I know the site kind of sucks right now… But I promise, sometime before the NFL draft, everything will get spruced up and back in business.

Alright, real quick, I’ll update this later…

New England Patriots over San Diego Chargers (destiny? screw that. phip rivers, state grad, ftw)
Green Bay Packers over New York Giants (Brett. Is the man.)

It’s the divisional round of the 2007-2008 NFL Playoffs and the Carolina Panthers are no where in sight. This is probably one of the greatest seasons in the history of football and for the most part I’m half indifferent. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be watching a bunch of these games and I’ll enjoy some of the best football this season has to offer, but at the same time, I’m still missing the Panthers. Hm…

Wild-Card Weekend Results
Seattle Seahawks over Washington Redskins
Jacksonville Jaguars over Pittsburgh Steelers
x Tampa Bay Buccaneers over New York Giants
San Diego Chargers over Tennessee Titans

WILD-CARD WEEKEND RECORD: ( 3 – 1 ) .750
OVERALL PLAYOFF RECORD: ( 3 – 1 ) .750

Division Round Picks

Green Bay Packers over Seattle Seahawks
I kind of like the Seattle Seahawks as they are a team I wouldn’t mind rooting for down the road. However, this is a team that did indeed lose to the Carolina Panthers at the end of the regular season in a game they really should have legitimately won. Certainly the Panthers were playing much better at that point, but at the same time, the Seahawks were nearly man-handled and shouldn’t have been. Oh, and Green Bay at home. Hmm….

New England Patriots over Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars are the sleeper pick to be able to contend against the New England Patriots according to ESPN, but can you really pick them over an undefeated team? A warm weather team over a cold weather team at home? Yeah… that’s what I thought. Don’t get me wrong though, I’ll be rooting for the Jags the whole way.

Dallas Cowboys over New York Giants
If there’s an upset this weekend, this is it. But I still can’t get my mind in position to pick the Giants. They’re way beyond where they were supposed to be all season. At the same time, the Cowboys seemed to have peaked way too early. At the very least, it shouldn’t be surprising for it to go either way.

Indianapolis Colts over San Diego Chargers
Being an N.C. State student, I have a certain affection for Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers, but I also pull for the Indianapolis Colts in every Indy-New England matchup. In that regard, I really don’t have a team that I can root for in this one, but I don’t see a Norv Turner coached team beating a Tony Dungy coached team at home.

I don’t know what it is. I’m a die-hard Carolina Panthers fan. Love them more than anything else in the world, and yet, I still manage to find sympathy for other teams in our division. Especially when the play other teams. I call it the “ACC Effect,” where you hate the team to death when you play them, but when an NFC South team plays another team, you almost root for them, just because it should be just you that can beat them.

With that in mind, Pete Carrol has been an often topic of discussion concerning the Atlanta Falcons’ head coaching vacancy. I want Carrol gone as soon as possible, simply because I’m tired of USC domination in college sports, but at the same time, do I want to have to play against a Carrol coached team twice a season? John Fox is an unbelievably underrated coach and I firmly believe in his system, despite the critics. And because of that, I think it’d be awesome for the Atlanta Falcons to acquire Pete Carrol as their head coach/general manager (as that’s exactly what he wants). That will only work, of course, if John Fox can become the bane to the Atlanta Falcons over the next few years, just like they were to us for so long.

So Mr. Blank, hire Pete Carrol, and help restore the long-standing tradition (since the 2002 division restructure) of the last place NFC South team proceeding to win the following season’s divisional championship. Although, the other tradition (of an NFC South team making it to the NFC Championship game since it’s foundation in 2002), ended just this year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being eliminated by the New York Giants.

