We went 12-4 in 2013 with ancient Steve Smith and LaFell as top 2 receivers

[Sam Mills Fan]

Kelvin Benjamin being done for the year is devastating. I agree. But HOW devastating remains to be seen. Is Jarrett Boykin and Corey Brown really that big of a dropoff from what we had in 2013? The receivers that year were Smith, LaFell, Ginn, and Hixon. Right now, if we sign no one, it's Brown, Boykin, Ginn, Cotchery, and Funchess. 2013 Smitty would be better than anyone healthy on our roster right now, but how much better?

[CarolinaNCSU]

PanthersUnited already made this thread.  Feel bad.

 

But seriously...Philly, Ginn, Funch, and Olsen are "enough" for our style of play.  Are those WRs going to win us games like KB could? No.  But the defense was always going to do that.  IF Special Teams improves, and we win turnover battles, we're fine.  Potentially really good went out the window, though. Unless we pull some magical 2013 poo again. 

[philw5289]

Funchess is hurt and we now nothing about him can't say if he's better than lafell and ancient smith 

[Sam Mills Fan]

PanthersUnited already made this thread.  Feel bad.

 

But seriously...Philly, Ginn, Funch, and Olsen are "enough" for our style of play.  Are those WRs going to win us games like KB could? No.  But the defense was always going to do that.  IF Special Teams improves, and we win turnover battles, we're fine.  Potentially really good went out the window, though. Unless we pull some magical 2013 poo again. 

You're correct, but (shocking) it was another vague thread title. There needs to be a tutorial about making thread titles that tell what the actual post is going to be, the Huddle is the worst I've seen at this. But mods: feel free to link them together or whatever.

[Datawire]

There is already a thread on this and he was eviscerated by a select few for it. Huddle logic.

[PhillyB]

seattle is our litmus test for true success.

our 2015 squad with KB was good enough to beat seattle. our 2013 and 2014 squads weren't, and i don't believe our 2015 without KB is good enough.

i'm an eternal optimist but i see this pushing us out of whatever lofty deep playoff/superbowl aspirations we had.

[KB_fan]

Don't let Smitty know you called him ancient.  He's not gonna like that...

[tondi]

Yep.  We go from contender to borderline playoff team because of this.  That's still something to play for and anything can happen in the playoffs so who knows maybe there's still a glimmer of hope.

[SOJA]

let's just hope we go full Ewing Theory here

[JawnyBlaze]

the difference is we had Smith.  This year we were in that category WITH KB (our current Smith).  This year is like that year if we didn't have Smith and Lafell was our #1.

[CRA]

it took LaFell years to get to that point....Funchess won't be it out of the gate.

we also lack the savy HOF caliber vet if the above happens.

Which is big. 

[Sam Mills Fan]

seattle is our litmus test for true success.

our 2015 squad with KB was good enough to beat seattle. our 2013 and 2014 squads weren't, and i don't believe our 2015 without KB is good enough.

i'm an eternal optimist but i see this pushing us out of whatever lofty deep playoff/superbowl aspirations we had.

We weren't good enough to beat Seattle in the playoffs before this and we aren't now. If we make the playoffs for a third straight year and win a game like last year and do so with a winning record, I'll consider that a good year.

[OneBadCat]

I say we still aim for the Super bowl. I believe with KB we would have dominated Seattle. Now if we face them it'll come down to our defense and the refs not cheating us out of the game.

I do believe we have enough special talent to go far. KB made TDs easy, now we have to work a little harder.  Funchess knows all the WR spots if memory serves me right. Hope to God he can be like KB.

But I do have high expectations for Corey Brown and Cam Newton is Ted Ginny's Joe Montana. He's the only QB that has routinely weaponized him as a deep threat. Probably because he has a cannon arm. But we still have the ability to have a great year. I absolutely believe. Cam will need to step up more than ever though.

[AU-panther]

the difference is we had Smith.  This year we were in that category WITH KB (our current Smith).  This year is like that year if we didn't have Smith and Lafell was our #1.

And how many yards did Smith have that year?  By most people's definition on here he wasn't a #1.