170 replies to this topic

[Sam Mills Fan]

This is the elephant in the room for Huddlers and Panthers fans everywhere. With as bad as he was last season and as bad as he's been in training camp, should we rationally still be expecting the playoffs? Guys, Captain was as bad last year as Cam was good.

Someone make the case that we can still make the playoffs even with the worst starting cornerback in the league with a schedule that features tons of elite quarterbacks.

[Zod]

This is the elephant in the room for Huddlers and Panthers fans everywhere. With as bad as he was last season and as bad as he's been in training camp, should we rationally still be expecting the playoffs? Guys, Captain was as bad last year as Cam was good.

Someone make the case that we can still make the playoffs even with the worst starting cornerback in the league with a schedule that features tons of elite quarterbacks.

If we can get the DL to apply a but for pressure and shave a little more time off how long the other QB's have to throw I think we will be ok.

Also, just because Captain starts in the first few games doesn't mean he has locked it up the entire season, no?

[Alverez]

Injuries to the LB's and the DL last season effected the secondary. With a healthy front line and LB's the CB's shouldn't be left on an island as much and should have some help over the top if needed this season more consistently.

At least that's what I feel and hope happens.

[megadeth078]

This will not be good.

[JoshtheCzar]

Were Fuged

[xerxes]

Is it ideal? No. But, last year they were trying to compensate for:

-Zero good DT
-Only 1 good defensive end
-Only 1 good linebacker
-Only 1 good CB
-Maybe .5 good safeties

Even this got better as the season progressed at least in the DT arena. The point is, assuming the other categories have gotten better, it's much easier to construct a defense that compensates for the shortcoming of one player rather than over half the defense.

The reality is that no team has quality starters at every single position. It's the coaches job to recognize and plan for this, and hopefully make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Rivera has already said he plans to take a more active role in the defense, which gives me more confidence given his track record. A healthy linebacking corps will make a big difference as well.

Further, the defense doesn't need to be lights out to win games. They need to make a few keep stops per game, and the offense can carry them the rest of the way. Cam is entering first year with a full off-season, and we have the Chud, who can expand his playbook now that the team has had a full year in the system. We've added some weapons like Tolbert. LaFell is our 2nd WR instead of Legatron. There is no reason why the offense can't be even more explosive this year. The only major loss was Shockey, and I believe a combination of Olsen stepping up and Tolbert taking on some of a TE's role will fill that gap.

In summary, a healthier, better led, better coached defense will show just enough improvement to allow our high-powered offense led by SuperCam to win enough games to make the playoffs.

I yield the floor to Sam Mills Fan for a rebuttal.

[o803oVaDeR]

I dont think Cap was that bad. Plus we made it to the Super Bowl with Terry Cousin at Starting CB. I dont think he is much better than Cap. It will all depend on how healthy we are and how good the D as a whole can be.

[CheeseCP]

Even if he's listed as the starter it doesn't mean that he'll be playing on the outside. I would imagine that we'll spend most of the time in the nickle and that he'll move to the slot at that time. He will perform a lot better there.

The more discouraging thing for me is that no one has stepped up and beaten him for the spot. Hopefully they're just leaving him there for the beginning of the preseason games since he's the vet and plan to put in one of the younger guys in once one of them separates themselves from the other.

[KillerKat]

Munnerlyn has Heart!

[InnocentBystander]

Lieutenant Munnerlyn deserves a backup spot. Anything else is disrespect to the Panthers. That short fugger needs to grow some skills.

[section543]

Don't we still have some cap room? Don't you think we will probably add DT or DE and CB as other teams' cuts happen?

[jarhead]

I think this is for the first game.The other cbs have not been practicing

[JawnyBlaze]

Don't we still have some cap room? Don't you think we will probably add DT or DE and CB as other teams' cuts happen?

Maybe, but I'm sure most of us are hoping his replacement is already here. Either Norman or Hogan should easily take his spot if he's healthy. Even as inexperienced/rookie guys they can't be worse than Capt. At worst they'll get just as lost as he did almost every play, while still not giving up the size advantage so badly. If they're not healthy, then Butler was definitely better and should get the spot. Hopefully it's just a case of what was already mentioned, the incumbent starter getting the benefit of the doubt in the preseason, but come full season the best guy actually will play.

[Rip Saw]

what the hell happened to butler?

[rayzor]

If we can get the DL to apply a but for pressure and shave a little more time off how long the other QB's have to throw I think we will be ok.

Also, just because Captain starts in the first few games doesn't mean he has locked it up the entire season, no?

an improved, more experienced, and healthy front 7 will make the secondary much better than it was in that it will take a lot of the pressure off. the added competition will mean that we have more quality there (or should anyway). i also think that getting an upgrade in the DBs coach will be a huge boon to them. steve wilks is one of the best in the business and actually fits what rivera is doing and has worked with him before quite a lot.

whether capt is starting or not doesn't matter to me much. i don't care who is starting, i just feel better about the state the secondary will be in because of all those factors i brought up. ans, like zod here said, just because capt starts at the beginning doesn't guarantee he'll keep the job. if someone does better then we'll see a needed change.

until i see that we are going to have problems, i'm just going to run with the assumption that things will be better this year. nothing i can do about it anyway so why worry?