How bout them Panthers!

[coolwaterunc]

Regardless of why he wrote garbage like that, he's extremely naive if he thinks he can get away with what he wrote by not hearing a bunch of (deserved) backlash after an MVP and Super Bowl season from a guy was supposed to be the worst draft pick ever. Dude's a moron.

 

[Blue2010]

That game was absolutely epic. I've never been inside a stadium that rocked like that. We were up at the top and it was shaking like an earthquake...the flag poles were swaying like you'd see trees do in a storm. What an experience...didn't want to leave. It really feels like we could be looking at a dynasty type team...as young as they are with the nucleus they have. Everything is in place. Gotta finish it off in two weeks.

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

 

[TarHeelNation11]

A couple weeks ago, someone from the Charlotte Observer reached out to this guy to see if he'd changed his opinions. The guy came off as a jerk in the interview. Ultimately, he argued that Bleacher Report had asked him to write an inflammatory piece as "click bait."

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/panther-tracks/article53692735.html

Homeboy's name is Theoden??? That's badass.

 

[gunslingerdick]

I'm excited for the Panthers. I was a doubter early on. But they certainly proved me wrong as they did most everybody else. But can Panthers fans please stop with the "no one respects us, woe is us" sh*t? That makes people hate a fan base more than anything else. No one respected the Panthers because they didn't deserve it until they had a 15-1 season. Good for them. Panthers fans should be happy the team proved everyone wrong. I'd also ask Panther fans to just be excited for a great season and a potential Super Bowl. Stop with the dynasty talk. Stop with the "Cam's the greatest QB of all time" and the "Panthers defense is better than the 85 Bears" stuff too. Nothing ruins things for a "casual" fan like an irrational fan base.

As far as the game, I really don't have a dog in this fight. It would be cool to see the Panthers get a Super Bowl. But I also have a soft spot for Manning and with his career basically over at this point, to see him go out on top would be special. He deserves that kind of exit. But honestly, I think the Panthers will beat the Broncos up pretty badly. I'll say the final score will be 31-10.

 

[Blue2010]

GSD,

The reason for that mentality can be summed up by this -- going into the Thanksgiving Day game against Dallas, the Panthers were (I believe) 10 - 0, and Dallas was 3 - 7 (or something like that). Dallas fans were pumping their chest about Romo coming back and actually claiming they were going to run the table and make the playoffs -- and national pundits were onboard with this! Vegas had Carolina as an UNDERDOG in that game.

I agree with most of what you're saying, but if I'm a player on Carolina, that is a massive slap in my face.

But a lot of the reason behind this has been Ron Rivera himself -- he has played this up as being a group of "cast-offs" (obviously outside of Cam and Luke) that no one else wanted. Ron even bounced around the league before getting his shot, and the word I've heard is that Lovie Smith let him go in Chicago b/c there were rumors that Lovie was gonna get fired there and Ron was gonna be promoted. Not sure on the credibility there, but I've heard it bounced around. And he had something like 9-10 job interviews before Carolina gave him a shot -- AND he was last on Carolina's list of hopeful coaches...the others didn't work out after interviewing. So, in essense, he's one of those "cast offs".

I would like to see that "Nobody believes in us" line go away too after this Super Bowl, but it's worked to this point...no problem letting it carry for one more game

 

[Grayhead]

We do have a nice defensive group. But I would think the defence Tampa had the year they won was a bit better. The defence scored more than the offence it seemed.

But since we are one of the 2 remaining, I will be strutting for a while. Also, the future looks good if they can keep the players here. Dynasty, not so sure. Cam will eventually get clobbered with his style of play and will loose some of his game as a result. At least that's what I'm expecting. Also, have never subscribed to woe is me attitude.

 

[coolwaterunc]

Stop with the "Cam's the greatest QB of all time" and the "Panthers defense is better than the 85 Bears" stuff too.

Where are you hearing this from, fans at a sports bar after too many drinks?

 

[gunslingerdick]

Where are you hearing this from, fans at a sports bar after too many drinks?

From Blue2010.

 

[Blue2010]

Whoa! Didn't realize I was being called out...my bad!

Lemme just get this out here -- Cam is not the greatest quarterback of all time. Carolina's defense is not to be considered among the all-time greats either.

