2014 Panthers vs. 2013 Panthers

[Carl Spackler]

The bar for Gettleman now is not THAT much worse than Hurney, therefore better than Hurney

[mcdougal]

You would have to be a complete homer not to see the downgrades and unproven players supposedly filling holes.

 

If I had to bet I wouldn't take us winning more than seven games, not in our division.

 

I agree in part. There is certainly a lot of homerism going on here.

 

PEOPLE, for the love of God, we drafted the 5th WR with the 28th pick! To expect him to come in and catch 1000 yards, and 10+ TDs is BEYOND delusional! We have major holes in the OLine, and question marks at WR, and at RB...our QB is often our leading rusher...and we have an OC that most top 25 college programs would not hire in the same position.

 

This team is all-in on the DLine and defensive. We will make it back to the playoffs with that group having the most production.

 

I predict our defense will arise to the challenge and we will win more than 7 games...but it won't be because we scored 30 points on the Saints...but because we were able to hold the Saints to 10.

[mcdougal]

cam single handedly won us like 4 games last year.

 

thats playoffs or missing the playoffs. 12-4 to 8-8

 

cam does have to carry the load, we go as far as Cam takes us. it's just we haven't really surrounded him with much. it's like asking somebody to shoot a free throw with one arm. it's doable but much harder.

 

we are in the beginning stages of getting Cam help. we've started off strong but there is still a ways to go. Look at all these young QB's like Luck and RG3.

 

 

And that is the reason that you can not ask Newton to carry this team.

 

That is the reason that you EXPECT Stafford, Cutler, and even Brotles to carry their teams. Their teams spend the resources to build around them. The Panthers have not.

 

Which is fine. We don't have to do it like those teams. BUT we HAVE to get production out of the areas of the team we spent the most on.

 

If we are asking Newton and the offense to carry this team...we are going to be well below .500. We don't have the offensive talent.

 

And you are right. Look at Luck and RGIII. Especially Luck. His team is building around him. Therefore HE NEEDS to produce.

[My Goodness My Guinness]

I think the better question is: How do the other teams in the NFCS look compared to last year? 

 

And it doesn't look any easier for us. 

[UpstatePanther]

i am comfortable with this draft, but i will make no detailed game-by-game season prediction until after final preseason cuts/signings. i want to see how this roster fares in the preseason and what roster adjustments are made in response. i think our D is going to pick right up where it left off. i think our offense has huge potential, SO LONG AS the OL can be at least adequate. for now... i say 9 wins will be a disappointment, 11 will be a pleasant surprise. 

 

tempered expectations are nice. i expect this team, even with a sucky OL, to compete and win at least 9. i think if the OL can keep Cam upright, 12+ wins is not out of the question for this team. time will tell and like i said, i'll feel more confident making game-by-game predictions after final roster cuts/signings

[Peppers90 NC]

Defense might be better, biggest loss is Mitchell and Gross. Unless we get a guy like Roos, we are downgraded at LT significantly way more than safety where we may be okay in the least important position in the sport. I see no drop off in WR core and improvement TE and DE. If we can protect Cam, we should be equal or better than last year

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[Bravesfannchar]

We will essentially have the same OL we stayed last year except Gross. And possibly a big upgrade at RG with Turner. If everyone's healthy we should be at least decent with that glaring ? at LT.

Now, I'm still worried as hell about LT..... I think the team will jump on the next Tackle cut that is good. Possibly that Roos dude

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[lightsout]

12-4, but a lot more exciting in how we do it this year.


We'll rip off a few wins, lose a disappointing one. Rip off a few more, lose a tight one. Rip off a few more, lose another tight one, Rip off a few more, rest starters for playoffs and lose.

Except we'll be ready for the playoffs this time around and KB will have his big coming out party then, assuming he hadn't already.


A bit optimistic? Sure. Foolish, even? Possible. Gonna change my prediction? Nope.

[RoaringRiot]

If that's true though, it just proves there are a lot of Blind Gettleman Jock Sniffers on here that would forgive that so easily.

