Carolina Panthers and the 2009 Season

[kickazzz2000]

I vote we forfeit our already incredibly tough schedule (jake or no jake) and hope for a good draft pick to pick up mccoy, tebow, or bradford. That or pick up Jeff Garcia who is a free agent right now. He seemed to do pretty well when we played against him in TB last year.

[AuLukey]

We don't have a first round pick. Traded our 2010 first to use San Francisco's 2009 2nd on Everette Brown. This was done because we didn't have a first round pick in this past draft, because we traded it to Philly for the 19th pick last year, Jeff Otah.

Everette Brown better be good.

[Niner National]

Feeley is no good. In his career he has 29 TD's and 29 INT's.

Matt Moore doesn't look like a superstar, but at least when he has come in to play for us, both this season, and in 06, he at least moved the team down the field. If Jake gets benched for good, I'd rather see Moore get put in than Feeley. Either one probably won't give us a great season, but at least if Moore comes in and does well, we know we don't have to draft a QB or trade for one. If Feeley comes in and does well, our need doesn't change.

[HopHead]

One of the reasons why the Panther didn't sign Garcia over Feeley was b/c they didn't have the cap room for what Garcia wanted... I still say Feeley is an upgrade over our backups though. As far as Everette Brown goes, he actually was quite impressive in pre-season. The coaches liked what he was doing and how far he progressed. Time will only tell if the trading of next year's pick was worth it, but I know Meeks likens him to a Dwight Freeney in Indianapolis. A smaller DE who's quick and can get to the QB.

[CHARtoSF]

Well folks, THREE more interceptions for Jake the snake. Ahh, just another standard day for Jake, "the interception Master",...."the MASTER of interceptions". Let's see, thirteen interceptions in only 6 games, 10 games to go, I think by the end of the season Jake will hold the NFL record for interceptions by a starting quarterback. I predict at least 24 interceptions with maybe as high as 30.

Looking at the remaining schedule, I predict the Panthers to finish 4-12 with Jake playing the rest of the season.

It's to bad that the Panthers are stuck with Jake. They have no other quarterback and he still has another 3 years AFTER this season. You know, Kerry Collins didn't even throw as many interceptions 6 games into his last season here and they dumped him.

Sorry Panthers fans, expect lots and lots of humiliating disappointment until the Jake the Snake era comes to a end

[CHARtoSF]

I forgot to add this. I believe the reason Peppers wanted out is because he can see that this team will never go anywhere with Jake running the show. I can't blame Peppers for wanting to get out. I would want to get out to.

[HopHead]

That game was awful. Panthers should have had that game won, but Jake's INTs and Moore's fumble killed them. Sadly the defense has actually been holding its own but the special teams and turnovers on offense are digging the holes they can't get out of.

[eastsider]

Matt Moore doesn't look like a superstar, but at least when he has come in to play for us, both this season, and in 06, he at least moved the team down the field. If Jake gets benched for good, I'd rather see Moore get put in than Feeley. Either one probably won't give us a great season, but at least if Moore comes in and does well, we know we don't have to draft a QB or trade for one. If Feeley comes in and does well, our need doesn't change.

[HopHead]

Nice win by the Panthers today. Question, is where has this defense and ground game been all year? That was inspired football they played. They play so much better with Jake managing the game than trying to make him do things...

[Guest]

I work on Broadway in the Financial District of Manhattan, so this morning I got the pleasure of experiencing the yankees parade from 22 floors up. It was a true ticker tape parade, there is trash EVERYWHERE. What I wanna know is when the panthers do win a superbowl one day, do you think we can put together HALF the party NYC seems to be throwing the yankees?

hour before the parade.

after math of paper, shreading, and napkins ticker tape parades are great!

[Ryepow]

Yeah right. It will be like any other event uptown since the 4th of July "riot". A massive amount of cops and lots of tickets for littering. The city might even provide brooms for the Panthers to get Uptown sparking as quickly as possible once again.

Cool pictures, I hope you had fun.

[New Name]

The city might even provide brooms for the Panthers to get Uptown sparking as quickly as possible once again.

