Final predictions for the season?

[hepcat]

Looking at the schedule again, I’m seeing another hot start for the Panthers. I think McAdoo’s offense gets a boost early on because there’s no tape of it with Mayfield running the show. Defenses are going to be guessing against the Panthers for the first few games. Hopefully they can stack some wins against lesser opponents in the first few weeks. 

But the schedule gets brutal in the mid point of the season with a murderer’s row of games against legit Super Bowl contenders. It will be the make or break stretch of the season and I would not be surprised if the team has a 5th straight year of a miserable long losing streak. 

The crucial elements of the season will be staying healthy at key positions and the play of Baker Mayfield. If CMC can play at least 10-12 games, Mayfield gels with his receivers, and the offensive line holds up better than in years past, the offense should be able to score. 

The defense has a lot of talent but could be suspect in the run game. It will be important to hold leads, something Matt Rhule’s teams have failed to do many times. Phil Snow is not really qualified to be an NFL defensive coordinator and his schemes regularly get destroyed by solid offensive lines and NFL caliber QBs, so hopefully an increase in talent will either fix his wacky gap alignment scheme problem or having real NFL caliber coaches like Steve Wilks will help them call normal NFL defensive plays. 

Either way, if this team was playing the 2021 schedule, I’d say this is a borderline playoff team. But I’m struggling to see more than around 7 or maybe at best, 8 wins. I really don’t think they’ll only win 5 games again, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another 5 win season. There’s some weird voodoo curse on the Panthers especially since Tepper bought the team. So, let us hope this year that curse is lifted.

[Luciu5]

I see as many as 12 wins just based off talent. As few as 2. It's just really hard to predict this team because of the way they fell off a cliff last year. Personally, I put a lot of that on Darnold. I'd say 8-10 wins is where we will end up. In Baker we trust. 

[OriginalPD]

I feel better about the team, but I still worry about coaching the run defense. I think 7-10 sounds about right. But I’m hoping for 9 wins and a postseason berth. 

[Daddy_Uncle]

Around .500

[CRA]

Somewhere around 5 to 7 wins.  Basically the same thing that could of happened the last 2 years if a random play had bounced our way.   We could of randomly gotten to 7 those years two with a lucky break. 

Schedule is hard.  Ton of new pieces on O from QB, to OL, to OC.  Its certain to have some rough spells trying to figure it out.   And I think the run D is going to really struggle.  And that will in the end weaken the pass D as they will likely have to overcompensate to deal with the run. 

[djp14]

[Snake]

I'm holding at 6 wins. I think we might make it to 8 with a weak division but I'm not betting on it. 

[The Huddler]

division champs

[stirs]

11-6

[bigdog10]

I think we split with each division opponent this year:  3 wins

I think we beat Cleveland and the Giants:  2 wins

We seem to own the cardinals:  1 win

We should beat Seattle:  1 win

We should win one game we’re not supposed too (I’ll say against the bengals):  1 win

 

8-9 is my vote. 

[thefuzz]

9-8 or 10-7 is kinda where I'm expecting.

 

Anything less than that, and the apple cart get's turned over once again.  Oh, and he needs to get a Wild Card, and be competitive or win one in the playoffs.

[Panther'sBigD]

I think we get to the playoffs, but don't have the depth to make it deep into the playoffs. I think that will be enough to warrant keeping the staff intact, which will trigger the usual suspects to start throwing their feces like chimps at the zoo. 

[Riverboat Ron]

20-0

[TheRumGone]

I’m very concerned with the run defense more than anything on this team. Baker will be adequate and I think the line will be improved from last year. Maybe not even good or even great but adequate. Baker can still make plays and has some elusiveness to him to compensate. Something Darnold was absolutely horrible at.
 

that run defense tho. If we can’t stop the run we’re fuged. Week 1s are always a toss up but if we get gashed by a run heavy team like the browns it will not bode well for the rest of the year. 8-9 is my prediction. This schedule is really tough.