Interested in NFC South?...

Sorry, my bad... my comment was meant as a slam on successful West Coast (not necessarily WCO), coaches... Things are a little different out here in the east coast...

As far as Johnson goes, Add him to the list of guys, I'm just not impressed with. That makes 2 Johnsons in the NFL, I'm not impressed with... wait that sounds kinda funny... oh well, I never saw what the big fuss was about him.

I'm picking the Bucs 8-8 to 9-7. I like Gruden, this should be a good test for him. I just don't look for him to do more than Dungy did, at least not next year.

 

yes, yes they did! and they are saying that Micheal Vick is doing extremely well in practice, too.

 

Sorry about that Kakia. My comment was actually meant sarcastically. I don't think Warrick is all that great, good at best. I still think the Falcons will suck, although a key ingredient in the form of "minority owner" has been added, and winning seems to follow this guy around. Any guesses?

But yes, Vick has had a great camp thus far, from what I hear.

 

I agree with that...the Panthers are going to have a new coach, new systems, etc. It is rare that new coaches that inherit bad teams can turn it around in a year. Players have to think instead of react. Yeah, there are exceptions but usually with those teams there was a star caliber player or two...the panthers have no stars...the only budding star they have is morgan. Overall team speed on offense and defense is terrible. The CB situation itself will cost games.

My opinion of what you'll see is a pure "blue collar" run the ball offense/play action pass team and stop the run defense team....while depending upon specail teams to generate points (smith and kasey). I think they will be a lot more physical than they were under Siefert. Let's face it, no one has seen these players yet in the new systems for us to try to judge how much improvment there will be is pure speculation....they could even get worse. 5-11 at best.

 

i see. no apologies necessary since i'm not a fan of the falcons. Cheap tickets will not get me into the stadium. However, i'd go just to watch the Panthers kick their ass.

 

I personally think that this division is totally up for grabs. Any of these teams can win this division. Tampa Bay should walk away with this division given the defense is still very good and Michael Pittman was a very nice addition. There offense is good enough to score enough to beat most of the teams in the South.

However, no reason to me why the Panthers can't compete with anyone in this division. Why the hell can' t they win this division?
The Pats proved last yr that ANYONE can win with good coaching and solid players.

If the Panthers major weakness is in the secondary - I would state that this is a division with RUNNING teams not teams that win through the air.

I personally think the Saints took steps backwards in the offseason and that the Falcons with Vick and Dunn will surprise some teams. This division will be a fight and I expect the Panthers to challenge for it. Forget next yr, I want to win it NOW!

 

well, talent's why they can't win this division, or won't. We're more talented than last year, we have better players for the systems we're running and have a better chance of finding dynamic, team leading players. But we're not straight up talented enough to handle any team in any situation and that's minimum for a young team that will make mistakes.

 

MVM...
Disagree. None of the teams in this division are heads and shoulders more talented than the Panthers. Tampa's def is the only thing that sets them apart from any of the other teams in the division (as I already stated above). Thinking positively - I think the Panthers can compete this season if some things go their way. Namely:
1) Weinke MUST produce and reduce turnovers.
2) Establish a descent running game.
3) Get more aggressive on defense.

Those things alone would make the Panthers a much better team.

I will agree that this is assuming quite a bit and the Panthers must improve greatly to get any of the above done. I will stand by my comments however.

 

I'd like to think that our run defense will greatly improve, which it will have to for us to be successful. But it's not at the level of the Saints or the Bucs. Even Atlanta seems to scheme Brookins into givng them an average run D. I'd like to think that we can at least do that, and that Morgan will turn into that kind of playmaker, and that Navies and Fields will stay healthy and our linebacking corps will keep people from running it down our throats.

But hoping is not the same as knowing. The Bucs and the Saints know it. The Saints Run D may be better, as it wasn't a great strength of Glover.

Add that to the fact that our corners suck, and that's why I don't think we can truly compete for this division in December, even if Weinke improves and we get a running game.


We might get off to a good start though. A season like Cleveland had it reasonable, and that means being competitive through most of the season.

Our one saving grace is our schedule, particuarly early. Being optimistic, I think we can take our first two home games, and we will play better at home in general. But as we get into December, we may have trouble with a host of more physical teams, and our depth starts to wane.

Piper's early predtions:

Baltimore (home): W (23-17)
Detroit (home): W (31-17)
Green Bay (away): L (20-35)
Minnesota (away): L (16-27)
Arizona (home): W (30-20)
Dallas (away): L (16-17)
Atlanta(away): L (23-20)
Tampa Bay (home): L (23-9)
New Orleas (home): W (30-24)
Tampa (away): L (19-21)
Atlanta (home): W (24-20)
Cleveland (away): L (17-24)
Bungles (home): W (35-24)
Pittsburg (away) : L (28-16)
Chicago (home): L (27-24)
New Orleans (away) : L (37-20)

6-10

 

interesting prediction. you have us losing 5 games by a touchdown or less. if we're just a bit better than your thinking and we play just a bit better than in the past and we have just a bit more luck than last year .... then we go 3-2 in those 5 games and we pull an upset in one of the other five losses and suddenly ... we're 10-6 and in the playoffs! even i wasn't this optimistic. thanks pip! now i'm really pumped for this season.