In addition to doing weekly playoff game predictions, I’m going to fill out a complete NFL playoff bracket, a la NCAA basketball, and see what that gets me. Officially, the weekly predictions are my “official picks,” but if this goes well, I’ll lay claim it as my baby, haha…

Wild-Card Round

AFC
5) Jacksonville Jaguars over 4) Pittsburgh Steelers
3) San Diego Chargers over 6) Tennessee Titans

NFC
4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers over 5) New York Giants
3) Seattle Seahawks over 6) Washington Redskins

Division Round

AFC
2) Indianapolis Colts over 3) San Diego Chargers
1) New England Patriots over 5) Jacksonville Jaguars

NFC
2) Green Bay Packers over 3) Seattle Seahawks
4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers over 1) Dallas Cowboys

Conference Championships

AFC
2) Indianapolis Colts over 1) New England Patriots

NFC
2) Green Bay Packers over 4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Super Bowl

Indianapolis Colts over Green Bay Packers

Pro Bowl

NFC over AFC (The next era of conference domination, is about to begin…)

Here we are, the NFL playoffs. What really could have been a weekend of misery with all of my “Panthers-should-have-been-in-the-playoffs-but-got-robbed” ranting, it’s really not as Carolina honestly wasn’t going to do anything this postseason, even if they did make it. The good news, however, is there’s still plenty of good football to watch and it’ll still be an exciting weekend. With that, it’s time to recap my Regular Season statistics and make the picks for the wild-card.

Regular Season Statistics
LAST WEEK: ( 7 – 9 ) .438
OVERALL REGULAR SEASON RECORD: ( 150 – 106 ) .586

Wild-Card Weekend Picks

Seattle Seahawks over Washington Redskins
Did anybody miss that Redskin pounding of the Dallas Cowboys that final week of the season? That game showed us two things: that Washington is a legit wild-card team (wild-card for a reason) and that Dallas will probably get shocked in its first game. What it fails to mention is that Dallas was not at full strength and really had no reason to play that game and the Redskins had everything to play for. But after seeing the Carolina Panthers going up to Seattle two seasons ago and hearing that crowd over the TV, it’s clearly a home advantage, and I don’t think the ‘Skins have enough to get by it. Seattle by 7.

Jacksonville Jaguars over Pittsburgh Steelers
This is the team that everybody is picking to win this game and it gets me incredibly nervous to pick them as well. The Steelers, being vast underdogs despite a spread of a FG, should have all of the fight within them to come out and kick the Jags’ butts. The problem, however, is that Jacksonville absolutely annihilated the Steelers in Pittsburgh during the regular season. That game simply said that the Jags are going to be too much for the depleted Steelers. Jacksonville by 10.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers over New York Giants
I believe the New York Giants were the better team through most of the regular season; they even played hand-in-hand with the New England Patriots just last week. Yet this is a very difficult game to accurately predict and for two big reasons: Jeff Garcia and Eli Manning. Eli has consistently tanked in the playoffs and until he proves me otherwise, I don’t see that changing, while Jeff is an astute veteran and will bring his A game. That, and there has always been an NFC South team in the NFC Championship game since 2002, when the division was created. Karma baby. Tampa Bay by 3.

San Diego Chargers over Tennessee Titans
The Browns would have made a sexier matchup as the Titans just feel like they snuck into the playoffs, despite winning out. The only problem the Chargers could possibly have is if Philip Rivers tanks. But with how he played the rest of the regular season, I don’t see that happening. Yet. Vince Young has yet to show that he can truly carry this team and should just be proud that he got this young squad this far. Chargers by 14.

PLAYOFF OVERALL RECORD: ( 0 – 0 ) .000

As we head off into the offseason (yeah, playoffs start this weekend, but it’s the offseason nevertheless), I sat down and tried to come up with a list of changes I feel are necessary to make the Carolina Panthers a team to be reckoned with next season. This team looked at times like it needed many changes to get back on pace, but other times showed signs of brilliance. The good news, there are just a few short steps that need to be taken care of, before we’re back where we should be.

Quarterbacks
Jake Delhomme will be the starter next season with Matt Moore as a very capable backup. If things are done right, Jake will last another season, winning an elusive Super Bowl title, and then maybe one more season after that. Matt Moore, in the meantime should be groomed as the quarterback of the future. He played incredibly well in leading the team, albeit while on a leash (he wasn’t throwing all day like Peyton Manning), and did exactly as he needed to do. Matt is a very capable and is can almost be foreseen as Carolina’s first genuine Franchise Quarterback. (Kerry Collins *should* have been it, but he’s a douche.) David Carr? Do I really need to talk about him? Cut him.