That being said, the only reason at this point that those two statements are not true is that both statements are still in their "infancy stage." I'm perfectly fine letting this play out and revisit once this window has closed and the current roster has moved on (meaning, Cam/Luke are retired, etc).

I will, however, not apologize one iota for being completely confident in proclaiming that this team has a legitimate shot at being the next "dynasty" in the NFL. They are young, they have stability from the top-down, and they have their nucleus locked up for the long term. As long as Dave Gettleman continues to fit in the pieces around them and lord willing, the injury bug stays away, this team will be in the hunt for championships on an annual basis.

 

[TarHeelMark]

I think this might be a closer game than people are predicting. Denver's defense is no. 1 and while Manning doesn't have the arm he used to, he's still got the experience and the smarts.

I'll go with Panthers winning 27-23.

 

[gunslingerdick]

Whoa! Didn't realize I was being called out...my bad!

Lemme just get this out here -- Cam is not the greatest quarterback of all time. Carolina's defense is not to be considered among the all-time greats either.

That being said, the only reason at this point that those two statements are not true is that both statements are still in their "infancy stage." I'm perfectly fine letting this play out and revisit once this window has closed and the current roster has moved on (meaning, Cam/Luke are retired, etc).

I will, however, not apologize one iota for being completely confident in proclaiming that this team has a legitimate shot at being the next "dynasty" in the NFL. They are young, they have stability from the top-down, and they have their nucleus locked up for the long term. As long as Dave Gettleman continues to fit in the pieces around them and lord willing, the injury bug stays away, this team will be in the hunt for championships on an annual basis.

I'm not calling you out. You're a dedicated fan. I can appreciate that. Just ribbing you a bit. Good luck Sunday.

 

[Blue2010]

Fair enough...and thanks.

FWIW, I think Carolina is dodging a bullet that the Pats aren't playing this weekend. Especially with Thomas Davis' broken arm that he's gonna try to play through, having to cover Gronk going over the middle of the field would be a pretty big mismatch. Pretty sure Carolina would have to play TD sparingly and move rookie Shaq Thompson in there...If TD tries to tackle Gronk with a broken arm, it might just get snapped completely off (kidding, sort of).

I am a little nervous that Peyton has this Toby Keith moment...that phrase "Not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was." I think Carolina wins this thing, but it's hard to imagine Denver just rolling over.

 

[gunslingerdick]

I read an article the other day that said 87% of the money being bet in Vegas is on the Panthers. 87%!!! That's incredible. The bookmakers were saying they've never seen anything like it.

I like the Panthers to win. Not sure by how much. I wouldn't mind seeing Peyton go out on top. But I actually think it ends in ugly fashion for him. I don't think he's going to have the time he needs in the pocket and if the Panthers can force him to make throws all the way across the field, he's going to be in trouble. I'm not sure Cam has a banner day either (at least, throwing the ball).

 

[Blue2010]

87% ??? Really? I hadn't seen that, but that would make me nervous a bit.

 

[coolwaterunc]

My fear is now everyone seems to be counting Denver out as opposed to Carolina, whose motivation has been fueled by people counting them out all year long. I'm just hoping the script doesn't flip.

 

[heelmanwilm]

God i have that feeling the games gonna be over before half time and we'll be left with the image of manning getting hammered to the point of leaving the game.

 

[Blue2010]

Not sure how closely you guys have followed this team, but if you remember back to previous years, the knock on Carolina - and on Cam - was that they almost ALWAYS started slow...they were notorious for not even getting on the scoreboard until the 2nd quarter...and they were terrible at finishing once they got into the redzone, constantly settling for field goals. They clearly made an emphasis to fix that coming into this year...as you can see by all the fast starts they've had.

From that perspective, and since they have honestly done it all year long (the "nation" has only noticed the last 2 weeks, but this has been going on since the beginning of the year)...I really have no trouble believing this game will be no different, even given the talent Denver has on that defense.

My #1 concern is where this team's head will be. They won't have that rabid home crowd and it'll be more "corporate" with a bunch of business men sitting on their hands. After having the media slurping them all this week...will they be able to get as fired up as they have the past few weeks? That part makes me nervous. They need to smell blood in the water and finish this thing, early and often. It's easy to say it, and they have been -- see the comments from players saying they "don't care this is Peyton's last game...he's had his time." Going out and doing it? I'm a little nervous on that, given my points above here.