Why do you think we are a + 7 win team?

[nationofdomination]

I also look at the 49ers. For the last decade they have been very similar to us. Lower-tier team that wasn't doing a whole lot of anything particularly well. In just the blink of an eye they have gone to two NFCCG and one SB. There is no reason for me to believe that no other teams are capable of that. Carolina has drafted well, produced tons of homegrown talent, and has shredded some horrible contracts. We have star players at many, many positions, and the lack of household names in our secondary doesn't scare me one bit as far as how good our defense is going to be.

you're comparing the panthers roster to the 49ers? their roster man for man is widely regarded as the best in football. your picture looks familiar, are you an original member of FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS?

[PhillyB]

the only thing about the team that legitimately scares me is the right side of the offensive line.

[Razeyfingers]

Positions which have massive strengths can be manipulated into doing very nasty things when you have a crapton of athleticism at the spot. A spot our coach knows well and a spot where we have 3 absolute beasts. . .  like saaaaay, LB.

 

No one knows how well our D will function yet, but when a coach has extra firepower, he might be inclined to do things that have never been done before systematically. There no telling how Chico is going to use his new chips but I have a feeling it could be special.

[iamhubby1]

I'll give you one good reason we could win 10 games this year. We were winning games late last year because we were playing solid football. (Fewer mistakes, better execution, just plain good football.) The team we are taking into battle this year is even better. (Kalil, Star, KK, some solid vet DBs, and a year more experience in the system.)

We were winning last year because we were a good football team. And we got better.

[panthers55]

Will we be better than 7 wins?  We went 1-6 and still won 7. I really don't see us getting off to that slow of a start this year. We should be 3-3 at worst having beaten Arizona, Buffalo, and St Louis but losing to Seattle, the Giants, and Minnesota. If we beat one of those guys we are 4-2 which surely makes a 9 win total possible if we go 500 the rest of the way.  That is surely doable if we split wins with our divisional rivals and beating the Jets and Miami.  If we really plan to be a playoff team we are also going to have to knock off some big dog along the way.  If you count the game we always lose to a team who sucks until they play us, we end up 8-8 which is the first non losing season since 2008.  With a little luck we do better. With injuries to key players we could do worse. At least we seem to have better depth than in the past.

[Gucci Mane]

If you think we win less than 9 games this season you are just plain dumb and probably have never been around the game of football before.

[Guest HelloWorld]

We have talent on both side of the ball?

[pantherclaw]

Double trouble will run like double trouble again.

Not only will we be putting up points, but well control the clock.

Our defense will be aggressive. It will get the ball back, giving it back to the offense with great field position.

We'll have a special teams for the first time in nearly a decade.

aggressive defenses, and ball control travels well for away games.

[KendrickPanther]

I can appreciate the excitement that a lot of you have about 2013. I can understand the theory that our front 7 will negate the need for a strong back end of the defense. I can wrap my arms around our QB and MLB as the future. But I can't come to grips with the 10-11 win/playoff talk. I need you 9+ win prognosticators to sell me on why you think we will get to that total or beyond. I don't want anecdotal evidence, I want solid reasons. Start with our schedule, then look at our coaching staff, then look at our DBs and our oline and tell me how they add up to anything other than a .500 win total.

The winning post that can sell me gets an authentic Otah jersey for $50.

 

Because I couldn't make it through the summer knowing there is a turd at the end of the tunnel. I always expect big things, even in 2010 Jimmy Clausen was going to be the next Joe Montana. There is no reasoning. There is no logic. I believe the Panther will be good the way some people believe Jesus walked the Earth. I have no evidence but I believe.

[SCP]

Because I couldn't make it through the summer knowing there is a turd at the end of the tunnel. I always expect big things, even in 2010 Jimmy Clausen was going to be the next Joe Montana. There is no reasoning. There is no logic. I believe the Panther will be good the way some people believe Jesus walked the Earth. I have no evidence but I believe.

You want the Otah jersey?

[Hawk]

you guys should be able to get 7+ wins this year....wait...you're including preseason right?!!!!!

[redbuddha]

To be honest SCP, I have serious doubts about this team and they are tied to the OC and the Head Coach in that order.

I have never been impressed with Mike Shula' s history as a coach. A simple google search of Mike Shula brings up mostly negative comments about his time as a head coach and OC.

Next although Chud's system put up points and records at times, it has never come across as a smooth running system besides those first two Tampa games Year 1. Yet Shula and RR want to keep a slightly modified version of this system.

Finally another poster mentioned this it seems Chud's routes seemed to consist of 1 person going deep and no one else being open. If that person wasn't open then Cam had to take it upon himself to make a big play with his legs or force a throw to a receiver who was not really open. This system seems to be high risk, high reward.

Also this system seems to put more pressure on Cam to be our leading rusher, Which I honestly think he could get more rushing yards, but I don't know that that would be good for Cams long term development.

What I would hope is that Barner factors heavily into our future lots of screens, and read option done the Oregon way where Cam doesn't end up as the leading rusher, Barner does. I would like to see a passing attack similar to New England's where you never know what receiver is going to get the call. If you compare Julian Edelman numbers to Armanti Edwards it seems they can make anyone a receiver. Offense by the Patriots and the Oregon ducks seems to be about manipulating openings in the defense, not about our athlete is superior to yours. Notice how when Cassell took over for Brady, it was like business as usual, and at Oregon they could replace a qb or rb every year and there was no real change in team stats.

Next issue is special teams. Can somebody block a kick or punt? I know the team has had kicks blocked, but I don't remember us returning the favor.

Now if they fix these things, I have high hopes for the Lbs and DL. I keep hearing Year 3 is the Year for a RR defense.

[Razeyfingers]

Two things about whatever I just read. . .

 

Im concerned about Shula too but that was how long ago? I would hope that he's grown. With his pedigree and former status with the team, Im fine with taking another look at him in the OC seat. Optimistic Idk, yeah, we got a good playbook.

 

 

Barner as our leading rusher? Wouldnt the play need to sell him as a blocker? If it is and Barner hasnt played a single down in the NFL, are you sure he's capable of doing all the things someone like say D'Lo can? I hope he's great but good lawd.

[CatMan72]

Because we managed to win 7 games last year while repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot. 

 

We're getting some hurt players back (ex. Beason), our young players have another year of experience under their belt, it looks like we've finally solved the riddle at DT and it sounds like Shula is going to take us back to basics and call plays that focus on our strengths instead of calling plays to show what an offensive genius he is so he can position himself for a HC gig somewhere else.