The talent is definitely there for the Carolina Panthers on D.
However, it seems that everyone else in the NFC NASCAR division improved, or at least they addressed their weaknesses this offseason. The Panthers tried but got worse. The Atlanta Falcons should leapfrog Carolina this year. And the Saints are a notch or two above both of the teams. That said, I would not be surprised if Carolina was still able to grind out a playoff berth on the strength of their defense and running game.
Losing Teddy Ginn Jr. to the Cardinals hurts. So the return game is another issue. So special teams in Charlotte won’t be as strong in 2014 as they were in 2013. And they play their home games in Bank of America Stadium. And since Bank of America is the ANTI-CHRIST, they are indeed the most inept, evil and amoral enterprise on this Earth, it can’t help. Nothing to do with football I know, but it still sucks.
Back to that defense- this unit is THE TRUTH! Second in total defense and points allowed; sxith in takeaways and passing defense. And second against the run. NFL Defensive player of the year Luke Kuechly returns, and he’s no secret anymore. How will he adjust to being consistently game planned against now? Greg Hardy and Charles Johnson are studs.
The troika working together led to the Carolina Panthers leading the NFL in sacks. Can they do it again? To win the NFC South again, they’ll have to be even better.
Like I said, the offseason was not kind to this team. Only the K.C. Chiefs, arguably, had a worst off-season Overall, NOLA has to be the favorite in the NFC NASCAR division. However, Atlanta is their biggest competition. Tampa is starting from scratch; and Carolina’s pleasant 2013 season looks kind of fluky.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)
