Panthers Back on the Prowl with Return of Hackett
The Carolina Panthers have experienced more than their fair share of scares this year, and the regular season hasn’t even started yet. The Panthers’ lineup is a little light on the receiving side with Steve Smith out for two games after being suspended for sucker-punching teammate Ken Lucas in training camp, and D.J. Hackett’s time on the sidelines since early August for an injured toe hasn’t made things any easier for the team.
Hackett’s return to practice Wednesday was an answered prayer for the Panthers, who face a tough San Diego team this Sunday in their opening game of the season. Dusting the cobwebs off, Hackett made his return to the field this week after missing valuable preseason time. As the five-year veteran prepares for the start of the regular season in rotation with receivers Muhsin Muhammad and Dwayne Jarrett, speculation of his appearance in Sunday’s game against the Chargers has been all the buzz around the NFL. Panthers coach John Fox has yet to say if Hackett will start this weekend, but it’s all looking up for Carolina as of now, so stay tuned in for Panthers coverage and let the games begin!
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Get Ready For More Power Rankings
With the start of the NFL season nearly upon us, power rankings are going to become even more important to the average football fan. They have the BCS, the AP, the Coaches Polls in college football, but fans of NFL teams seem to need to see where their teams rank in the whole scheme of thing in a concrete, if flawed list. If anything, it promotes conversation and debate. Anyways- where do the Panthers fit into all of this?
According to the CBS Sports poll, the Panthers are ranked No. 16 in the league, about exactly in the middle. The article talks about breakout teams coming from below the standard elite (the Patriots, Colts, Cowboys, Saints, Giants, Eagles…) and the Panthers might just be that team. Stay tuned to the Panthers Blog to see where they rank after each week of play. As you know, the Panthers will play their first game this weekend, fo they could move up the rankings quickly.
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Beason Anointed Leader of the Panthers Defense
About three games into last season the Panthers were at a turning point. Quarterback Jake Delhome went down with an injury, and things on the other side of the ball didn’t look too great, either. Jon Beason, a rookie who missed a good chunk of training camp, was anointed leader of the team on defense. He went on to lead the team in tackles.
If you would like to read more about the emergence of Jon Beason as the leader of the Carolina Panthers defense, then we invite you to check out an ESPN article by Pat Yasinskas. It talks about how Joke Delhomme and others singled Jon out for the role of defensive leader, and how he’s been able to grow into that role after a shaky start. In the article, Beason has this to say:
“I don’t mind being a leader. In fact, I kind of like it. I think I lead by example more than anything. But I don’t mind getting in a guy’s face if he needs to step up, and I’ll feel more comfortable doing that this year.'’
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Where Did The Carolina Running Backs Get Drafted?
Where did the Carolina Panthers running backs, specifically Johnathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams, get drafted in the fantasy football drafts that went down in the past few weeks? Well, according to the stats at CBSSports.com, which runs its own huge fantasy football online league kit, Stewart was, on average, picked ahead of Williams. Though his lead was not very much. Because the two backs are slated to split time and carries in the backfield, there’s a sense that neither will produce the kind of stats needed for a No. 1 fantasy draft.
According to the stats at CBS Sports, Stewart was picked on average at about No. 76 overall and No. 28 among running backs. Williams was picked, on average, at about the No. 99 position overall and the No. 33 position among running backs. Does this mean that the Panthers will have a bad running game this season? Not at all. In fact, if these guys could really predict fantasy football, they certainly wouldn’t be working the sports media, they’d be winning big in Vegas. We like the Panthers’ odds.
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Where Did Steve Smith Get Fantasy Drafted?
Yesterday we did a similar blog about quarterback Jake Delhomme, so we figured that today we’d keep wit the trend and look into where the No. 1 receiver on the Panthers ended up getting drafted in most fantasy drafts. According to the CBSsports.com averages, Steve Smith was taken, on average, about 39th overall, with a high coming in at 23, and a low at 59. This puts Steve Smith at about the tenth wide receiver taken overall, which is not a bad place to be. Other receivers around him include Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Plaxico Burress and Wes Welker.
Tenth on the receiver depth chart isn’t bad at all. In fact, for a lot of fantasy football teams, Smith will be a No. 1 receiver. He loses ground because of the time he will miss because of his suspension, and also because Jake Delhomme is an injury concern. People want to draft a receiver who has a quarterback that’s stable, and unfortunately they look at the Panthers and, with the injury to Delhomme last season, they see a concern. Our prediction: Steve Smith and Jake Delhomme catch fire midway through they year and really put up some great numbers. Might want to trade for them a couple of weeks into the season.
