Panthers Season Preview
Sep
11
Written by:
9/11/2011 1:45 PM
Week one of the 2011 NFL Season is upon us. The Panthers are making a cross country trip to open up at Arizona. I don’t think I am saying anything new here, but I fully expect this to be a roller coaster season for the Panthers. The excitement that Cam Newton brings to the field should be something great for the fans early in the season, but I am certain that the excitement will translate to extra wins this season. The schedule makers didn’t do this team any favors with a brutal schedule. Once again this team has a lot of youth here and many young inexperienced players, such as Newton, will be expected to make plays.
On the offense, Cam Newton has to be the biggest addition. Fair or not, Newton will be expected to come in and lead this offense back to respectability. Many have stated that Newton has some technical flaws in his delivery, but the Panthers still saw enough potential in him to make him the #1 pick overall. Michael Vick has reached out to Newton to give him some advice on how to handle the adversity that is certain to come Newton’s way. While Newton is an upgrade over Clausen, I wonder if starting the rookie is the best play. We will find out later this afternoon. The running backs should be the stable portion of the offense with Williams and Stewart both back and healthy. Steve Smith is back as the #1 receiver and still doesn’t have a solid #2 opposite of him. The best thing this team may have done for Newton was bringing in both Shockey and Greg Olsen. Lets just hope Newton remembers he has both of these guys out there and doesn’t force things to Smith.
The defense could be better this season, provided the offense doesn’t put them in bad situations like last season. The defensive line and secondary are still very large question marks. The defensive line is key for opening up opportunities for the linebackers, which should be the strength of this unit. The secondary should be tested early and often this season as they have not shown a lot this preseason. Hopefully the Panthers were holding some things back in preseason and will show some things in Arizona today.
Having said all of this, I think the Panthers will be better than last season’s 2-14 record. My prediction is 4-12 and while it is not a lot better, it does show improvement. The Panthers play in potentially the toughest division and I am not certain they can win a game in the division. Playing the NFC North and AFC South this season certainly doesn’t present a lot of opportunities for easy wins, with the potential exception of the Colts, who will be playing without Manning. While I expect the Panthers to come out strong this week at Arizona, next week’s home opener against the Packers could be dangerous. A win in Arizona would not surprise me today, but after this week, the road could be a bit rocky.
OTHER RANDOM NOTES FROM MY HEAD
Adam Schefter had a great tweet the other day: What would have been odds that to open 2011 season, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre wouldn't start but Kerry Collins and Luke McCown would?