A long, hard road lay just ahead

by S4G

The NFC South leading Panthers holds a mere half game lead over their rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The 4-4 Bucs are still in a good position with a bye week still to come, and a "weaker" schedule (the combined winning record of their remaining opponents is 21-36, or 36.8%), only two of their remaining opponents have a winning record so far - Carolina being one of them.

Even the Saints are not out of it at 3-4, they too have a "weaker schedule (the combined winning record of their remaining opponents is 26-41, or 38.8%), who also only have two oppinents with a winning record remaining, one of which os the Carolina Panthers.

Meanwhile Carolina will have to face the likes of the Tennessee Titans (5-2), the Green Bay Packers (6-1), the Jacksonville Jaguars (5-2), the Seattle Seahawks (4-3), and the Dallas Cowboys (6-1) - three of which are their respective division leaders currently, and the other two are not only because they are in the same division as the Indianapolis Colts!

While I am a die-hard fan of the Carolina Panthers, I am not looking to free up any money to see the Cats in the post-season just yet.  Coach Fox has done well preparing his teams during the second half of the season with a record of 24-16 since 2002, but with all the woes the Panthers have had at home recently, it does not bode well that they have five more to go in the second half of the '07 season.

In order to hold this lead in the NFC South the key match ups will be:

25-November when the Saints come marching into Charlotte

30-December when the Panthers travel to the Buccaneers

If the Panthers are going to have any serious hopes of making it to the play-offs, it will only be as division champions.  They are going to have to find a way for David Carr to connect with Steve Smith, and the likes of Keary Colbert, Dwayne Jarrett, and Jeff King are going to need to find ways to get open and actually catch the balls thrown to them.  DeShawn Foster and DeAngelo Williams have to get more yards per rush.  The Offensive line needs to stiffen up and actually protect their QB from getting hurt any more.  The Special Teams needs to actually work on winning the battle of field position, and I have no idea what is going on with the defense. 

Maybe it's because Julius Peppers is rumored to be working on a contract extension, but this whole moving him around thing is not working.  1.5 sacks in seven games, for a player considered by many to be one of the best athletic defensive players in the game, is just plain aweful.  Is there no trust in the other ten players on that unit that they have to move #90 all over?  Is there no scheme that can help him avoid the doubel team?  And what about the secondary?  It would seem that they are instructed to keep all receivers in front of them at all times, and thus allowing opponents to push them off until they get to the 1st down marker so they can turn a corner and catch the ball.

I believe the Panthers can make the playoffs.  I have to, I am a fan.  But if one looks at the statistics of the season so far, review the upcoming schedule of the Panthers and their NASCAR division rivals... it's not boding well for my boys to make it past the current 2007 season schedule.  I remind myself that it is improbable if for no other reason that I don't get my hopes up, and if I am proven wrong I can be glad about it.