Predict the 2012-2013 Panthers Regular Season Record

[FirstRoundPick]

i believe we are going to be awesome and score 5000 points this year. I think we will score about 406 points like our total last year. But it might be less.

[La Pantera]

Captain Obvious...5-11!?!!? A dumb ass falcons fan thinks our team is better. We could've easly won 8 or 9 games last season if the D was healthy and the ST unit wasnt so horrible. This years team WILL be better than last years.

[thefuzz]

You guys do realize how thin we are at DT, LT, DE, and CB......right....right....

[Rubi]

It's going to be an absolute dog fight getting to 8-8 or 9-7.

Saints* and Falcons are both loaded still. Tampa had probably the best offseason in the NFL with additions of Nicks, Jackson, Clark. And their three top draft picks were solid. I think Freeman is overrated. But they def have upgraded.

We also play the NFC East. Philly- contender. NYG- contender. Dallas - ehhh. Skins- garbage (I think RG3 will struggle). Denver will be a tough game. And going into KC will be brutal as well.

We do have Cam Newton however. He can take over games. I think Kuechly will be a game changer even as a rookie. We were one or 2 plays away last year from having a couple more wins. He's the guy that can get us over the hump when we need a big stop/ turnover.

I say 8-8 or 9-7. Im thinking maybe even wild card.

[CardiacCats]

9-7 seems like a nice guess

[Nine_Lives]

8-8

3rd in the South

[Keep Pounding]

10-6, I think we will win more of the close games that we lost last year.

[KillerKat]

8 or 9 wins if lucky. The DB corps right now is too weak to keep up with the passing league of today. And we did nothing to help DT.

[cultclassiccat]

I was holding back voting 11-5. Homer says 14-2.

[goodoleboy]

i pretty much agree with nothing you said there.

re: defense- it's healthy now and they have all their key components back as well as the addition of kuechly (shutting down TEs and tightening down things in the middle of the field). also they have a year in the system so they know what they are doing more. they have a better DB coach. just the defense being healthy and having a consistent presence on the field week to week will improve things. we have improved competition in the secondary to boot. i just can't for the life of me figure why people would look at how things are different this year from last year and still expect a sucky defense. it may not be top 10, but it will still be good enough to not lose games.

re: cam getting game planned....they will be game planning for last year's version which, although pretty dynamic, was still rather unprepared. people will comment all the time about how cam was successful because defenses weren't prepared to handle him. it works the other way as well and it's not like they didn't get a clue how to handle him and prepare for him specifically as the year went on. its not like every week defenses were walking in as blind as the cards were. each week teams had more game tape on him and you better believe they were studying it every week trying to prepare. to act like they didn't know what they were doing each week and came into each game unprepared is a bit naive. sure, they'll have a better idea of what is needed, but so will cam and he'll still be ahead of defenses.

also, the thing that causes sophomore slumps is a lack of work and a complacency that happens with the position. either the player doesn't work to improve or the coaching staff spends less time developing...or they just weren't that talented to begin with. none of that is the case with cam.

you also aren't taking into consideration an improved special teams, and i'm not just talking about the kickers. coverage units will be solid as will returners. we brought in this offseason several special team aces who are proven commodities. this is also an area where being healthy and having a consistent roster to work with will cause improvements. if the defense is healthy, rivera and mcdermmot won't be raiding the STs roster for starters. if they can have a consistent roster to work with things will improve from week to week.

i think people who look at this team and say that they haven't done enough to warrant adding at least a couple more wins aren't looking at anything other than the W/L columns from last year. it was a clusterf*ck of a year where they had a new coaching staff, new systems on offense and defense, no offseason to speak of aside from TC (which just wasn't enough to help players learn their new roles in their particular schemes) and they also aren't taking into account the effect of so many injuries on defense. they had all that stacked against them and they still got 6 wins and there were several more games that they just barely lost. most of the games they played could have been won if the defense and STs weren't in such bad shape which they aren't heading into this season.

sure, there are a couple positions that aren't as strong as most of us would like, but overall the defense is in better shape than it was.

sorry about that wall of text, but i'm just getting tired of seeing that kind of stuff. do you have to see it the way i do? nope. you don't have to be farting rainbows. i just don't see it being very realistic to expect no to very little improvement in what this team does this year.

Fine. I rarely agree with anything you post either.

Watching the first preseason game changed nothing for me. I wanted to scream at the TV anouncers every time they said "getting Edwards back" would shore up the run D. When exactly did we ever have him on the field? Is he really any good even if he can stay there? We have neglected the D line. It will bite us in the butt.

I was impressed with Keuchley. If Beason is full go we will have good linebackers. However stopping the run with linebacker play in front of a weak secondary and behind a weak line is not a recipe for success. 7-9 is pretty realistic to our talent level.

[rayzor]

i didn't say i rarely agree with anything you say, just that post.

meh...

[CarolinaNut]

9-7...this team is still a year away from the playoffs

[goodoleboy]

i didn't say i rarely agree with anything you say, just that post.

meh...

Sorry. That comment was uncalled for. I had a few beers during the game.

[Dpantherman]

no