2009 (8-8) and 2010 Comparison

[MHS831]

Advantage in BOLD

2009.........................................................2010

QB Jake Delhomme.........................................Matt Moore

Moore is better than 2009 Jake.

RB Williams/Stewart/Sutton.................Williams/Sutton/Goodson

Goodson is explosive and will cause the 2 headed monster to sprout another. Stewart is more healthy than he was last year. They were great, could be greater.

WRSmith/Moose................Smith/Jarrett/Martin/Edwards/Lafell Ok, hear me out. Smith had a fairly bad year last year by his standards. The Panthers need only to pass Moose's numbers by committee to better last season's effort.

OL Gross/Wharton/Kalil/Vincent/Otah...Gross/Wharton/Kalil/MB/Otah

Not much of a chance bettering last season. RG is weaker, but the rest remains. You could argue that Bernadeau and Schwartz are more experienced, but 2009 was awesome.

TE King, Barney, Rosario....................King, Barney, Rosario

More experience and more use in the passing game should improve this unit.

FB Hoover...............................................Fiametta

A moment of silence please. The offense's biggest loss

DL A bunch of guys............................A bunch of overachieving guys

Last season's DT position was a joke. This season, we have some high motor guys who fit Meeks' system better

DE Peppers, Johnson, Brayton, Brown.......Brown, Brayton, Johnson, Hardy Yes, Peppers is gone, replaced by a relentless group of high motor guys who have made JP long forgotten. All players from 2009 seem to have more fire this season. Lethargy is in chicagoland, awesome kickass is in charlotte.

LB Davis, Beason, Diggs.......Beason, Connor, Anderson

OK, 2009 had a better unit, but there is not too much dropoff here. Add Williiams and Norwood, and we bring a different look and better pass rush, but are weaker overall--slightly.

CBMarshall,Gamble,Munnerlyn,Wilson...Marshall,Gamble,Cptn,McClain

Marshall is in a contract year, Munnerlyn no longer a rookie, and McClain has better upside than CJ, IMO. Slight edge to this group.

S Godfrey, Harris............................Godfrey, Martin

Better speed, better fit for cover 2. Harris was cool, but he was slipping and we were sacrificing pass coverage.

I imagine most will agree with many of these assessments. Still think we can't be better than 8-8?

[Dpantherman]

I give Steve Smith a pass on last year. see #1

[MHS831]

Agreed. The productivity was not there because the ball was not there.

[Liminy]

I think Fiametta will be good, I guess it is the offenses' biggest lost just because I can't think of any other losses that were bigger, but I don't think it will be that bad without Hoov.

[MHS831]

I agree, but Hoover made it look easy. He didn't make the highlight reels for bowling people over, but he got a piece almost every time. Fiametta wiffed a few times in the preseason. But he will be good. It was Hoover, Vincent, or Moose. You could argue any of these are the biggest losses.

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

I disagree with the Safety and Defensive End positions. The rest are toss ups for the most part.

[Brooklyn Bully]

I think you went into this thinking the team is better now. Someone should do a more objective comparison. But yes, we can acheive 8-8 easily but it'll be up to many things to see if we can get beyond that.

[SorthNarolina]

A lot of that stuff remains to be seen.

WR is definately worse. We won't have a reciever like Moose unless we make a weird frankenstein out of Jarret, LaFell, and Martin.

Ja-Fell-Mar-Stein?

[MHS831]

You are correct. I think the team is better now. I think the DE play--from all we have seen--is better this year, the secondary is better, the QB play, and the WR play should improve as the QB play improves (and the running game may as well) the rest are basic washes. The LB play aand DT play were big concerns going into the preseason. Not so much any more. We will see.

Throw in what appears to be an easier schedule, and you never know. I am saying we could win 10.

And yes, unfortunately, I am not very objective, but I tried to look at it objectively.

[SorthNarolina]

I'm trying incredibly hard to not jump for joy about the DE position.

They could not have played any better in the preseason.

If they do that in the regular season then we are playoff bound.

[MHS831]

A lot of that stuff remains to be seen.

WR is definately worse. We won't have a reciever like Moose unless we make a weird frankenstein out of Jarret, LaFell, and Martin.

Ja-Fell-Mar-Stein?

Great name! I will try to remember it and use it as a one liner, fumble, and everyone will stare at me. My burden, not yours.

I agree that personnel seems worse at WR, but when you factor in Jake in 2009, we will have better numbers in 2010. Jake murdered SS last year and Moose was his only option. We have kids who will step up. Pre season was horrible, and has caused people to underestimate our talent. I also want to go on record as the only person ever who said that Charly Martin is going to become a key player for the Panthers this year. He looked great at OTAs, and if he can carry that over, I think he will succeed. The kid wants to play, he is not intimidated by anyone. and he will surprise people.

[The Don]

The only thing I disagree with is the offensive line. once we get Otah back, Schwartz will probably begin to start at RG, and I think he's a definite upgrade to Vincent. He'll be quicker off the ball, and he's probably stronger than Vincent as well. His awareness probably isn't as good as Vincent's, but that'll come as he gets more playing time. And the one that I agree with 100% is Hoover. I'm gonna miss that guy so much. Yeah, he had his ups and downs, but what a stand up guy he was for us. He rep'd the queen city like a true professional. And his hits were just brutal. Although, I think Fiammetta is gonna become a star FB for us down the road. So it's kind of a lose-win situation.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

If there is anything that the 2009 team has an advantage over the 2010 team in, then we didn't do the offseason purge right.