Carolina Panthers Blog Posts

250 Miles between Austin Kansas City

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:04:12 EDT

Any Cowboys fan who watched Sunday’s game had to be ready to throw themselves out of a 3rd story window when they saw that the Cowboys were getting beaten by the Chiefs nearly the entire game. I, myself, wasn’t able to watch the game but I constantly monitored the score which may be even more maddening.

Fast forward to the 4th quarter and the Cowboys were deadlocked with the Chiefs at 13-13. After coming up with a pivotal stop, the Cowboys had an opportunity to finally put away a team they should’ve beaten in the 1st quarter. At this juncture, Miles Austin made the first big play in what would be the making of the legend of Miles Austin. He caught the ball on a slant route, broke a couple of tackles and scampered 59 yards for what

Continue reading "250 Miles between Austin Kansas City"

Joes Final Drive Week 5

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:50:05 EDT

Still love me some NFL. Josh McDaniels kicked Bill Belichick’s Patriots right out of Denver while Matt Ryan picked apart a supposedly stout San Francisco defense. Oh, and Peyton Manning is still awesome. I wrap up week five in the NFL in the Final Drive!

(1-4) Cleveland Browns 6
(1-4) Buffalo Bills 3

Ugliest. Game. Ever. Derek Anderson goes 2 for 13 in a WIN. Mangini should have stuck with Brady Quinn. In Buffalo, things could be even worse after signing T.O. in the offseason. Dick Jauron will lose his job during this season. You can almost lock it in.

(3-2) Dallas Cowboys 26
(0-5) Kansas City Chiefs 20

Wade Philips needs to thank Tony Romo and Miles Austin for saving his job. Austin’s 10 catches for 250 yards was a Cowboy franchise record and could not have come at a more significant moment with Roy Williams on the bench. While winless, Kansas City is at least keeping things close.

Continue reading "Joes Final Drive Week 5"

Joes Opening Drive Week 5

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:48:36 EDT

With some downright horrendous match-ups this weekend, this edition of the Opening Drive is shorter than usual. Just writing about Cleveland versus Buffalo would put me to sleep. Let’s get things going with the most anticipated games of week four!

Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) at Baltimore Ravens (3-1)

While it’s way too early for the winner of this game to be named AFC North champion, it will give one team a sizeable advantage. If the Bengals can pull off the victory, there will be no questions as to their legitimacy. Unfortunately, they’re facing a Ravens squad that is fuming after their loss to the Patriots last week. Ray Lewis and that swarming defense will try to make a statement at the expense of their division rival.

Continue reading "Joes Opening Drive Week 5"

Tuesday Evening Hangover Dallas Cowboys reveiw and other NFL news

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:18:25 EDT

Tuesday evening hangover…

Here are some of my astute observations from the Cowboys’ Monday night victory against the Panthers:

1. The Cowboys played a very gritty game.

They actually “out-toughed” the Panthers, which hasn’t happened since week 3 of last season against Green Bay. Despite giving up a few plays in the passing game, the defense shut down a vaunted Carolina rushing attack and managed to keep DeAngelo Williams out of the endzone. The offense managed to pound the rock at Carolina’s undersized front seven and take advantage of their depth at the running back position (Felix Jones and Tashard choice managed over 80 yards rushing a piece). More importantly, Tony Romo showed toughness and focus, and did not make the critical mistake that could have swung this game in Carolina’s favor.

Continue reading "Tuesday Evening Hangover Dallas Cowboys reveiw and other NFL news"

Joes Final Drive Week 3

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:49:37 EDT

Plenty of drama in a weekend that saw one team break a 19-game losing streak and another keep their undefeated streak going. Let’s start the Final Drive of week 3!

(1-2) Detroit Lions 19 (1-2) Washington Redskins 14

The Lions had to win eventually. Though it would be an unfortunate day for whatever unlucky team they defeated. Jim Zorn will keep his job… for a while longer. Congrats to the Lions and the fans that actually showed up to see it.

Get ready to lose next week.

(3-0) Minnesota Vikings 27
(2-1) San Francisco 49ers 24

We’ve all seen or heard of Favre’s late game heroics. I blame Mike Singletary’s defense, which put only two players on the endzone. There were five Niners in the middle of the field! Everyone knows when they need a touchdown on the final play of the game you stack men in the endzone so they can bat the ball down. Horrible call from a good coach.

