Lea: The next 8 weeks will determine if the Panthers can 'win now'
Posted October 7, 2021 9:04 p.m. EDT
Take a look at the Carolina Panthers' remaining schedule. If you ask Coach Matt Rhule or any of their players about their upcoming schedule they'll give you the typical, "we're taking it one game at a time, so we're focusing on Philadelphia" spiel. That's fine, but it won't stop us from looking at it and address the elephant in the room.
The next eight weeks, including this Sunday, will look like this: Philadelphia, Minnesota, New York Giants, Atlanta, New England, Arizona, Washington and Miami - in that order and it'll determine if this team is really a playoff contender.
Six of those eight teams all have a 1-3 record in the first four weeks of the season. The Cardinals are the lone undefeated team left in the NFL, while Washington is 2-2 this season. After this next stretch of eight games, the Panthers will finally have their bye week and will then end their season with Atlanta, Buffalo, Tampa Bay New Orleans and ending again with Tampa Bay. Atlanta and New Orleans will always be tough games because they are NFC South Divisional games, but Tampa Bay are the reigning Super Bowl Champions. Oh yeah, and someone named Tom Brady is their quarterback. The Bills are 3-and-1 just like the Panthers are and could represent the AFC in the Super Bowl in February.
That last stretch of the season will be brutal for the Panthers. Who knows what injuries will creep up between now and then and if rookie cornerback Jaycee Horn will be back or not. And don't forget about that 17th game they'll have to play. So don't be surprised if the Panthers win their home games and lose their away games in that fiinal stretch, which would mean a 2-3 record to end the season. It'll be tough for them to win the division over Brady's Bunch in Tampa, so Matt Rhule's path to the playoffs most likely will be through the Wild Card. That means the forthcoming eight game stretch will be critical to the Panthers' success this season.
Anything can happen in the NFL and anyone can beat anyone, but as we established earlier, most teams in the upcoming eight game stretch have losing records heading into week five. Plus, the Cardiac Cats beat both the Cardinals and Washington Football team last season. As a matter of fact, the Panthers have beaten the Cardinals in each of the last two seasons.
It's a different year, so last year's results will have no bearing on this season, but it's not unrealistic for the Panthers to go 8-0 in this stretch. That means their overall record would be 11-1 going into their bye week. Worst case scenario should be the Panthers going 6-2 in that stretch, making them 9-3 heading into the bye.
It's only been a four game sample size, but this team is clearly much better than last year's 5-11 squad. Another year at the helm for Rhule, the maturation of young players, great additions by the draft and free agency and Christian McCaffrey being healthy (for three games) are all contributing factors. The Panthers notoriously lost eight games within one score in 2020, so you'd think the improvements from last season would means they could win at least five of those this year.
Rhule admitted that this team is 'ahead of schedule'. General Manager Scott Fitterer has admitted the same through his actions with the recent trade acquisitions of former defensive player of the year Stephon Gilmore and second-year cornerback CJ Henderson. The media talk around the team this past week had a similar talking point: that the Panthers are ready to win now.
If that is indeed true, winning now means eight straight must-wins beginning on Sunday. The Cardinals are arguably the only playoff team in that stretch, however others could make a push to get into the playoffs since we're only five weeks into the season. It'll be the Panthers' job to impose their will on all eight and play like the playoff team they believe they are. But if this team comes out of this eight-game stretch 4-4 or worse, they can kiss the playoffs goodbye, meaning they aren't ready to 'win now'.
