Carolina Panthers Preview

[xooberon]

As for Peppers: Do not doubt the best defensive end the NFL. He is a force and will prove doubters wrong this season.

even though i'm a panther fan i've gotta disagree with this. i mean if you looked at the stats then yes peppers (before the 07 season) could be considered a consistently dominant player because of his ability to notch 10+ sack seasons. however he has always had a very inconsistent motor and mediocre passrushing technique. he would always get his sacks in patches and would get by mostly on his sheer physical ability. but when he's on, like the first half of the 06 season, he is an unstoppable force.

apparently the problem last year was he had some sort of illness and the meds he took severely affected his game. (there were a few games i saw where peppers was on the sidelines looking out of breath even early on in the game and was taking an inhaler i think)

word is that he's fully recovered from this and has looked very sharp in OTA's, but as matt said this isn't much to go on. if he can come back to even half of what he was at the start of the 06 season, our defense will be greatly improved

[DraftKidWonder]

Why would you move Jon Beason outside, when he dominated inside and replace him with someone as sluggish as Dan Connor? Just keep Beason inside and let the other LBs fight for the other two spots?

Because Beason could very well excel at WLB and Dan Cinner will be a stuf at MLB. It's like getting two great players in one move. If it fails then just switch them back. They drafted Conner for a reason. Let's just hope it's not D.J. Williams all over again.

[DraftKidWonder]

even though i'm a panther fan i've gotta disagree with this. i mean if you looked at the stats then yes peppers (before the 07 season) could be considered a consistently dominant player because of his ability to notch 10+ sack seasons. however he has always had a very inconsistent motor and mediocre passrushing technique. he would always get his sacks in patches and would get by mostly on his sheer physical ability. but when he's on, like the first half of the 06 season, he is an unstoppable force.

apparently the problem last year was he had some sort of illness and the meds he took severely affected his game. (there were a few games i saw where peppers was on the sidelines looking out of breath even early on in the game and was taking an inhaler i think)

word is that he's fully recovered from this and has looked very sharp in OTA's, but as matt said this isn't much to go on. if he can come back to even half of what he was at the start of the 06 season, our defense will be greatly improved

Well everybody has there opinion. That's mine.

[Matt McGuire]

Kid Wonder...seriously.

Jared Allen is the best DE in the NFL...it is him or Mario Williams. Peppers used to be the best but many thought he was overrated and he didn't make those critics doubt themselves at all last year.

[xooberon]

Well everybody has there opinion. That's mine.

oh wow you've convinced me...

[DraftKidWonder]

I forgot about Williams. He's my 1b as my lineup in the best position thread.

[DraftKidWonder]

oh wow you've convinced me...

I really don't care.

[NoNonsenseCoach]

As for Peppers: Do not doubt the best defensive end the NFL. He is a force and will prove doubters wrong this season.

I don't doubt that he's the most talented, but he isn't the best DE in football by any means. You have to produce to be the best. You can't take every other play off and do whatever you feel like.

[Walter]

I can't disagree more with the Stewart-Williams rotation thing.

DeAngelo Williams was drafted because DeShaun Foster always got hurt. Yet, Foster out-carried Williams last year, 247-144.

That gap is going to be even wider now that Carolina spent the No. 13 pick in the draft on a running back. I see Stewart getting about 300 carries, with Williams close to 100.