I Wonder...

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

The national media seems to be obsessed with who the Panthers lost over the offseason. If I have to hear, "well, they lost Steve Smith and Jordan Gross..." one more time I might shoot my TV. I wonder if they realize that every starting O Lineman we have this year, with the exception of Turner, started on the o line last year?

 

[Balljim55]

I think we are better at WR this year. The 4 we lost were worth only 10 catches a game - pretty easy to make that up. Also Cam too often tried to force it into Smith. I think we will definitely miss Gross but we can compensate some with scheme. One concern is our DBs. We ended up ok last year thanks to our front four. Hope that's the same case this year.

 

[pantherfanforever11]

i dunno i think it depends on what you think as better. Ginn gave us a deep threat last year that we dont have this year. and Smith while not the deep threat he once was was still top of the line.


This year we really only have possession receivers. BesidesBenjamin showing some ability to gain a bit of separation and his natural sizeto go up and get the ball down field we really have no one to keep the safetiesback.



So like I said I thinkit depends on your outlook. Personally I would rather see Smitty and Benjaminlining up out there with Cotchery in the slot. Then I would say it is better.


We can talk all we want to about only replacing 10catches. But your forgetting the impact receptions, when Ginn was in the gamethe deep respect they gave. And despite Smith loosing a step they stillrespected his ability to get deep. This year we do not have the deep threats soteams may, or prolly will, crowd the line a bit more than they could last year.

 

[Balljim55]

If we could have kept one of them I would rather it had been Ginn. Smith is definitely on the downside of his career. I do like his passion and he is able to got 4 or 5 15 yarders against the opposing defenses with his mouth, but I think as long as he was here it was his team. They want it to be Cam's team.

 

[pantherfanforever11]

Taking away the leadership part. But even with Smith onthe down swing he can still out perform Cotchery and Avant easily. Ginn would havebeen excellent to keep. As a returner and slot receiver. But that would stillleave you with Cotchery playing out of position. Other than giving us morespeed it wouldn’t have changed us a lot.



We have what we have but Avant and Cotchery are both onthe plus side of 30 and outside of Cotchery being a solid number two when hewas at his peak, they are both number 3's at best at this stage.



To me it is just frustrating because I am seeing Benjaminplaying well and you just have to wonder that if Steve was still here, howsolid could our passing game really be.