Not a bad pick...I'm very high on the Panthers. The team has some depth. They have shown a ton of character over the last few years. Hopefully we won't lose our best defensive and two best offensive players for the whole year like in 2004. My big fear is that somebody's gonna have to beat the Falcons for us, cuz we can't do it. It's partly Vick, but mostly their defense. We don't score much against them. I hope they take a good, long look at Peerless Price. This late, he might be amenable to an incentive-laden contract with a Super Bowl contender that plays his old team twice. And we're gonna lose Proehl next year, so by signing Price now, we won't have to look for a receiver next year. I also hope some team cuts a veteran safety for cap reasons. The Panthers need to pick one up. But to talk about other contenders...it's hard to pick against the Pats, but it's also true that no team ever has won 3 straight Super Bowls. I wonder how the loss of Bruschi will affect them. As for the Falcons...Michael Vick is one of those rare players who manages to simultaneously be very overrated and very underrated. If you look at the Falcons' record with and without Vick, you could argue he's the most valuable player in the history of football. But if you look at his stats, he's "merely" a good quarterback. He doesn't throw the ball well enough to be great. It's hard for me to evaluate him. SI picks the Colts to lose in the Super Bowl, and I think they're a fine choice to make it from the AFC. But Manning's not going to duplicate last season, and (correct me if I'm wrong) their O-line is aging. This might be their last best hope with this corps.
As an Eagles fan, the ONLY team that really terrifies me in the NFC is Carolina. That's just a phenomenal team.
Another Eagles fan here and I'm in total agreement with hang's statement. Also superdave, tell the Panthers to watch week one's Monday night game. The Eagles will show them how to beat the crap out of the Falcons.
Phenomenal might be stretching it a bit, but I agree that Carolina is probably the team to beat in the NFC. I've got a lot of respect for Jake Delomme, the guy just makes plays. Atlanta and Philly will challenge, if Vick and T.O. stay healthy. After that, it's just a crapshoot. I still think the Lions will be pretty good, even though they played like the Little Sisters of St Mary on Monday night.
Ah crap, the cover jinx. Did you know, Jennie Finch hasn't won a single gold medal since her SI cover?
One other thing...if I were the Panthers, I'd probably cut Chris Weinke. He's gotten worse since his respectable rookie year. The guy can't play, and despite being relatively new to the league, he's old. Cut him and bring in some veteran. LeFors seems pretty good.
No, but then, almost no one ever gets the picks right, except for anyone who picked Chelsea to win the Premiership...