Barnwell: Re-caging the Panthers

[pantherclaw]

I'm tired of the talk.

Expecting the media to change their tune before games that count, are played, is crazy.

Even when we win, there will be many who doubt.

[Pox 08]

What did Grantland predict for us last off-season?

[Ruff]

Bill Barnwell is really good at what he does, and makes incredibly valid points. Losing Gross is probably our biggest loss this season, it's true. Not having Ginn is going to hurt special teams.

I think he's right. If you adjust our wins, we're going to fall in the 10 win area.

[UNCrules2187]

What did Grantland predict for us last off-season?

 

Don't quite remember, but I do think Barnwell is fairly high on us going into the season. Higher than most pundits for sure.

 

Of course, he and Mays were driving the Bucs bandwagon (thought they would win the NFC South and were a legit SB contender) that crashed and burned claiming many lives.

[tondi]

I don't necessarily disagree with anything he said but he seems to assume the worst about every off season personnel move. Some of them may end up not working out but odds are some of them will turn out better than expected, just like last year.

[ctrcat]

I don't necessarily disagree with anything he said but he seems to assume the worst about every off season personnel move. Some of them may end up not working out but odds are some of them will turn out better than expected, just like last year.

True, but we are still the Panthers. The Carolina Panthers. In Charlotte, NC. Means everything to us but nothing to most. The only thing that matters are what the 53 men wearing that uniform do for those 3-3.5 hours every week. With our core pieces which I wouldn't trade for any we're gonna be sending it right back up the poop shoot of most of these guys for a LONG time.

[Fan01]

2013 Panthers

 

- Weak secondary

- Weak wide receivers

- Weak offensive line

 

- Great defense

- Great running game

- The Cam Newton

- Great defense

 

2014 Panthers

 

- Weak secondary

- Weak wide receivers

- Weak offensive line

 

- Great defense

- Great running game

- The Cam Newton

- Great defense

 

So, give or take we're basically the same team as last year except more experienced. 

 

 

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

I find it funny that the media expects Atlanta to bounce back after losing Tony Gonzalez and even more of their defense.

[KendrickPanther]

There were a lot of big national media guys that did not give us any credit until our 11th win last season. Why would we expect anything different? Remember Rodney Harrison with that smirk on his face after we beat the 49ers in Candlestick and all he says is "we will see what happens next week". 

 

Even Deion Sanders, one of Cam's biggest fans gave the division to the Saints after we beat New England in week 11.

 

Remember the surprised set of Monday Night Football when they got a good match up? It was like they found $20 in their pocket.

 

Hell think about our 38-0 thrashing of the Giants. I remember the National media was in shock that the Giants could be beaten so badly by such a "bad" team. 

 

Every week they picked against us. Every week they thought the mirage was over. And every week they looked like fools for 8 straight weeks.

 

I think most people remember the close games at the end of the season when our offense was really banged up. But we completely blew out 6 teams last year.

[ctrcat]

Our DL did this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBEZvxpXqMg to the Super Bowl Champs last year in one of our four losses.  That was Star and KK's first game.  The front 7 will even be more experienced + Ealy = better. 

[caatfan]

I think quite a bit of the negativity we're getting this season is due to our history. Nobody who's not a fan wants to believe in back to back winning seasons, let alone back to back playoff seasons. They expect a big drop in wins so they're looking for reasons for us to fail, not succeed.

[TheMaulClaw]

Last year on paper we looked more fugged.  Anything can happen.

 

I do know this....our secondary isn't nearly as bad as it's being made out to be.  I like Melvin White, Dockery, Cason, and Benwikere.  We might not have one true shutdown corner, but we can defend 4 wide sets.  If there's an injury at safety or CB we could still grab Florence or Mikell off the street.

 

I get the skepticism regarding the wr core but not to this degree.  On paper we look better there.  The only reason writers are freaking out about wr is because of Smitty's departure.  If you want to learn a trick that makes our wr core look better on paper just add Smitty's name. 

 

Benjamin,

Smitty,

Cotchery,

Avant,

King,

Bersin.

 

Doesn't that look awesome?  It's still good without Smith there.

 

They mention Olsen, make no mention of how well all the TEs (to my understanding) have looked in camp.  

 

Interesting read, but not necessarily accurate.

[UNCrules2187]

I agree with you guys. I think we will be ok at WR, probably on par with last season. May be a struggle early on as the group gels and gets experience, but on the whole we should be able to easily equal last year's production.

 

The only thing I agree with is the worries at OT (specifically LT). If Bell or Chandler can be half as good as Gross was, then Cam's mobility (when fully recovered) will do the rest. I think the interior of our o-line, assuming Silatolu stays healthy, is better than it was last year.

 

We're being doubted because we don't have a history of stability / producing winning seasons. Time's come to change that.

[X-Clown]

Before everyone gets out the pitchforks and claim that Barnwell is no better than Adam Schien and Peter King, keep in mind that he went on record last year saying that our win total should improve because our record in close games was a statistical anomaly, he's just saying there likely is some reversion to the mean with close games, and that the Panthers didn't have an offseason that appeared to show much of an improvement (on paper). He also basically said the same thing about the Falcons last year, likely to show regression from the previous season and not likely to have such a strong winning record in close games.

 

He's also been pretty firmly entrenched in saying that the media narrative last season about the Panthers winning because Cam supposedly matured was garbage (that he's been the same guy all along and that he's had to carry the offense on his back moreso than many of the guys he is compared to), that Hurney's contracts were a lot of the reason that we don't have the talent that we should have at other positions, etc. A lot of his logic for predicting the regression is sound, and I hope he's wrong, but it's not the typical unresearched BS that we have to hear in most cases.