Could the Carolina Panthers sneak into the playoffs?

Could the Carolina Panthers sneak into the playoffs?

for the last like five years, you almost don’t even think about it and you just rattle off the usual suspects, right? You just you just go uh Chiefs, Ravens, Bills, Eagles, like you you just say it and you go, they’re good. This year’s a little different. This year is a little different because I think in our heart of hearts, we still believe in a lot of those usual suspects. We’re still like, they they’ve got to be good, right? because so many of those players have been on teams that are good. So, you’re just like they’ll figure it out. But, you know, like the Bills are sitting at four and two, but they haven’t beaten a team that’s won more than one game. The Chiefs have looked better as of late, but they’re still sitting at three and three. They’re they’re tied with the Carolina Panthers. the Ravens. Well, they’re one and five and and not showing a ton of signs of getting better. Although, obviously after their buy, Lamar will be back. Maybe he can truly solve everything. Who knows? But but the reason why I ask this is because it’s the NFL this year and this pertains to the Panthers who are sitting at three and three is significantly more more parody than I think we’ve seen. There are 14 teams right now that have two or fewer losses. And that doesn’t include some of the teams I just mentioned, the Kansas City Chiefs, a team like the Washington Commanders that I think many uh believe in and and have had to deal with some injuries and things and and and were in a conference championship last year. 14. Let’s see here. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 like there’s like multiple win. There’s so many pretty good teams. Pretty good. Who’s good? Right. Right. And you could say, “All right, let’s look at who’s playing the best.” The Indianapolis Colts and probably Tampa are probably playing the best. Hard to argue against those two. Are you looking Are you looking at the Indianapolis Colts led by Daniel Jones? And I think Daniel Jones has been unbelievable. Might be playing himself into a $50 million a year contract and just saying that’s going to work out perfectly from here on out. It’s G. Do you know what? I almost said it’s giving. Do you know what it’s giving? That’s the That’s what the kids say. You know what vibes I’m feeling from from Indianapolis? What’s that? A little bit of Minnesota last year where they had Sam Darnold and it was like, is he gonna keep this up? And he was keeping it up. Is he really going to be an MVP candidate? And he was an MVP candidate until the the chips were down and then the last two games the wheels kind of fell off. They ended up moving on from Sam Darnold despite being an MVP candidate. Uh perhaps that could happen with Indie. Tampa Bay for as good as they’ve been. First of all, they’ve been rocked by injuries recently. And um a lot of people would tell you that those those last second victories are not always the most sustainable. And it seems like every single game Baker Mayfield has the ball with, you know, 65 seconds on the clock, down four. And he’s just got he’s just got to go make something. And he’s running for a fourth down conversion on fourth and 12 after shaking off two tackles. and then he’s for whatever reason talking trash to somebody you know in the stands like like is that sustainable without um you know achuka for the next little bit and Bucky Irving’s hurt and all these other things and those are just two of the examples every team that you say is oh they’re definitely good I think there’s obvious questions and holes about so the reason why this I think this pertains and applies and is necessary to talk about for the uh the Panthers is simple oh actually wait we have some audio go first. Uh Mark Sleer, who I believe is on the call for the Panthers game this weekend, uh and he’s a three-time Super Bowl champ at least, uh was asked, “Is there a dominant team in the NFL?” This is what he had to say. Just last week, I said it was Detroit, you know, and then all of a sudden Kansas City looks like they figured out, but Kansas City looked like they figured out two weeks ago, and then they go to they go to Jacksonville on a Monday night and lose the game. No, there is just no there is no dominant team. Like if if parody was your goal in the NFL, you know, with the draft and the way you do things and then, you know, first to worst, you know, from a scheduling standpoint and strength of schedule. If parody was your goal, you certainly have achieved it like because there is no dominant team out there in the NFL right now. Fleer, as as Dennis confirmed while he was talking there, uh he is on the call for the the Panthers game this weekend against the Jets. Here’s why it matters. Sometimes in a year like this, you can talk yourself into making moves trying to steal one. Here’s why it matters. Teams that if they were the exact same level of good that they are right now in years past may go, “Yeah, we got something here. I kind of like it, but we’re not going to compete with fill in the blank with the really good teams of the year. So, let’s keep building this core and let’s aim for next year this year. Is there anyone there like if you’re sitting at three and three like the Carolina Panthers, is there any big bad bully on the block uh down at, you know, waiting at the end of the runway for you to go, “Yeah, I don’t know. We probably we probably can’t beat that team.” I don’t think you you you’d be the favorite against a bunch of teams, but there’s no true deterrent like there has been in the past. So, let’s say, and I’ve seen this this floated out there, little rumors. Let’s say like Jacobe Meyers becomes available from the Raiders and you’re going, “Well, you know, we might be a receiver away from sneaking into the playoffs here.” Now, you’re giving up trades and things when I don’t think you should. or or uh another example, I I’m seeing um the Giants as a potential landing spot for Chris Ave if the the Saints decide to sell off. Now, I’m I’m all for being optimistic that, you know, you got a rookie quarterback