FatMan On the Beat with the Carolina Panthers - 10/22
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by FatMan
I'm going to say this upfront - I am a NY Giants fan who lives in Charlotte, and I pretty much detest the Panthers and their waffling, bandwagon fan base. But being the armchairgm team man that I am, I will present them in as objective a light as is possible for me, which means we will have only 1 to 3 snide remarks each column. Other than that, it will be as "newspaper"-like as possible. Considering the crappiness of the Charlotte Observer, I don't think the bar is set all that high. Heck, I might get a job from the paper that is most seen wrapping fish......
Week 8: It is Monday AM and the Panthers find themselves in sole possession of 1st place in the NFC South. Tampa Bay's loss to Detroit secured that position. However, among the division leaders, Carolina is arguably the shakiest. Seattle is also shivering like they are in the Arctic. The Cats stay at the top might be short-lived as Indianapolis comes to town on Sunday. Even though Indy will be coming off a short week and the Panthers are coming off the bye, the result could be similar to the NYG/SF game from this past week. It didn't help SF off the bye to play a Giants team that took the field last Monday Night.
The Panthers have had a week to plan for the Colts. However, whether David Carr or Vinny Testaverde starts is the top decision facing John Fox. Testaverde came in with 3 days under his belt and led the Panthers to a win over the Cardinals last week by doing what all smart Panther QB's should do - he gave the ball to Steve Smith as many times as possible. Smith responded with 10 catches and the go-ahead TD. Prior to that game, David Carr had only gotten the ball to Smith 9 times combined in the prior two games. The Smith Factor may push the hand towards Testaverde for the starting nod. We will see by this Wednesday.
QB is not the only position with a battle going on. The Panthers are questioning who to start at RB and MLB. Both cases are similar. The more powerful veteran is trying to keep the faster young player on the bench. At RB, DeShaun Foster has been banged up often over his career, but he runs with more power than DeAngelo Williams. Williams possesses breakaway speed and can turn the corner much better than Foster. So far the plan to split carries has frustrated fans and has caused the offense to sputter. John Fox intends to keep a balance, but if Williams has another impressive game against the Colts, look for him to see more time. At MLB, the oft-injured Dan Morgan is holding off impressive looking rookie Jon Beason, but it may not be for long. Beason is quicker and is getting to the point of attack more consistently. However, it will be hard to take Morgan off the field as he may be the defense's hardest hitter. Look for Beason to play MLB and have Morgan move to the outside. Morgan is more naturally a MLB, but the move outside should protect him from possible concussions while also keeping both players on the field.
So that's a snapshot of positional battles to look forward to in the next week. On Thursday, we'll preview the game with Indy in much more detail.
