Expectations for your NFL team this season?

[Derrville]

Be in it all the way till week 17 where we will once again lose the NFC east title to Washington. And then we will retain Garrett, not sign anyone, lose an actual good player or two, and have Jerry proclaim were better than ever.

[OnlyOneBeerLeft]

I think the Panthers played a lil above expectations last year, I thought 10-11 wins and a wildcard would be a successful year. This year I think they still get to 10-11 wins, and miss out on the playoffs. I have faith in these WRs, as a whole, it is better than last year, the offensive line is troublesome. And Stewart is supposed to be healthy but just had a lil strain or something the other day, but the run game needs to produce a bit better. Tolbert deserves the ball more. I think the defense is going to be improved, with Ealy getting in the rotation and I think Cason will have a big year at CB, the safeties are not much worse than last year. The offense has a bunch of guys out there though that are sick and tired of being the butt of everybody's jokes, I think they will be very competitive.

[the Brain]

I think the Panthers played a lil above expectations last year, I thought 10-11 wins and a wildcard would be a successful year. This year I think they still get to 10-11 wins, and miss out on the playoffs. I have faith in these WRs, as a whole, it is better than last year, the offensive line is troublesome. And Stewart is supposed to be healthy but just had a lil strain or something the other day, but the run game needs to produce a bit better. Tolbert deserves the ball more. I think the defense is going to be improved, with Ealy getting in the rotation and I think Cason will have a big year at CB, the safeties are not much worse than last year. The offense has a bunch of guys out there though that are sick and tired of being the butt of everybody's jokes, I think they will be very competitive.

You have more faith than I do. I think every team in the division has improved while the Panthers have regressed. The offensive line is moving someone from the defensive front to get some depth. That's stuff you do in college, not in the NFL. Stewart is about as dependable as wet toilet paper in a bullfight. His estimated time out has already doubled since 1st reported. If the Panthers reach 8-8, I will be pleasantly surprised. From week 3 til the bye in week 12, the sched is a killer.

[webbi]

Bears will make the playoffs this year.. We have the best WR tandem in the NFL, top 5 RB.. the defense wont suffer the amt of injuires it did last year and we have more depth on D this year.. should be fun in chicago

[OnlyOneBeerLeft]

You have more faith than I do. I think every team in the division has improved while the Panthers have regressed. The offensive line is moving someone from the defensive front to get some depth. That's stuff you do in college, not in the NFL. Stewart is about as dependable as wet toilet paper in a bullfight. His estimated time out has already doubled since 1st reported. If the Panthers reach 8-8, I will be pleasantly surprised. From week 3 til the bye in week 12, the sched is a killer.

Well the team was doubted last year too... There has to be something that they have seen in the lineman there, and the interior line looks solid, Idk, having Cam on offense and Kuechly on defense at least makes me excited to watch the games, there's no point where I feel the team will just get blown out, the defense can keep them in any game, and the offense was very bad last year and the Panthers still got to where they did. They need to play special teams at a higher level.

[RyanLeaf16]

Be in it all the way till week 17 where we will once again lose the NFC east title to Washington. And then we will retain Garrett, not sign anyone, lose an actual good player or two, and have Jerry proclaim were better than ever.

You have more faith than me. I'm still worried about our D. I don't see the rebuilding/overhaul on that side of the ball near done. Not sure why we moved away from the 3-4. That change in philosophy really created some chaos.

Offensively, I think we're fine. Just need to keep Romo upright, but, that's what those picks of Frederick and Martin are there to do.

[dave]

Be in it all the way till week 17 where we will once again lose the NFC east title to Washington. And then we will retain Garrett, not sign anyone, lose an actual good player or two, and have Jerry proclaim were better than ever.

Really?

You believe it will come down to Washington and Dallas for the NFC East?

I admire the faith of both fanbases, but you can't spell delusional without lusional.

[the Brain]

Well the team was doubted last year too... There has to be something that they have seen in the lineman there, and the interior line looks solid, Idk, having Cam on offense and Kuechly on defense at least makes me excited to watch the games, there's no point where I feel the team will just get blown out, the defense can keep them in any game, and the offense was very bad last year and the Panthers still got to where they did. They need to play special teams at a higher level.

Now Wharton is retiring. O-line gets weaker & weaker. U can bet the Panthers are scouring the waiver wires looking for any lineman they can get their hands on during the preseason.

[MmmmBeeeeer]

I'm really torn on Indianapolis this year because I'm trying my best not to let homerism cloud my judgement.

The thing is Indy probably has players at their skill positions that can match up with just about any team in the league. They've got arguably the best young quarterback in the game, They've got two solid Tight Ends in Fleener and especially with Allen returning from his hip injury (He's a better player than Fleener), Wayne is returning along with Hilton and this guy named Hakeem Nicks, and they've got a couple of guys at RB who can contribute in Bradshaw and hopefully Trent Richardson.

Their real strength is TE, because Fleener is a legitimate vertical threat who will win in jump ball situations, and Allen is a very good receiver in his own right but an even better blocker. They are going to be (If they can stay healthy) a matchup nightmare for teams, because Allen is a very very versatile player who is going to open up a lot of things for the Colt offense this year. It cannot be understated how much Indianapolis missed him.

There's still holes on Defense, and we don't know if the offensive line will be better, but this team won a lot of games last year (including a playoff game) as well as defeating both superbowl teams in the regular season. The talent is there and they can win big games, if they can find a way to just compete with New England, I think they have a legitimate shot at the Conference Title game if not the big dance itself.

Call me a homer then, because anything less than a Lombardi trophy is a disappointment. Most talented team in the league? No. Have the talent to do it? Yes.

[ThunderHorse]

Call me a homer then, because anything less than a Lombardi trophy is a disappointment. Most talented team in the league? No. Have the talent to do it? Yes.

There's holes though man, legitimate holes.

Indianapolis has an issue at the safety position. Landry is what he is and it doesn't necessarily have to be a negative, but we don't have a FS that compliments him well. Last year we saw that Bethea doesn't really have the ball skills to be the coverage FS we need with a Strong Safety like Landry. Indianapolis did very little (next to nothing honestly) to address this position outside of signing an old guy and some UDFA's.

Nobody knows if the interior of the offensive line will mesh either.

The biggest thing though is the injuries. It's gotten to the point that I honestly question the strength and conditioning program in place in Indianapolis. Because every year it seems like Indy deals with a slew of injuries and I can't remember it NOT being like that since 05 (which was probably the best colt team of the Manning era, undoubtedly better than the 06 superbowl champion team).

Ballard is already gone for the season so the running back depth just went to shit, because you can only put so much faith in Bradshaw's neck holding up. But I have noticed that this year Indy is holding a lot of guys out of TC practices for precautionary reasons. Hopefully that has a positive impact.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Indy probably uses the same guys who do Sean Lees off season conditioning.

[Point Blank]

I expect the Falcons to win anywhere from 8-11 games. Like JHen said, we need Julio and Roddy out there. I would really like to see the run game improve, that's my biggest fear. I still cringe at thoughts of how bad it was last year.

[NAHSTE]

Falcons will fail to put shitty teams away, remain content to win by 7-13 points and settle for field goals after the majority of their red zone trips. The rest of the season hinges on how many close wins via last second FG they can steal vs. non-shitty teams.

Best case scenario, 11-5, which may be good enough to win the NFC South. Worst case, 7-9. Most likely, 9-7 or 10-6.