and he’s got some some attitude, right? Jackson Dart and Scataboo and and and all the the the vibes coming out of New York, but New York is two and four. I don’t think they got they they have like a like a reason in in any situation to be a buyer at the deadline unless they think they can sneak into the postseason and then they’ve got some moxy and maybe they’ll win a game or two in a traditional year where there’s that upper tier. I don’t think they’re going for it. So I I I think part of it is being really realistic, right? Cuz the the the way we started this conversation is who is good in the NFL? And I think if we went and asked 10 different NFL fans, we might get uh like, you know, 10. And I said, “Give me your top four teams in the NFL.” I think we might get 10 different combinations of four. Right? That’s an impossible question to answer. Who’s the best? Who’s good? Who are the contenders? Right? If we knew that, we’d go gamble large amounts of money on it and uh wouldn’t have to do the work that most people do. Um, but I think the the question that you should be asking about your team is not who is good. It’s a little bit different and it’s more introspective. Are we good? And be honest with yourself. Don’t be don’t be relative with it. Don’t don’t go well relative to this being a down year, we’re, you know, middle of the pack. No, no, no. Are you good? Are the Panthers good? If you if if you can honestly in your heart of hearts, if you’re Dan Morgan, if you’re Dave Canales, you’ve watched the film, you’ve grinded the tape, you’ve given grades for all of your players and you go, you know what? Yeah, we’re good. Any given Sunday, if another team plays, you know, their solid game, we can beat anybody. They don’t have to play their worst game of the year for us to catch them when you’re looking at the best teams in the league. If you can honestly say your team is good, I will I will never fault you for going all in on a run if you think you are worthy. But make sure you’re looking at yourself in making that decision and not just looking around the league and going, I don’t think anybody’s going to take this. I don’t it’s it’s kind of the uh uh like the the attitude of um I was going to go with analogy that wouldn’t make a ton of sense there. So, I’ll just forget the analogy and go straight to uh don’t think you’re going to win by default. The good teams will emerge, right? It’s not like, hey, if we’re the only we might be the only ones to go for it this year. like good teams will emerge and if you’re not actually good, if you were just relatively good, you’re going to set yourself up to spend some, give up some future assets to go in and and end up right where you started. I that’s something we saw the Panthers do a few years ago under Matt Rule where it’s like, hey, we actually we won a couple games early. Let’s trade our tight end Dan Arnold in a third round pick and let’s go get CJ Henderson to go boost our defense. They just they started making moves like that. Let’s go get Leiscus Chanel. and then all of a sudden you’re just you’re like you said you’re trading assets in such a way. But if you are Carolina and you look at the standings right now, you go, “Wait a second. We’re actually only one game back in the win column from a playoff spot and you have the Jets coming up this weekend.” Now, can you win on the road? Cuz yeah, you’ve been great at home. Can you win on the road? You go four, if you’re four and three after this weekend, you might be like, “Hey guys, we have a legit chance to make something out of this because you still got the Saints twice. They stink, you know, like you never know. You simply, you just don’t know. If you can bank some wins right now, put yourself in a good spot. You simply don’t know. I’m going to put the cart way ahead of the horse here.” But a win this Sunday goes a long way in helping that cause. it. But it it it goes along with with what I’m saying here, which is you could be on a three-game win streak and and by the way, enjoy it. Like fans go crazy. You have to look at yourself and say, is that three-game win streak real like playoff team real or did we catch a like three really bad teams and and even the Cowboys who are not not bad and played well offensively that they didn’t have Sidi and they they had this other stuff going on. like you need to look and say, are those three wins the type of wins that show we’re a playoff team or are those three wins the type of wins that show we’re moving in the right direction and we should continue to build for the long term? Like is now when you want to cash in your chips? Because if you’re looking around the league right now, I don’t think there’s any anything scary, right? I think they could beat if they played tomorrow, they could beat Tampa if Tampa doesn’t have a great day. Tampa’s five- one and they’re number one in the uh the NFC. But Mike Evans, Amecha Eggbuka, Chris Godwin get healthy. Bucky Irving gets healthy. Are you still that confident? I don’t know. Looking at the rest of the NFC, if the NerS have Brock Perie come back and he’s playing great and if if they get some of their uh some of their injury injured players back, okay, now maybe that’s two good teams. I I still think the Eagles have the uh level of talent advantage even if their offense looks really shaky right now. You know, they can put it together and you know they’re comfortable in big games. Are the Carolina Panthers good or are they in a pack of 24 teams this year that are not awful? It’s a it’s a it’s a slightly different question and you have to make sure you get it right because you can set yourself back as Dennis brought up the Panthers have done a few times by going allin with a roster that’s not ready to go allin and you don’t want to give back any any progress that you have made and then set yourself back next year the year after uh as some of these teams kind of bounce

Tim Donnelly & Dennis Cox discuss how the NFL doesn’t have a dominant team this season, and how it could benefit the Carolina Panthers when it comes to potentially making the playoffs.

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