So, taking a look at Sundquist’s discussion, yes, he has a point that the Panthers offense has been stout but inconsistent. And yes, he has another point that Jake Delhomme looked awful against Tampa. But I think there’s an interesting notion to what he speaks of re: plan of attack this week.

So, where do they go from here? Straight at the Saints suspect secondary. New Orleans is tender to the big-play pass and has surrendered 58 receptions over 10+ yards, another 21 over 20+ yards (ranks dead last in the NFL). Opponents have hit the Saints for 21 quick-strike drives (4 or less plays). The problem lies on first down. New Orleans struggles to slow down the run on 1^st (52.6% over 4 yards), opening up a number of options on 2^nd. Carolina has averaged just about 4 yards per carry on 1^st and has shown good balance overall between run/pass. Opponents go after the Saints deep (early and often), especially to the middle of the field. Look for Carolina to use the size of Muhsin Muhammad (knee) and the speed of Steve Smith to create the big play deep.

Now, of course, I would wholeheartedly agree that the Cats need to attack the NOLA secondary. But I’m also not so sure they shouldn’t use the ground game more than usual, just in order to beef up our TOP and to keep Drew Brees as far away from the football field as possible.

He’s getting a slew of weapons back this week, and Reggie Bush will be playing as well, so letting the Saints on the turf too much could = Fail. Not that such a point, belabored as it is, isn’t obvious; it’s just that we have two stout running backs, and as banged up as our offensive line is, it makes sense to try and really, really establish the run before we starting chunking the ball deep too often.

So, I saw this originally at Alana’s blog (The Artist Formerly Known as Gossip) and upon realizing that such coffee cups were for sale, I had to buy one immediately. You see, despite my Panther love, Marshawn Lynch could be my favorite player in the NFL. Why? Beast Mode. That’s why.

As you can see, I have wallet, coffee and a dog (actually three). I am fully prepared for a weekend of football.

I wouldn’t say you dread it, but you don’t look forward to it, that’s for sure,” said longtime fullback Brad Hoover. “You pretty much know it’s going to be a miserable day. But ultimately you are responsible for your actions, so have to be accountable to yourself and your teammates.”

“The biggest thing is you have to take a step back, look at yourself and not take criticism to a point where you get angry with it,’ Hoover said. “We’re trying to win football games and learn from these mistakes and move on and win. You have to be a man to do that.”

And, um, yeah. Or no. Also to the point that MDS was trying to make is the fact that when you get whipped that badly in a public setting, you should be teed up, cheesed off, etc., when the coaches start calling people out.

Because, Hoov, if you’re not upset about the loss, then a) you’re not really that focused on winning and b) you’re not representing Davidson County very well. I kid a little bit — obviously Hoover is fully devoted to winning, but yeah, I think he should be angry.

Which is exactly how I also felt trying to watch the Cats do anything remotely worthwhile against the Bucs on Sunday. It was embarrassing, it was  defenestrating and it was like something from the Mittens Era.

But we will move on. We will recover. And we don’t have to freak out too much. After all, Atlanta is also leading the NFC South. So, yeah, hell frozen.

Also, I’ll have more on this later, but I’m in New York and not freely available to write. But I highly recommend checking out Tom Herrera’s take on David Carr (Where are your mittens????).

Tom wrote this because, as you may have seen, Mittens came in the game for the Giants yesterday and threw a touchdown on his only pass of the game. Without wearing his Mittens. We are all sorely disappointed and want to know why the hell he felt he had to wear them all of last year regardless of how badly he stunk.