[AuLukey]

In all reality, the Panthers never had a chance this week, I was actually pretty amazed at how long they hung on during this game. They gave me reason to watch the second half again. At least Fox showed some confidence in Jake again and, for the second week in a row, he (Delhomme, not Fox) didn't make too many mistakes. We just faced a far superior team while we had a lot of offensive injuries, enough said. Maybe if Peppers had a game like the last few this could've gone the other way.

I'm now seeing that this season may not be entirely Jake's fault but more Steve Smith's inherent disability to get open and make plays like he did a few years back. Oh well, at least Sutton made a pretty decent debut. He seems like he'll have a future with this team.

[Batou]

I actually was at this past game today and we won.

[abttown]

I have to post a quick little shout out to our Panthers! The last few games and today's domination of the Giants really makes me feel warm and fuzzy about this team again.. I know we have nothing to play for at this point in the season, but that just makes it more enjoyable to watch when you know nothing is really on the line. Matt Moore is looking awesome out there and it shows that the other players enjoy playing with him. Too bad we (Fox) didn't start him earlier in the season, but at least he is getting some valuable playing time. If we could stop getting racked by these injuries (Smith broke his arm today), we could one day have a stellar team. Here's to next season and the rest of this one!

[AuLukey]

Agreed abt. With Matt Moore behind center from the start, I have every confidence that we could have made the playoffs. There were several games that were, without a doubt, lost by Delhomme. They could have easily finished with a 10-6 or an 11-5 season. The Panthers didn't need much to win this game though. Even after Smith left early in the 3rd, the Panthers still outscored the Giants 10-9. And the only reason they even scored a touchdown was because the Panthers were playing a loose defense to prevent quick drives by the Giants. How sweet it is though to get back at the Giants after barely loosing to them last year.

I think Fox (along with the rest of the country) now realizes that a QB change was all this team needed all along. Having Matt Moore may not be the best thing ever, but there are still hopes for some movement in the next couple of seasons. I'm just hoping that the Saints bring their B team for their final game so that the Panthers can at least salvage a .500 season.

[Spartan]

I'm curious to see how next year plays out with Fox. The fact that they didn't extend his contract is... well, interesting. Can anyone explain this supposed issue with the players union and the lockout that could happen in 2011?

[HopHead]

^ From what I've seen/heard on the whole Fox issue, is that it's one of three things: 1) the Panthers want to see how he performs in a lame duck contract year. If things shape up well (say they are 6-2 halfway through the 2010 season) they may decide to offer him a new contract at that point. 2) there is a work stoppage in 2011 and the Panthers aren't on the hook for paying a HC $6 million a year, or whatever the cost may be. 3) Fox decides not come back for his last year. However, this would prevent him from going to another team because he's still under contract with the Panthers. More than likely he wouldn't get a job in 2011 b/c of the pending work stoppage so it's at least 2012 before he could find a new job. Personally, I'm hoping it's #1. Despite some of the things he does that I disagree with, he fits the mold of the organization well. He's well respected in the league and wouldn't be unemployed for long. Delhomme is the biggest problem with the team and the Panthers need to move on from him. Whether it's Moore, or someone else that comes in. We don't need a Peyton Manning or Drew Brees. We just need someone that can make plays here and there, not turn the ball over 5x in a game and hand the ball off to two the league's best RBs.

As far as the labor issue goes, it's mostly around revenue sharing and player benefits. Without writing a novel on it, it comes down to owners subsidizing other smaller market teams to keep the league in a competitive balance. Of course you can't always help the Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams of the world from making bad decisions, but it gives everyone the same financial opportunity as the Dallas Cowboys of the league to spend within a certain ceiling. Right now, the players get a 60% cut of the league revenue. Owners want to close that gap. Also, players (and former players) want better benefits for themselves. As it stands now, there are some ex-players that can barely walk and have other lingering affects from their playing days that they can't afford to pay for. It's actually pretty embarrassing how little some of those guys get. Unless some agreement is made in the next few months, 2010 will be an uncapped year for salaries. So get ready to see teams like the Cowboys, Redskins, etc spend a ridiculous amount of money to try and win a championship. Meanwhile, small market teams like Indianapolis and New Orleans (two of the league's best) will suffer. Overall, the Panthers are more of a middle market team b/c they generate decent revenue compared to others (though not in the same category as Dallas, Washington, NY, etc).