Running Backs
I’m going to say it because it needs to be said: get rid of DeShaun Foster. I like the guy, but he’s been detrimental to our running game. Certainly the offensive line has been guilty of problems as well, but DeShaun simply won’t ever be a star running back. DeAngelo Williams, on the other hand has a bright future, as evidenced in a terrific Week 17 game against the Buccaneers. At the very least, start Williams over Foster next season.

Wide Receivers
It’s always said in the news that Carolina still needs a solid #2 receiver. I think we would have had that in Drew Carter this season had Delhomme stayed healthy. What needs to be looked at this offseason is how much Ryne Robinson and Dwayne Jarrett are expected to improve. They each showed flashes of brilliance *at the receiver position,* but clearly haven’t yet become full-NFL caliber wide receivers. That leaves out Keary Colbert. Colbert has had numerous chances to be that number 2 receiver, but hasn’t yet stepped up to the plate. Since his contract expires now, it’s in everyone’s best interest to just let him test free agency. He still could be good in the future, but he’s not worth cultivating anymore year. If there’s a chance we could resign him for less, that may be a viable option. On the other hand, while a veteran receiver could be good *again,* it’s something that doesn’t absolutely have to be done, unless Colbert leaves the squad.

Tight Ends
This position is set. We don’t have an Antonio Gates, but Jeff King and Daunte Rosario are both quality draft picks and can hold down the position for quite some time.

Offensive Line
This unit really has no excuse, they weren’t decimated by injuries like in year’s past, even with the few minor scrapes and bruises they picked up. Ryan Kalil has been a disappointment, but could still develop into a solid center. With that said, however, there should be very little to no changes in the line next season. Maybe along the backups, but what seems to be the issue is the lack of a familiarity and maturity that should come this offseason. As always, pick up available veteran linesman if the deal’s right.

Defensive Line
Where to start? This line severely underachieved all season and never became the dominant threat it should have been until the last few weeks. The good news is that Charles Johnson and Stanley McClover seem to have developed into solid defensive ends and could realistically replace Mike Rucker on the right side. It was, after all, towards the end of the season when those two players were playing more that this line improved dramatically. Kris Jenkins looks like he’s going to command a steep sum to stay and with how the Coaches view him, I would not be surprised if he goes elsewhere. That other DT, Maake Komeauto, had two of the best defensive sacks all season and might still have promise come next season. What does that mean? Draft a defensive tackle. And highly. As for Julius Peppers? Do not give him the biggest contract next season. He simply doesn’t deserve it. A player like him is expected to be productive, regardless of what’s going on around him. He wasn’t and that to me is a problem. Should he be resigned? Of course, there’s no question, but he simply does not command top dollar after that horrible last season. But I would encourage performance escalators, even if that indeed set him as the best paid defensive end. As long as he’s leading the league in sacks, we won’t have an issue.

Linebackers
Thomas Davis and Jon Beason are going to be mainstays here for quite some time. They both are incredibly solid and will hold down this unit for many years. Beason even deserves the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Apparently his only competition is some linebacker out of San Fran. Are you kidding me? Carolina beat ‘em, so give the award to Beason. Dan Morgan needs to be let go as he’s been replaced. He’s a great player and he’ll be missed as he’s meant a lot to the team, but we simply can’t keep having these injuries. I feel sorry for him, but he’s no longer truly needed with Beason in the MLB. His contract money could be used elsewhere. Adam Steward and N’ail Diggs are showing signs of promise and should be able to maintain that third linebacker spot.

Cornerbacks
Keep all of them were they are. Richard Marshall has played incredible all season, minus that T.O. touchdown against Dallas, but all of these players are still good enough to man the position as they are. The secondary was indeed one of the good parts about this defense. Of course, contract years are coming up and Ken Lucas and Chris Gamble should only be kept if they can improve on their past performances.

