Carolina Panthers 2008/2009 Season

[Andyc545]

We have a thread from last season, so I thought I'd create a thread for this upcoming season since single game tickets went on sale today! Also today was the first practice down in Wofford College in Spartanburg. Curious if anyone bought tickets today and for which games, or if you have season tickets? I just bought 2 a few minutes ago for the Monday night game against Tampa Bay Sec 510, Row 28. This is the only game I can go b/c of work and this will be my first Panthers game down here at home (been to many other stadiums/games, just never had the opportunity here).

As of this afternoon, 3 games are already sold out: Opener versus Chicago, New Orleans, and the Monday Night game versus Tampa Bay. There are only 20,000 tickets remaining for all of the remaining 7 home games. Looks like the stadium will continue to have its sell-out stats which sit at 120 out of 122 all-time home games since its inaugural season.

LETS GO PANTHERS!

[RaleighHeelsfan]

So what is the team looking like this year? Did they pick up anyone during the offseason? Trades?

I know they picked up Moose....but who else?

[Guest]

Well I for one think this will be our deepest team, offensively, we've ever had. We're kind of going back to the Panthers of 2003, with a stocked wideout position, we picked up DJ Hacket (great WR from Seattle), and Moose to join Steve Smith, and a rejuvinated Dwayne Jarret at reciever. We got huge at the Offensive Line, adding a whole new group of big guys, none of them uner 325 lbs. Our Backs are also pretty deep, we have DeAngelo Williams as the primary back, picked up Jonathan Stewart in the draft out of Oregan, he's small and burly and hits like Stephen Davis, and picked up LeBrandon Toefield, a very talented backup out of Jacksonville. We brought in some new blood at tight end, by far our youngest position, with the oldest playing being Jeff King who has only been in the league 3 year, but it looks like we have a solid set of new guys. Defense is completely different this year, we've lost two primary DLs and a Primary LB, but everyone is switching around and Fox is going to install a more simple style of defense, that relies on more players instincts, instead of form defenses. Personally I think we go 12-4 this year if jake stays healthy. I know that sounds like crazy talk but I have great feelings about our new revamped offense. Super Bowl, maybe, maybe not, I have my friends laughing at me already because I am convinced we go all the way.

[atlrvr]

I have really high hopes this year....most years I'm bored by their offseason acquisitions, but this year I think they finally made the right moves. They got much deeper at WR with some guys that hopefully can hold on to the ball, they got rid of Foster (FINALLY) and brought in Jonathan Stewart, who while a rookie, is exactly the big bruising back they needed, and who DeAngelo Williams is a better complement to. They made some moves on the O-line, which is historically their weakest point, and I'm not convinced it has been fixed, but we'll see.

Finally, word from mini-camp and the first 2 days of training camp is that everyone seems to be more focused and determined this year to execute....probably because they know Richardson will clean house from top to bottom (besides Smitty) if they can't produce with the level of talent they have.

I think 10-6 is reasonable this year (assuming they stay healthy).

Oh yeah, this is directed at Fox....for God's sake man, its still legal to blitz, try it sometime.

[kickazzz2000]

I have really high hopes this year....most years I'm bored by their offseason acquisitions, but this year I think they finally made the right moves. They got much deeper at WR with some guys that hopefully can hold on to the ball, they got rid of Foster (FINALLY) and brought in Jonathan Stewart, who while a rookie, is exactly the big bruising back they needed, and who DeAngelo Williams is a better complement to. They made some moves on the O-line, which is historically their weakest point, and I'm not convinced it has been fixed, but we'll see.

Finally, word from mini-camp and the first 2 days of training camp is that everyone seems to be more focused and determined this year to execute....probably because they know Richardson will clean house from top to bottom (besides Smitty) if they can't produce with the level of talent they have.

I think 10-6 is reasonable this year (assuming they stay healthy).

Oh yeah, this is directed at Fox....for God's sake man, its still legal to blitz, try it sometime.

[InitialD]

Panthers Fan Fest is at the stadium Saturday. Events start at 9AM and open practice starts at 11AM

[Guest]

Panthers Fan Fest is at the stadium Saturday. Events start at 9AM and open practice starts at 11AM

[InitialD]

Someone make sure to take a picture of the new scoreboard! I'm anxious to see it in its gigantic glory!

[Guest]

http://www.panthers.com/Common/Article.aspx?id=34824

There is a preview of the new stadium features on Panthers.com it sounds like they got a whole heck of a lot more technologically advanced. They changed out all the crappy CRT TVs for LG flat screens all on the 100 and 500 level, not to mention they finally broke away from the speaker cluster method of projecting sound, which honestly was terrible sounding, I can't express how much I detested the delay in sound at my seats that were created by the speakers being so far away, too often was it not in sync with people talking on screen. So to fix this they went to a more spread out distribution of speakrs making the stadium more stereo that its ever been!

[ScottCLT]

From Fan Fest today...

[Raintree21]

Wow. That's a nice screen!

In other news, Steve Smith has been suspended by the Panthers for the first two games.

From Coach Fox:

"He'll be suspended for the first two games. What he did was wrong, we take it very serious, and he's being punished severely for it."