I don't think that proves that at all. No one said they were cool with the passing game not improving. I personally think the WRs are better than last year. For the sake of this discussion he was saying they were worse and I was just saying they can't be that much worse if they are.

[Zithers]

QB: Better simply because more experience

RB: Better since Stew will be around (fingers crossed!)
WR: Even or better, Avant has smooth hands, KB and Cotch can be redzone guys, Tiquan is Ginn 2.0

TE: Better since Ed Dickson will actually be targeted unlike Brandon Williams, McNeill replaces Hartsock

OT: Worse duh

OG: Amini + Scott/G Williams/Turner/Kugbila should make for an interesting RG battle, I'll go even

C: Same duh

 

DE: Better bc Ealy and less Alexander who sucks
DT: Better bc more experience for Star/KK, Dwan presumably won't miss a lot of time

LB: Better or even as I can only assume Luke/Klein will progress and TD/Blackburn stay same

CB: Even? Losing Captain sucks. Cason should do well back under Rivera/Wilks, Bene seems Captain-y from what I've read, Godfrey could be OK, Melvin White sticking around, etc

SS: Even? Roman Harper is worse at coverage than Quintin Mikell and Lester should be improving.

FS: I'm not convinced Mike Mitchell is actually good and isn't just a product of our front seven, so idk.

 

Kicking: same

Returning: worse because we don't have a returner atm

 

Coaching: Better. We get Riverboat Ron for a full sixteen games + John Ramsdell

 

 

Of course, even if we are a better team, that won't necessarily result in a 12-4 record because holy poo our schedule is brutal. AFCN and NFCN both look much improved from last year. Falcons are healthy and cleaned up their trenches a bit though they still have no edge rush to take advantage of our lol tackles. Defense seems soft in general compared to the three other teams in the division. Bucs are looking nice on paper with skills positions but I'm still not convinced Lovie Smith wasn't a horrible hire and that Josh McCown won't completely suck without Marc Trestman. Saints are Saints. Could be looking at a 500 record.

[DaveThePanther2008]

I wouldn't say the O line is worse.  I wouldn't say it is better either.  I would say it is a huge question mark.  We are going to have unknowns at our tackle positions.   It will depend on whether they have learned and improved from 2013.  

 

If they have we'll be OK.   If not, we'll be watching the 1 June cuts and when teams make their 53 man roster cuts.

 

Either way I think Gettleman will pick and plug until we get out of our cap mess.

[TN05]

Undoubtably worse. At WR, we've got a rookie and multiple career 3s and 4s as compared to an all-time great with careers 3s and 4s. At line, we lost a Pro Bowl left tackle and a good starting guard (Wharton), and we'll probably have Bell/Chandler starting at either spot. At corner, we lost Munnerlynn, who was good for a couple pick sixes a year. We also lost both our starting safeties and a top-five KR/PR. We have replacements for almost none of these holes.

2013 saw holes at right tackle, guard, safety, and KR/PR. We fixed the latter three but lost our replacements and still have the tackle hole. Can we strike gold again? Maybe, but I'm not expecting it.

[Carl Spackler]

Undoubtably worse. At WR, we've got a rookie and multiple career 3s and 4s as compared to an all-time great with careers 3s and 4s. At line, we lost a Pro Bowl left tackle and a good starting guard (Wharton), and we'll probably have Bell/Chandler starting at either spot. At corner, we lost Munnerlynn, who was good for a couple pick sixes a year. We also lost both our starting safeties and a top-five KR/PR. We have replacements for almost none of these holes.

2013 saw holes at right tackle, guard, safety, and KR/PR. We fixed the latter three but lost our replacements and still have the tackle hole. Can we strike gold again? Maybe, but I'm not expecting it.

 

I agree with all except cornerback. I think as of right now we're a little bit better there. Captain was good, but overrated.

[TN05]

I agree with all except cornerback. I think as of right now we're a little bit better there. Captain was good, but overrated.

Of course, but whenever he got an INT it was a touchdown. That helps our offense a whole lot.