Breaking the curse of "the year after"

[Bj-Monster23]

1 hour ago, caatfan said:

I think there's a confidence factor in play too, to some extent. The experts aren't bothered by the prospect of Brady being out for the 1st four games. They're being picked to not only win the division again, but even go 3-1 or 4-0 to start. 

OTOH the Panthers, even with winning the division 3 years in a row, don't inspire that same level of confidence. Historically we've been a yo-yo franchise, up one year and down the next. Despite the fact that we may be a better overall team this season (on paper anyway), I think many are looking for and expecting the traditional Carolina collapse. 

1- The turnaround two years ago that let us climb out of the cellar and win the division. I think this GM and this coaching staff have not only put together a good team, but given them the confidence that they can win and win big. 

 2- Cam has matured and taken his game to another level, which has also inspired team confidence.

This team will be highly motivated and very dangerous next season. One thing that i learned from watching the game of football especially last season is doubt is the biggest motivating factor that exist in today's game. Last season watching the Panthers I knew we had the potential to go to the super bowl, after watching and following training camp practices, preseason, and game 1 against Jacksonville and through the season. Each week Ron Rivera kept this team very motivated to win because everyone doubted us to win 4 games last season with the loss of Kelvin Benjamin on offense. Ron Rivera is becoming a very good coach in the NFL because he knows how to push his players but not too much. He is definitely a grinder and believe in the philosophy to have the players mentally prepared and "FOCUS" on game day and most importantly have fun while playing the game. After the super bowl loss, we are now back to ground zero, and have to believe in the process that got to where we are again. The media scrutinized Cam after the post game presser and everyone now feels like they can take shots at the Panthers because we loss the super bowl. I know with Kelvin being back on offense and if we can get through training camp with no significant injuries we will be prime to get back to the big game. To top all of that off with is Game 1 is against the defending the super bowl champs. This team will be ready to go.

[xXxBretWeedxXx]

The Panthers have only ever had a winning record following a year with exactly 7 regular season wins.

[sharkkiller]

You have Roman Harper as returning in 2016. He is gone.

[KB_fan]

5 minutes ago, sharkkiller said:

You have Roman Harper as returning in 2016. He is gone.

Good catch, sorry about that.  Not sure how I missed that as I know that Harper is gone.

[RomanG18]

Also keep in mind the schedule gets harder after a winning season.

Love the love Jake is getting on this thread. While his career here ended on a downturn he also should be remembered as one of the greatest ever to wear a Panther uniform. I will always remember fondly the opening season game he came in at halftime, just like in a movie, for a hurt Rodney Pete and turned around the franchise. 

[party_animal]

@KB_fanInjuries have historically been a big issue with us having back to back winning seasons.  Specifically, look at Stephen Davis and Steve Smith's number of games played in 2004.

[caatfan]

6 minutes ago, party_animal said:

@KB_fanInjuries have historically been a big issue with us having back to back winning seasons.  Specifically, look at Stephen Davis and Steve Smith's number of games played in 2004.

Injury is always the NFL wildcard. It's a matter of how many, who gets hurt, how bad, and for how long. We were pretty lucky last season, aside from KB. Hopefully our luck holds up. 

[KB_fan]

4 hours ago, DaGreat_98 said:

in every season after winning the division, the Panthers will end up having 4 games against 4 Division champions, 3 from other NFC division and one NFC division. I think that mathematically makes it tougher because that means that the last place team in our division will play 4 bottom dwelling teams in a season.

@DaGreat_98  thanks to you and others who point out the factor of having a tougher schedule after you win your division in having to play the NFC division champs.   In theory that should make for a tough schedule, but it doesn't always work out that way, as 2015 showed.  In fact, I would argue that it evens out, because while we had to play 4 division champs last year (Dallas, Indy, Seattle and Green Bay), Each of our division foes also had to play 4 division champs (Dallas & Indy and twice against US!)

In fact, as things stand right now, we have the weakest projected strength of schedule in our division for 2016, because we don't have to play against ourselves!

Here's what the preliminary strength-of-schedule for 2016 looks like based on 2015 records:
 

Quote

 

A full team-by-team strength of schedule ranking is below:

T-1. Atlanta Falcons (0.555)
T-1. San Francisco 49ers (0.555)
3. Los Angeles Rams (0.551)
4. New Orleans Saints (0.547)
T-5. Seattle Seahawks (0.543)
T-5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0.543)
T-7. Arizona Cardinals (0.531)
T-7. New York Jets (0.531)
9. New England Patriots (0.523)
10. Buffalo Bills (0.520)
11. Miami Dolphins (0.516)
12. Carolina Panthers (0.512)

 

So yeah, we have to play against Washington and Minnesota next year, while Atlanta plays Philly & Green Bay..  Not sure there's too much difference there... But Atlanta plays us twice...  Poor Falcons!

Also, overall our 2015 schedule was probably easier than our 2014 schedule because we got to play the very weak AFC South & NFC East in 2015.  Oddly enough, on paper, we also had an easier schedule in 2014 than in 2013.  In 2016 playing both the West divisions makes for a tougher schedule than 2015, but that's true for our division rivals as well. 

[cam1uvrxoxo]

I think the curse of the year after is less of a curse and more a product of the randomness and difficulty that is involved in a return trip to the superbowl. Makes sense from a statistics standpoint that its extremely difficult to go back in the very next year.

[KB_fan]

1 minute ago, cam1uvrxoxo said:

I think the curse of the year after is less of a curse and more a product of the randomness and difficulty that is involved in a return trip to the superbowl. Makes sense from a statistics standpoint that its extremely difficult to go back in the very next year.

Totally agree.   But "the curse of the year after" makes a much sexier thread title than "the statistical improbability of getting back to the Super Bowl"  (LOL!)

[pantherclaw]

How hard is it for ANY team to get to the Superbowl? 

I think things get put in the spotlight more, if you were there the year before, but how much more difficult is it, really. 

Some say we'll have a target on our backs. We already had that most of last year. Seriously. 

It's about managing your injuries, and coming to play every game.  

That doesn't change. 

Our chances of getting back to the Superbowl are no greater than they were at this time last year, IMO.

[thefuzz]

To be consistent in this league, you need consistency from the QB position.  Something that we have never had a lot of as Panther fans.

Hopefully we have that now, and for the next 6 or 7 years....hopefully.  If we can consistently get a top 5 QB out of Cam, we will turn into a Brady led Patriots, or a Manning led Colts type of team.

[TheRumGone]

30 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

To be consistent in this league, you need consistency from the QB position.  Something that we have never had a lot of as Panther fans.

Hopefully we have that now, and for the next 6 or 7 years....hopefully.  If we can consistently get a top 5 QB out of Cam, we will turn into a Brady led Patriots, or a Manning led Colts type of team.

He's on that path. As his athleticism diminishes his football IQ and pocket awareness will need to increase. Hes 27 and in his prime for the next couple of years. 

He's on the right track. You could see it last year with the audibles, hot routes, hard counts, ect. It looked like he was just toying with teams at times. Just from what we've seen I think he can be that guy.

[thefuzz]

43 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

He's on that path. As his athleticism diminishes his football IQ and pocket awareness will need to increase. Hes 27 and in his prime for the next couple of years. 

He's on the right track. You could see it last year with the audibles, hot routes, hard counts, ect. It looked like he was just toying with teams at times. Just from what we've seen I think he can be that guy.

Totally agree.  From the time we turned in the card to take Cam, I said that if he ever got the accuracy thing dialed in a bit, and learned the mental side of the game, he wouldn't just be a game changer, but a damn near unstoppable QB.  He seems to be doing just that.