Playoff race!

Thanks in large part to two very talented players on our roster at the time

Steve Smith & DeShaun Foster

 

we did play different in the playoffs. We came out of the nutsack.
Now, we're out because we have to be, and it's working, to a point. But we got outcoached in some of those games simply because we weren't changing and people were getting our shit down.

 

>>Piper, Try to keep your twisted knickers from telling me what my point really is.

Not much twisting involved here.


Yes, to beat a good team, to beat three good teams on the road, which is the impossibly daunting task for us to ultimately be successful, we will have to stop te run better (we haven't faced a really good team), be more aggresive against the screens (particuarly vs Green Bay), and play smarter on third down when we have them stopped, as well as continue to ball hawk defensively and make plays down the field. I do feel if teams keep blitzing us as they have, that we will continue to make big plays.

So yes, we are a flawed NFC team. But your assertions come up empty because no where is it stated otherwise.

>>I’ll be a believer that we are a playoff team once we prove (Dec 18) that we can do what we haven’t so far this year . . . beat a good team.

Let's get to Atlanta when we come to Atlanta. First we got to beat the Saints, and we absalutely must beat the Rams, before we even get to that bridge. If we don't do that, then a win vs the Vicks is meaningless anyway.

Nor is it doomning to us if we simply lose to Atlanta and still make the playoffs. Even a 47-3 shalacking. Its simply better to be their than to not.

I can take us as a flawed underdog.

 

What’s with you wanted my head over this piper? You are usually one of the rational ones who does not get abusive and fixate on differing stances and opinions. You adding that over the top WW2 snipe and making it look like a part of my quote to the many casual browsers in here looks even more like desperation to try and shame someone who you view as being “terribly” disloyal or something. You yourself refer to another Super Bowl run this year as an “impossibly daunting task”. At this point that’s how I see it as well, and where we differ is I don’t want us to make the playoffs just to take a “47-3 shellacking” to say at least we made the playoffs. Are people here so desperate and delusional that they think a thrashing in the playoffs would make us look like a superior team to all twenty teams who did not happen to get in? Hell, any number of teams could get out there and take an ass kicking if they somehow just made an appearance in the playoffs. If our guys get into the post season I want them to have a decent chance to win it all, and not just get in as a crippled also-ran. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t even try to make the playoffs. There is plenty of reason for hope recently and I’m anxious to see what happens over the next four games. These current Panthers could keep improving and step it up a couple of notches and advance against a good team(s) in the post season . . . OR we could make it in and get embarrassed. I just haven’t seen enough evidence yet that we have enough pieces in place to deserve the privilege and make a game(s) of it. The suggestion that other teams will get crippled up too so we might stand a better chance still bugs me. There is something that has always rubbed me the wrong way about wanting to face a diminished opponent. There’s no honor in wishing injuries on other teams but at the same time we are not at full strength either. That’s why the depth and versatility of the pats you used in your earlier post keeps them in contention to keep winning it all. You just provided some specific reasons on how we might be able to avoid taking an embarrassing opening round loss in the playoffs and I'll post again to address those. That’s the type of stuff I was hoping to get into and not the abusive “don’t be a pussy” South Park vernacular.

 

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been there and done that . . .

any other helpful suggestions?










(cringe)

 

I don't care what we look like getting clobbered in the playoffs. If we make the playoff we get to watch at least one more game. Isn't that the point? We get to plan something for an otherwise boring as fuck January day. We have an excuse to drink too much beer and eat fried and smoked chunks of flesh and gargle melted processed cheeses. Who the fuck doesn't want to do that?

 

>>That’s the type of stuff I was hoping to get into and not the abusive “don’t be a pussy” .

OK, Tweek. Have some coffee, and you'll be fine.

 

agree on both of those and it's one of the main reasons why I don't see us as playoff worthy yet

I had forgotten about how badly screens eat up our D and even those annoying circa 70s cowboys inside shuttle passes hurt us in the last game. Last post season we could rely on Jenkins and Morgan to a degree to discourage that inside garbage but the screens seem to have always been a nuisance. If we had a little better than Vinny and “backup DT name here” our staff might have more confidence in our OLBs to widen containment outside. Also, more experience at corner and coverage ability at safety might give our guys the confidence to keep the secondary from playing so far off the line much of the time. I haven’t made notice or heard whether or not our players are just slow to recognize screens when they are setting up but that could be a big part of the problem. GB would definately eat our lunch if we can't find a way to slow the bleeding on screens.

Yeah, the third down problem is possibly the largest looming right now and we would have to get MUCH better at that before January (or this weekend for that matter). I don't have much to say on this that wouldn't sound overly simplistic and obvious. Fuck it, I will say that we seem to be too loose and "playing not to lose" on 3rds as a rule. I wish we would be as aggressive on 3rd as we are on early downs. As far as the ball hawking goes, I hope that the reason big defensive plays have started coming our way has more to do with us getting better than it has to do with really offensive offensive opponents.

 

Not now rake. Chip's talking about beer and cheese.

MMMMMMMM. Beer and melted processed cheeses.