The off-season move that probably doomed us was not re-signing Moose.

[PhillyB]

Football is a game of inches. A few here and a few there can win you a game and it can lose you a game when the outcome is on the line. Those are the types of games when you need a leader, a possession receiver, a guy who wouldn't drop the chrysler building if it was thrown his way.

That's the kind of guy we had in Moose. Mushin Muhammed was 36 when the front office decided against signing him to a vet-minimum contract extension. I was at the last game of the 2009 season and watched him play his last snap as a professional football player - it ended a game of splendid play on his part. He led the team with 7 receptions for 85 yards (ten of them were a steve-smith-esque first-down-or-die houdini act against a swarm of Saints defensive backs on a single play that turned the crowd into a frenzy.) The recent surge of good quarterback play ended talks that Moose had lost whatever he had left in the tank. He was still Moose - an incredible downfield blocker, one of the best in the league, an established veteran in the lockeroom and on the field alike, a performer on the field and off.

Enter 2010. The front office decided, for whatever reason (speculate all you like, but that's for another thread) - to trim the fat. No more Hoover, no more Harris... and more importantly, no more Muhsin Muhammed.

It's bitten them square in the ass.

Virtually all the components of the offense have been rendered inert. Because our weak spot (receivers) is such an EXTREME weakness, it can be exploited to the point where our strengths (running backs, obviously) can be completely shut down. Toss in very, very mediocre quarterback play and you've got an offense impersonating the 2007 Oakland Raiders. ( )

Seriously, what the hell can they do? Defensive coordinators beat off to the Panthers' offensive line game film. They know exactly what to do. Roll a safety, devote a corner, and buzz a linebacker if necessary, to cover Agent 89. After that they have nobody. Stack the box, blitz the gaps, stuff the run - and let your offense take advantage of a Carolina defense stuck consistently with maddeningly terrible field position.

So what do you do about it? Wisdom would suggest you get another receiver. You get a possession receiver who's reliable enough to warrant one of those guys blanketing 89. In doing so you open up 89 for a few extra passes. You give your young (in this case, rookie) quarterback a sense of confidence because, one, he knows he's throwing to a big possession target, and because, two, that receiver's experience, leadership, and veteran status has affected the entire team around him - given the davis gettises and the brandon lafells something to look up to and to lean on.

...and then of course, with young receivers learning from an old pro and a quarterback making better throws and completing third downs and upping his confidence and steve smith getting his swagger back and the tight ends being thrown into the mix and barnidge ripping off obscene gains and running over defensive backs on national tv (lol @ you minnesota) the passing game is suddenly respected - and maybe, just maybe, at times it's feared. No more eighth man - suddenly that guy's pretty far up the field playing a deep zone, not crouching behind the defensive lineman keying in on the run. Suddenly that eighth man is Ronde Barber getting dribbled by Jonathan Stewart en route to a thirty-yard gain. Then again by DeAngelo Williams. Then again by - no wait - that's a playaction!!!!!!!!!

BOOM. touchdown smitty (or maybe that possession receiver we've been talking about this whole time.) Suddenly Jeff Davidson's offense looks pretty smart and the fickle fans that slobber over Everette Brown's speed one minute and call him Captain Spins the next are singing the praises of Foxball football philosophy.

Yep, all you need is a receiver. A veteran receiver, been around a good number of years, lots of experience, a legend in his own rite, old enough to only require vet minimum if you're an owner who's trying to trim the fat and be fiscally responsible, who's fast enough to torch a secondary or two (lol @ kansas city in 2008) and snag a passes over the first down marker.

Dwayne Jarrett was not this guy.

Brandon Lafell is not this guy (yet.)

David Gettis is not this guy (yet.)

Armanti Edwards is not this guy (yet.)

Shoulda kept Moose, Jerry. We'd be 3-2 going into the bye.

[Jackofalltrades]

Disagree, our failure thus far is a culmination of events. Moose was one of those, however we're more than one over the hill WR away from being 2-2 right now.

[Big Ed]

Moose is playing where ?

[pantherclaw]

Lol

[CLTPanther]

I'd be more inclined to say we let the wrong O-line guys walk.

[Lumps]

They are going as cheap as possible, that is the priority. So if you follow that business plan, resigning Moose would be stupid becasue it would go against this plan. Once again JR is not trying to win this year so it would be completely pointless to keep Moose.

[Dpantherman]

If Moose were still playing Id agree, but he isn't...He is RETIRED.

[Panths]

It was because we relied on Moose that we don't have a good #2 WR. And now we're stuck with what we've got. You can't get rid of all the older vets at every other position to go a younger, faster route and then just keep one because you've relied on him, that's contradicting yourself.

[rayzor]

It was because we relied on Moose that we don't have a good #2 WR. And now we're stuck with what we've got. You can't get rid of all the older vets at every other position to go a younger, faster route and then just keep one because you've relied on him, that's contradicting yourself.

true, but that probably a good reason to be going without smith....esp. with him turning into a grouchy old man.

not saying we should trade him...at least not yet.

[panthers55]

retired has nothing to do with whether he was still able to play. His skill set fit a team like ours but there aren't many teams who run as much as us who were in need of a wide receiver. Plus the general trend to go younger and cheaper across the board for most teams meant he wasn't going to get a contract elsewhere. Plus there is no telling if he wanted to go anywhere else. He might have gotten interest elsewhere and decided not to pursue it.

Still he did have a pretty productive year and with Smitty out for a few weeks would have given us a proven guy to base the offense around until Smitty came back. And his leadership and mentoring of the young guys would have been invaluable.

No getting rid of him and Hoover were 2 of the most boneheaded moves the Panthers did this year.

[H2oproof]

lmao....

[The Saltman]

*** moose we should have traded for anquan boldin

[SCP]

I'd be more inclined to say we let the wrong O-line guys walk.

bernardeau is no key vincent, that's fo sho.

[rayzor]

*** moose we should have traded for anquan boldin

yep.