Safeties
This is surprisingly the most improved area for this football team. So much so, that most of you probably don’t even know who started here all season. They were that good in keeping their coverage solid. Although there were a significant lack of INTs, there were a tremendous amount of hits, courtesy of the best pickup this season, Chris Harris. He should be a mainstay for the next several years. The other four safeties are solid enough, but I’d be getting nit picky if I had to say who stays and who goes. That will be left up to the coaches, who have seen those players a lot better than I have. What does that mean? Nobody else was a star, but they were all solid.

Special Teams
I would say never start a rookie as your punt returner ever again. But that would be making too much sense.

Coaches
See my other entry. Don’t fire Fox. Don’t fire Hurney. Don’t fire any of the staff. Except maybe the Special Teams coach.

There you have it. That’s it. My list of changes. Something to mention real quick, however:

At the end of the season, nearly every playmaker was rookie or a sophomore: Matt Moore, DeAngelo Williams, Jeff King, Daunte Rosario, Drew Carter (alright, he’s a third year, bite me), Keary Colbert, Dwayne Jarret, and Ryne Robinson. Out on defensive, Jon Beason, Thomas Davis, Charles Johnson, and Stanley McClover.

Just like that. We’re a young team. Tell me that’s not a good thing.

John Fox shouldn’t be fired. He’s done too much for this team and hasn’t had a season without at least 7 wins. To me, if the worst he’s ever done is the best possible losing season, we’re not in terrible shape. Sure, he’s had his problems. We’ve been expected to do a lot more and almost immediately failed to do so. But you could see it in the players: they played when they had nothing to play for in the last three games. Tell me that wasn’t a coaching job. We didn’t have a consistent quarterback to man the offense the entire season. Tell me that was the coach’s fault. 2006 was a legitimately disappointing year, changes were made in the offseason. But 2007, was a freak accident that nobody could have prepared for. If there was a mistake in the offseason, at all, it was getting David Carr. But there’s only so much you can do for someone before it simply becomes evident that he can’t make the cut.

Matt Moore will be the quarterback of the future. Jake Delhomme will win us a Super Bowl next season.

John Fox will be the coach next year and for many years to come.

Yep. Everything happened that would have put the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs, had they beaten the Dallas Cowboys. In a game clearly stolen by corrupt and inept referees, they lost to the Dallas Cowboys in a game that receive no national media attention whatsoever, despite being on the NFL network. Everybody just assumed that the Carolina Panthers were done. But here’s what happened:

1) Minnesota had to lose both games of their last two games (vs WAS, @ DEN)
2) New Orleans simply had to lose one game, they lost both (vs PHI, @ CHI)

Here’s what partially happened:

1) Carolina had to win out (lost vs DAL, won @ TAM)
2) Washington had to beat Minnesota (they did) but lose to Dallas (they didn’t)

Now, looking at this, you can see two things that should have happened for Carolina to get into the playoffs. And here’s why they should have gotten in:

1) Carolina would have had a decent opportunity to beat the Dallas Cowboys and should have had a fair chance, but after two extremely irrational and poor calls by Mike Carey (referee), they had any chance of pulling the upset taken from them. But let’s go ahead and assume that they won.

2) Dallas would still be tied with Green Bay in the race for the first seed. Therefore, they’d have to try to beat Washington to maintain home field advantage through the rest of the playoffs. Which, there’s a very real chance they would have.

And had all of that happened, the Carolina Panthers would have made it into the playoffs as the sixth seed.

The NFL has yet to apologize for the missed calls. And I want to know why.

Here are my picks real quick… I’ll have something more for the playoffs. And a regular season follow-up.

Week Seventeen Picks
Carolina Panthers over Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New England Patriots over New York Giants
Buffalo Bills over Philadelphia Eagles
Miami Dolphins over Cincinnati Bengals
New Orleans Saints over Chicago Bears
Jacksonville Jaguars over Houston Texans
Seattle Seahawks over Atlanta Falcons
Green Bay Packers over Detroit Lions
Cleveland Browns over San Francisco 49ers
Denver Broncos over Minnesota Vikings
Dallas Cowboys over Washington Redskins
Pittsburgh Steelers over Baltimore Ravens
San Diego Chargers over Oakland Raiders
Arizona Cardinals over St. Louis Rams
Kansas City Chiefs over New York Jets
Indianapolis Colts over Tennessee Titans