Saints twice last year and the Panthers lost to the Falcons, because their rookie safety couldn't catch a hail merry at the 50 yards line. Panthers were winning the game.
I think the Panthers will win at least 2 out of the three games against Atl, NO and NE.

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I agree. Carolina brings a physicality the Pats no longer do well with. Atlanta is just broken, but Brees will score more than Newton can counter. I'm no Cam fan, but must admit he looks like he's finally understanding his strengths and weakness'. Good performance last night and it didn't look like a one-off. The problem with Carolina is they're going to find themselves good enough to flirt with the play-offs, but not bad enough to benefit from picking early in upcoming drafts. We were in that mode for too many years.

Panthers won't even finish second in their division. I can't buy into Newton in pressure situations. He's great when things are going his way, but crumbles in adverse situations.

They haven't beat a single team over .500, in fact 3 of their 4 wins are against the 3 worst teams in the NFL (Vikings, Giants, Buccineers). The other team? The Rams who were without Bradford.

I would not be surprised to see them 4-6 in 3 weeks.

still pushin'.

Hopefully they can knock off the 49ers, then just miss the playoffs. Newton is a very scary match up, especially in a loser out situation.

knownone":219sqzyg said:

Panthers won't even finish second in their division.

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Really? A winless Bucs team or the 2-5 Falcons are going to pass them for second?

For my money I'd say wild cards are

SF and one of

Carolina/Detroit/Chicago