Carolina Panthers Article on NOLA.com

[Woodcookedbbq]

An blogger at the New Orleans Times Picayune thinks we're the team to beat in the NFC South this year. Pretty interesting.

http://blog.nola.com/saintsbeat/2009/05/carolina_panthers_put_emphasis.html

[rayzor]

good read.

i thought this was interesting:

Of the 21 players who comprised the first three picks from Carolina's previous seven drafts, only eight were on the defensive side -- including defensive end Julius Peppers, the No.¤2 overall pick in the 2002 draft and Fox's first selection as coach of the Panthers.

first 3 picks from each of the past 7 years

offense:

Jonathan Stewart ('08)

Jeff Otah ('08)

Dwayne Jarrett ('07)

Ryan Kalil ('07)

Deangelo Williams ('06)

Eric Shelton ('05)

Evan Mathis ('05)

Keary Colbert ('04)

Travelle Wharton ('04)

Jordan Gross ('03)

Bruce Nelson ('03)

Mike Seidman ('03)

Deshaun Foster ('02)

13 picks. 6 are no longer on the team. 6 are starters or get a lot of PT and then there's jarett.

defense:

Charles Godfrey ('08)

Jon Beason ('07)

Richard Marshall ('06)

James Anderson ('06)

Thomas Davis ('05)

Chris Gamble ('04)

Julius Peppers ('o2)

Will Witherspoon ('02)

6 starters coming out of that bunch. all are still on the team (well... anderson is, isn't he?).

anyway, not an huge success rate on offense but that is and has been improving. still...pretty surprising the amount of offense drafted considering we are have a defensive coach.

[DaveThePanther2008]

Not bad at all. I think Meeks will improve our defense back to Top 10 status.

Go Panthers

[d-dave]

I think that shows a team that can draft well. If you're hitting over 50% on 1st day picks, that's pretty good I'd think.

[Urrymonster]

anyway, not an huge success rate on offense but that is and has been improving. still...pretty surprising the amount of offense drafted considering we are have a defensive coach.

Not nec. in my mind. For a few years it has been clear that our offense has been a one man show, with the defense being servicable until this last year. That indicates that they knew where they were weak and were actively trying to fix it, but to the extent where they neglected the defense.

Last year they went a differenct route on fixing the offense and although we still do not have a future at Wr opposite Smith yet, it paid off big on the offensive line and at running back.

The other thing to consider, Fox might consider that he can couch up defensive players more effectively, due to his defensive background. So he might of been more willing to use lower round picks and veteran players in his defense, as he could mould them into the ideal player.

These last two drafts though have been spot on. First he addressed the offense and that was big last season. This season he really focused on getting us defensive talent for our scheme AND picked up the best Oline guys who dropped, giving us huge reward for little risk. Then he did essentially what he did last year and flooded the training camp with cheap bodies, looking for those one or two gems on the defensive line and for depth at Oline.

In my mind, he has adapted well these last couple of years and is going back to his mantra, winning the trench battle. I think the team generally got side tracked, trying to build the perfect team a few years back, looking at skill positions too often and not focusing on what his scheme was all about.

That is why I feel Fox should be given time to succeed. He has been successful already and these last two years when it looked like he was running out of steam, has shown that he is aggressively looking at improving the team in exactly the areas people feel there are holes. These last two drafts have been huge and it shows that he still wants to win.

[uptowndlo34]

Well, we did win the NFC South last year with a 12-4 record. Shouldn't that mean that we are the team to beat?

[CarolinaPride74]

Saints fans are total idiots, they say every year is their year but look where they are at the end of every season. I guess when you lose as much as they do you have to make yourself believe that you're the best team just to keep you from shooting yourself. I laugh at all the "loyal" Saints fans who have never even sniffed the success that us Panthers fans have in our short history. We might have lost our only Super Bowl but man did we give Brady and the Patriots one heck of a game, that's something the Saints will never experience!

[CharlotteBeer.com]

Saints fans are total idiots, they say every year is their year but look where they are at the end of every season.

:iagree:

In one of the comments under the article, a poster ranks the South thusly: 1. Saints 2. Falcons 3. Panthers 4. Bucs.

I'm sorry, but until the Saints prove otherwise, they are not the best in the division. How do you go from last to first with a few offseason moves?

We're returning almost all of our starters and made some great draft pickups. We've got what seems to be a good defensive coordinator in Meeks, as well as some other passionate coaches. We do face what appears to be a tough schedule, but so do the other teams in the division.

This division is ours until proven otherwise.

[Montsta]

:iagree:

In one of the comments under the article, a poster ranks the South thusly: 1. Saints 2. Falcons 3. Panthers 4. Bucs.

I'm sorry, but until the Saints prove otherwise, they are not the best in the division. How do you go from last to first with a few offseason moves?

We're returning almost all of our starters and made some great draft pickups. We've got what seems to be a good defensive coordinator in Meeks, as well as some other passionate coaches. We do face what appears to be a tough schedule, but so do the other teams in the division.

This division is ours until proven otherwise.

In their defense, didn't our division winner go from last to first for the past 6 or 7 years or something like that? Maybe not last year, but you get what I'm trying to say.

[CharlotteBeer.com]

In their defense, didn't our division winner go from last to first for the past 6 or 7 years or something like that? Maybe not last year, but you get what I'm trying to say.

You've got a point there. No one thought Atlanta would be as successful as they were last year with a rookie quarterback and new head coach, that's for sure. New Orleans could very well win the division next year, as they do have a lot of talent. But they'll have to prove it. Over the last few years, many fans and analysts have predicted the Saints would win the division, some going as far as to say they'd represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. They are, like the Cowboys, consummate preseason favorites (at least under Payton).

While draft and free agency should indeed be factored into next season's predictions, so should last season. And last season we had a 12-4 team with a very mediocre defense. I think we've taken strides to improve on that side of the ball, with players and personnel.

Again, I'm not saying they won't win the division. I'm just sick of hearing it every year. Let's let the season play out a little bit before the yearly "Saints will win the division" claims surface.