The 7-9 Bandwagon

Since everyone is speculating, just to be fair,,,, keep in mind Lucas said just yesterday that Key was "well-liked" in the lockerroom.

 

run defense was what didn't work. Pass O was 14th despite a subpar Jake year and three games of Weinke.

 

I was about to say, if QCRepresent would "explain" to us how it didn't work, then maybe us dummies could better understand this move. Last time I checked, he had about 70 receptions and commanded respect from opposing defenses.

 

Based on the Seattle game,the offense looked as though one more quality receiver might have put us over the hump. with a hurt Foster and no other option at reveiver we were easy to stop. going into last year Key seemed like that missing receiver. hey, I was all for keeping him this year. perhaps the Panthers FO thinks our window has closed and thats why they got rid of him now rather than later. and yeah, the defense did their part also. I thought they would be as good if not better going into last year.

 

It depends on how he uses that. If he uses being well liked to to keep everybody moving towards a common goal FOLLOWING THE PATH DESIRED BY MANAGEMENT, all is good. But if he is using it to take those that like him down another path, regardless of if it may be used to get to the same goal, then something must give. I am not saying this happened, just speculating.

 

Mongo,,,, I understand, but just to be fair, I wanted to pass on Lucas' comments,,,,,, and his exact words were "well-liked in the lockerroom".

 

what worked last year? we didn't make the playoffs. our offense still sucked. what exactly do you think worked? Key caught 70 passes. so what? did it enable Smitty to win us any more games or did Key actually win us a game. no. at best (even if you like the guy), he was a guy that could help move the chains. he was never anybody that opposing teams feared. i'm pretty sure that DC's did not suddenly change their game plans against us because of his addition to our team.

Key commanded respect? moreso than colbert? probably. moreso than Jarrett will, i doubt. I still maintain Key made some huge mistakes that cost us games last year. and most of the time i think he was getting single coverage. if you liked him and thought he was better than i think him, i'm fine with that but it's not reason enough for all the gloom and doom.

weinke also had the greatest statistical passing game in panther history yet we lost the game. why isn't the brought amidst the tears when guys are spouting off the production we will miss by releasing veterans? i'm sure Carr hasn't ever had as good a game statistically.

actually, I think departing with Key has another upside that hasn't been discussed. any chance of us being considered by the media to be a favorite to win the SB just went out the window. so we won't have that bullseye sitting on our back. you may think i'm just funning but this is a big plus.

and actually, i answered my own question right after i posted. we had just gone to the NFC championship game and picked up at least 3 big FAs (that come to mind) and drafted DeAngelo. so the world was abuzz about the Panthers. last year we we went an awful looking 8-8 (though almost all our wins since Fox arrived have looked awful), only picked up a backup QB in FA, freed Key, our hole at safety has become suddenly obvious and all our rooks will probably suck for a year or two, so now the world is all a gloom.

me, i see too many reasons to be excited to let the departure of one guy cause me any sadness. i honestly think this team is much better than the one everyone picked for the SB last year.

as far as rebuilding, i think we have been rebuilding since Fox arrived. he's done a good job of plugging some gaps until he could get enough young and talented kids. we are now on the verge of being where we don't have to sign stopgaps every year but can build and maintain through the draft cause this has basically become a young team that we will see starters being developed from within. we have a couple of glaring holes and still lack some good depth in some areas. but, we had at least a couple of glaring holes and much less depth even in the year we went to the SB (who was it we had behind the hole we call Favors ... anybody remember Brian Allen?).

are we "rebuilding" in the sense you use it (which is to sacrifice today for tomorrow)? absolutely not. Fox has wants to win now but he also wants to win tomorrow and the yearafter and so on. when he took over a 1-15, aged and seemingly talentless team, he didn't settle for it's gonna take 3-5 years to rebuild this thing ... and surely we woulda understood if he came in here with that line. he started winning right away and every year since then he's tried to put together a team every year that gave him a fighting chance ... without mortgaging the future (too much). in two of the past 4 years he's had significant injuries on the OL (the other two years he did pretty good). now it would seem we have the depth that we could sustain a couple hits there if we had too (though i worry about an injury at tackle). look at our roster. it is younger and more talented almost all the way up and down the line than last year and year before that and year before that and so on. i doubt you can come up with a more solid panther team in their history.

smitty being upset about Key being gone ... i really doubt it. actually that thought seems almost hilarious.

chipshot -- who were are safeties that were so much better two years ago? the guy that signed with SD? he was no world beater (actually, i didn't care for him). and actually, wasn't he a scrub that couldn't make Houston's top 11 before he came here? and .... Minter? OMG, i can see the logic for the gloom and doom.

 

mags, that actually made me chuckle.

 

While they weren't all world. McCree and Minter were more than we have now. We have an older Minter and then Cooper I suppose. I'd say we were better off at safety in 05.



I think the team could be much better than last year and still be nowhere near the Superbowl.

 

i'm getting confused. we're complaining about replacing an old guy with a young guy and then, in the same breath, we're complaining about not replacing an old guy with a young guy. i've got arguments to address either but none that address both. help me out. pick one line of reasoning and stick with it a while.