Continue reading "Joes Final Drive Week 3"

Welcome to Fantasy Land

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:28:13 EDT

Good morning fantasy friends!

Today is Saturday September 26, 2009 so you have a little more than 24 hours to get your fantasy act together or you may end up with that crucial week 3 L.

It has been a very interesting week in fantasy land for me. Lots of wheeling and dealing, some unfortunate attempts at cheating and a hazy injury to Marion the Barbarian. Let’s begin with this “cheating” situation:

So, I am in a random NFL.com fantasy football league. We’ll call it the “Bush League” which is a very appropriate title for so many reasons. One great fantasy insight that I’ve picked up this year is setting up my fantasy alerts. (In most leagues you can set up regular e-mail alerts that notify you of a player’s status, league transactions, starting line-ups, trades, etc). These alerts are very useful because it allows me to check on important league activity without having to log into the site every five minutes. My fantasy alerts proved to be very useful this week.

Continue reading "Welcome to Fantasy Land"

Inter-League Game Could Spell Bad News for NHL

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:06:34 EDT

Could an exhibition game really give bad publicity to a major North-American sports league?

The NHL has constantly been trying to show that their league is the best to the public all over the world. For the past few seasons, the league has sent four of their teams overseas to play in places such as Germany, Sweden and England. The teams usually open the NHL regular season a week early, playing two games in the country that they were designated. This season the league has decided to send the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings to Sweden, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers to Finland. Not only are these teams playing each other, but they will see time against some of the best teams of the chosen nation in pre-season play.

Why is this a possible threat to the league? The NHL holds themselves as the greatest hockey league in the world with the most powerful teams and the best players. There is almost no way of disputing that prestigious honor as long as the teams are playing against each other all the time and do not allow any outside teams to jeopardize that point. Allowing other teams from other leagues could harm the reputation of the NHL.

Continue reading "Inter-League Game Could Spell Bad News for NHL"

Joes Final Drive Week 2

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:05:34 EDT

Week two had its fair share of upsets and surprises. (Not the least of which were my Bears!) Let’s take a look at the week that was in my Week 2 edition of the Final Drive!

(2-0) Atlanta Falcons 28
(0-2) Carolina Panthers 20

That Matt Ryan kid’s pretty good. Atlanta’s acquisition of Tony Gonzalez could be the most underrated move of the offseason. For Carolina, Jake Delhomme only tossed one interception. I’d call that an improvement.

(1-1) Cincinnati Bengals 31
(1-1) Green Bay Packers 24

HA! That’s just embarrassing for Green Bay fans. You take down your division rival in week one just to fall to the lowly Bengals the next week. Carson Palmer hasn’t been himself for a few years; maybe this is the season he can get back on track as being one of the best QB’s in football.

Continue reading "Joes Final Drive Week 2"

Joes Opening Drive Week 2

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:23:58 EDT

With 16 games in the regular season, losing your first two isn’t a cause for panic, but it is a cause for concern. In the Week 2 edition of the Opening Drive, here are some teams who need to avoid an 0-2 start.

Carolina Panthers (0-1) at Atlanta Falcons (1-0)

What’s the over / under on Jake Delhomme interceptions in this NFC South match-up? I’m going to set that line at 2. Though after 9 picks (and 2 fumbles) in his last two games, I’m being generous. His leash could not be shorter. If Atlanta takes down the Panthers, they could share the division lead (or own it outright) after only two games. Expect heavy doses of both teams’ running attacks.

Continue reading "Joes Opening Drive Week 2"

Joes Final Drive Week 1

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:59:37 EDT

Week one of the 2009 NFL season is in the books. Filled with injuries, blowouts and a dramatic ending out in Cincinnati, let’s take a look around the league in this first edition of the Final Drive!

Minnesota Vikings 34, Cleveland Browns 20

For Brad Childress’ sake, this should be the formula for every Vikings game this season. All Favre has to do is throw a downfield pass every now and again in between hand-offs to Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. Short accurate passes to Viking playmakers will keep this offense balanced.

Oh, Brady Quinn was Cleveland’s starting quarterback. Was it an advantage Mangini? Not really, as the Browns offense was anemic after the first half, mainly hitting short throws that didn’t move the chains. That’s not an offense Eric.

Continue reading "Joes Final Drive Week 1"