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Panthers Add Parker to Preseason Personnel
If you’ve been following the preseason storylines, you probably know that the Panthers are without a few receivers because of injury and suspension. Steve Smith is going to miss the season opener and the second game because the team suspended him for getting into a fight with Ken Lucas earlier in the year. Also, Jason Carter is going to miss the whole season with an injury to his knee. Ryne Robinson and D.J. Hackett will more than likely miss the season opener with knee and toe injuries, respectively.
So the Panthers have Muhsin Muhammad, Dwayne Jarrett, Dominique Thompson and Travis Taylor as their only wideouts with a chance of playing on day one. The Panthers added Sammie Parker yesterday to help boost the receiver corps. Sammie has played four seasons in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs, though he was recently cut from the Denver Broncos in the preseason. In 2006 Parker played in 16 games for the Chiefs, caught 41 balls for 561 yards. He’s not going to be much of a fantasy player– unless he starts returning punts and kickoffs, too—but he is very, very fast, and should help to spread the defense and give Jake Delhomme another down field target on deep pass plays.
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Jake Delhomme: Where Did He Get Fantasy Drafted?
If you are one of the billions (well, maybe hundreds of thousands) of fantasy football managers in the world, you probably had your fantasy football draft recently. Did you select Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme? If you did, chances are you picked him as your No. 2 quarterback, or so says the CBSSports.com fantasy football draft tracker.
According to the numbers, Jake was, on average, taken in the 110 range overall. Among quarterbacks, he was in the top 20, but usually not in the top 10. Other quarterbacks around his ranger were players like Phillip Rivers, Matt Schaub, Aaron Rogers, David Garrard and Eli Manning.
But for a player who did so well when he was healthy last season, why is Jake Delhomme slipping so far in the drafts? There’s the injury concern. Although Jake has looked fine in the preseason, and most reports say he’s good to go, some people are weary that he’ll miss time if he re-injures his elbow. Also, his main target, Steve Smith, will be missing the first two games of the regular season after being punished for getting into a fight with Ken Lucas during Panthers training camp.
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Carolina Routs Washington in Exhibition Game
The Carolina Panthers beat up on the Washington Redskins over the weekend, winning their exhibition game 47-3. Although exhibition games are hardly an indication of how well things will go in the regular season, Panthers fans are certainly pumped about the performance. If you can gleam anything from the ruckus, perhaps the best thing is that the defensive line did particularly well.
Unlike last season, the D-line was superb, dominating the Redskins’ offensive line and constantly putting pressure in the backfield of Washington. Again, you have to check your excitement a little because it was an exhibition game, after all. However, according to the HearaldOnline.com article about the game, Damione Lewis, a Panthers defensive tackle, had this to day:
“If we go out and play like this every week, it’s going to be hard to beat us…. Especially up front, because how we go up front is how we go as a defense. So we just really need to be able to put this in week in and week out.”
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Panthers Fantasy Predictions at CBSSports.com
The Panthers have a number of players fantasy football players ought to consider drafting for the upcoming season. If your fantasy draft has not yet happened, you might want to take a look at this article by Dave Richard for CBS Sports. He discusses one of the main dilemmas for fantasy drafters who would like to have a Carolina Panther on their team. Steve Smith will miss the first two games, and Jake Delhomme might get injured, but one of the main question marks for Panthers fans is who will get the most carries as the running back. As you might know, the Panthers drafted RB Jonathan Stewart a few months ago, and they already have DeAngelo Williams as the go-to back. But will they split time? According to Richard’s article, Williams had this to say:
“They haven’t told me anything about my role, but I’m prepared whether I’m the first guy or the second guy. The point is, (Stewart and I) are both going to be in there, so having an opportunity to play is something I like.”
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.
Thomas Davis: A Panther Ready to Pounce
Thomas Davis was a first round pick for the Carolina Panthers back in 2005, but as yet he’s not been able to live up to the high expectations that were set out before him. It hasn’t been his fault, though. He played safety in college, but was drafted to play linebacker in the NFL, and the transition, plus some other moves, have been difficult to handle. Now, though, he’s been put in the weak side linebacker slot. Everyone who has seen him play this position has been thoroughly impressed, and Thomas himself seems comfortable there too. Could be a good year for this guy. According to the Charlotte Observer, Thomas had this to say about his new position:
“You have that freedom of really letting go when you really know what you’re doing. You can read and react, instead of read and think, ‘Is this where I’m supposed to be and is this how it’s supposed to be done?… I’ve got a better understanding of the position and it’s allowing me to react better and make plays. Everything is making a lot more sense these days.”
To get Carolina Panthers tickets, go to StubHub.com.