How good are the Panthers?

When wide receiver Steve Smith sent teammate Ken Lucas to the hospital with a broken nose during Panthers’ training camp in early August, outsiders might have been watching like vultures for a Carolina collapse in 2008.

But now it’s the Panthers who are picking apart the opposition.

And the thanks should go to head coach John Fox and his commitment to his beliefs.

Though it meant possibly getting off to a disappointing start, Fox suspended his star wide-out for the first two games of the season.

The move paid off in two huge ways.

First, the team answered the call without Smith in the lineup, figuring out ways to win both games during his absence. The Panthers young and improved running game, the poise of veteran Jake Delhomme, and the reacquisition of receiver Muhsin Muhammad—after a three-year exile in Chicago—helped in that regard.

And so did the defense, which it seems is always a team strength when the Panthers are good.

But secondly, (and I think more importantly) the move built team cohesion.

When Smith scored his only touchdown of the season, he gave the ball to Lucas, and it seems any riff between the two, if once there, is legitimately over.

Whether it’s pulling out late wins (like the win over the Chargers in week one) or blowing out teams by record margins (last Sunday against the Chiefs), it seems the Panthers are starting to believe they can overcome anything after surviving a personality conflict involving their star player.

There’s no telling how big of an “x” factor something as seemingly little as that could be as the Panthers look forward to a possible postseason berth and maybe more.

The Panthers now come to a crucial part of the season over the next two weeks, with division games at Tampa Bay and at home against New Orleans, a stretch that should show fans exactly what the team is made of.

Given the fact that they have the same coach, the same quarterback, and the same commitment to hard-nosed defense as the Panthers’ teams that reached Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and the NFC title game two years later, fans expect a lot from Carolina this year.

And rightfully so.


So how good will the Panthers be this year??? Give me your feedback on how they will fare this year!