2009 NFL season in review: Carolina Panthers

The defense was so good, but the offense was so bad. It the NFL it seems it is how you start, the 2009 Carolina Panthers started the season 0-3 and never were able to recover. Of course most of the blame for that lies with QB Jake Delhomme, and his continued meltdown. At times it seems that the only people he can throw passes too are players wearing a different color uniform than his. Now the Panthers must decide if QB Matt Moore is ready to be their guy, and if not they may have a problem on their hands.

The Carolina offense scored 315 points or 19.7/game. That was only good enough for the 21st best offense in the NFL. Delhomme completed 55% of his passes threw for 2,015, and 8 TD’s. That might sound good but Jake had 18 INT’s and that is far too many. Moore on the other hand completed 61% of his passes , threw for 1,053 yards, 8 TD’s and just two INT’s. Of course the running back duo of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams helped this team rush for just under 2,500 yards.

The Panther defense gave up just 308 points, or 19.2/game. That was good enough for 9th best among the 32 NFL teams. How good was this defense? Well even with all the INT’s Delhomme threw their takeaway differential was +6. However given these stats we can safely say defense is not this team’s problem.

While WR Steve Smith is certainly a tremendous talent, it seems this team needs a big time play making receiver. However with no first round pick n 2010 they may have to find that on the free agent market. Mushin Mohammed is too old, and this team’s third best receiver was RB Williams. They must figure out their QB situation, and find him a big time receiver.

Related Links:

•Carolina Panthers News and Notes
•The Business of the NFL
•NFL Complete.com