Well, the bad news is, the Carolina Panthers are bringing back virtually the same team they had a year ago, only with perhaps more Opening Day questions under center and a coaching staff that, thanks to the lockout, has spent about as much time with its players as you’ve spent reading this opening sentence. But the good news is Carolina only has to win three games to claim a “fifty percent increase” on victories from a year ago.
It’s actually not all gloomy. Ron Rivera, the longtime defensive assistant who gets his much-deserved first coaching job after years of unsuccessful interviews, is inheriting a team that’s not nearly as bad as most defending cellar-dwellers . Last season’s 2-14 faceplant was an anomaly brought on by the lame duck status of head [...]
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| Cam Newton 2011, Cam Newton Panthers, Carolina Panthers 2011, Carolina Panthers predictions, Carolina Panthers preview, Panthers preview 2011
Your view of the Carolina Panthers depends on your interpretation of their disastrous 33-13 home Divisional Round loss to the Arizona Cardinals last January. If you are in the camp that believes America witnessed merely a 12-4 team being struck down by quarterback Jake Delhomme's ill-timed career lowlight (in which he completed 22 of 34 passes, but five of them to the wrong team), then you see this club as the favorite in the NFC South. After all, the Panthers return all 11 starters from their seventh-ranked scoring offense, and 10 starters on a defense that, if not for a late-season meltdown, would have finished in the league's Top 10.
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| Carolina Panthers 2009 pre-season, Carolina Panthers 2009 predictions, Carolina Panthers 2009 preview, Carolina Panthers fantasy, Carolina Panthers preview
