The Carolina Panthers are coming off a good season all things considered in 08′ with a 13-3 record. Nothing wrong with 13-3, but their playoff performance looked like a completely different team.

As strong as the NFC South is now with the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, they better start making things happen before they are looking at a 6-10 season.

The 09′ season hasn’t started off like the Panthers would hope for – they are a team in disarray and the terrible game against the Cardinals seems fresh in their minds.

The Panthers offense is one of the lowest ranked in the NFL – with a WR like Steve Smith one would assume that couldn’t happen. The Panthers are underachieving greatly and time is not on their side to turn things around quickly. Their competition in the NFC South is the Atlanta Falcons and the high octane offense New Orleans Saints.

For some reason, things haven’t worked out this way thus far. Delhomme’s not the same QB, Steve Smith has been non-existent, and the defense is not playing anywhere close to the same level as last year!

If the Panthers expect to compete in the division they must improve on defense or otherwise quarterbacks Drew Brees and Matt Ryan will destroy the Panthers defense.

Week 2 looked somewhat better, but as they say, a loss is a loss. The team traveled to Atlanta for a match-up against the Falcons, and lost this game 28-20. While they looked a little better than they did in week 1, Delhomme was still less effective than usual and the team failed to show the defensive dominance they exhibited week in and week out in 2008.

The Panthers made their name by running the ball in 08′ – if they are going to have any success this year, the Panthers must run the ball again

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