[ScottCLT]

Yeah, Steve Smith is an idiot for doing that, but the first couple of games are jeopardized because of it. Not sure what I should think here...punishing the player ends up punishing the team.

About the screen, though...it's bigger than it seems. The left 1/4 of it where you see "FanFest" seems like a separete scoreboard, but it's actually part of the same screen. Nice jumbotron!

[dxartist]

Yeah, Steve Smith is an idiot for doing that, but the first couple of games are jeopardized because of it. Not sure what I should think here...punishing the player ends up punishing the team.

About the screen, though...it's bigger than it seems. The left 1/4 of it where you see "FanFest" seems like a separete scoreboard, but it's actually part of the same screen. Nice jumbotron!

[cltheel.sdl]

Nice game today guys! I feel like we had more opportunities to score than we capitalized on, but at least we squeaked out the W. For us to pull one out against San Diego in the closing seconds definitely bodes well for the rest of the season.

O, and BofA is blue tonight! But I think they need to match the color more to the real Panthers blue. The blue on the BofA tower is too dark.

[Charlotte_native]

I hated that we didn't get TD's a couple of times when we were right at the goal line, but considering the overall picture -- i was delighted. It seems like we finally have the running backs we need to run the kind of game Fox likes to play. It seems like the offensive line is FAR superior to the past couple of years. We played great without Steve Smith so can't wait to get him in the game. The defense played well, but has room for improvement -- especially sacks -- seems like we almost sacked Rivers over and over but only sacked him once that i can recall.

Happy to see this team -- they did fantastic against a team that is considered one of the best.

[dxartist]

what a wild finish. Good to see the Panthers played well with Steve. When he comes back, they will be even more dangerous on offense.

All the pundits were predicting a loss. I actually took the Panthers to win straight up. I am especially pleased with Dante Rosario's surprised performance. We haven't had a tight end do that well since Wesley Walls donned the uniform. My only gripe about the defense is that Nial Diggs needs to go on the bench and Landon Johnson start in his spot.

[InitialD]

I like the Panther's Blue on the Bank of America crown last night. Maybe I haven't really notice, but do they do that for every game, or every win or what? I've seen it before, like with a Monday night home game.

[Charlotte_native]

My only gripe about the defense is that Nial Diggs needs to go on the bench and Landon Johnson start in his spot.

[AuLukey]

Cardiac Cats? Anyone? I mean, Moose is back after all. I did not even expect this game to be close. I figured San Diego 28- Carolina 10. Even the stats stack up in the game. Outside of QB TD's, the panthers pretty much tipped the entire scale.

I was busy all day and walked in on the final seconds of the game and saw that pass, I just figured this game was going to end in an endzone interception as has been the case in so many Carolina games these last few years.

I had a good feeling about the team when we got rid of Foster in favor of young blood and restructured the O-line. Plus, now that the Patriots' fate is sealed, I now have much higher hopes for the Panthers this year. I think 12 or 13 wins seem reasonable depending on how TB and NO turn out. Just stay healthy.

[dkst0426]

What a great, GREAT day yesterday was for Panthers fans. All things considered, going on the road, across the country, to play a Super-Bowl-shortlisted team, against one of the top 3 players in the entire league, without our best wide receiver..........amazing. Simply amazing.

Last time we started a season with a last-second win, we went on to the Super Bowl that year. And we were wearing the teal blues in that game, too. Coincidence?

P.S. I posted some other shots of the new scoreboard here.

[Andyc545]

For the record- I'm saying 11-5 for the season and certainly playoffs. The young blood in the team seemed to have a great impact. What has been a good team for the past several years (although last year was a slight hiccup), this year, based on performance, Jake being back, Smith healthy, Moose!, and what looks to be some new players that may be stars, this year is bound to be great! It was a close game, but Panthers could have won by more if they had a few plays called better and just some general luck at the endzone. It's still early, but analysts favored San Diego this year as a team that could go all the way... so... it is a big win in that aspect. Then we've got the winning team of Williams and Stewart. Cheers to a running game! Oh- and a win on the road! And that last throw, catch, and play! There are little words that could describe it. I just know I didn't take one breath of air from the last 9 seconds of the play clock; and how in the world was Moose able to pull what should have been the last play of the game. Quick catch, to the ground quick, and the time out with 2 seconds left. The last throw for the win was just stunning. To a great season!

[dxartist]

Or perhaps Adam Seward. He always seems to play well when he is in the game and on special teams he's always in the play.

[cltheel.sdl]

I like the Panther's Blue on the Bank of America crown last night. Maybe I haven't really notice, but do they do that for every game, or every win or what? I've seen it before, like with a Monday night home game.

[Andyc545]

It was Panther's blue tonight too, so who knows? Maybe it's just random.

[Charlotte_native]

I almost forgot to delight in Fox making the call to go for it 4th at the goal line early in the game. I've always said that i'd never hold it against him if he'd at least try to be a little less conservative -- in this case I'd rather have seen a running play with a foot to go, but AT LEAST we tried something. Great excitement for the fans, great show of trust in the team. But really, next time run