He did not had any ill feeling toward Delhomme. He said that he felt bad when Np. 17 was let go. Well, this is his golden opportunity to become the man.

Moore said about starting, “(It’s) not really pressure.” He added further, “Just looking forward to the chance (to start), and Jake had a lot of good years here, and I’m looking forward to doing the same. So, I’m just excited and hoping to start off on the right foot this season.”

Moore very well knows that he has perform as the earlier starter because the club is committed to him for only one season for $3+ million. He said that his approach is different this season. As a starter he has a 6-2 record.

Moore said, “I don’t think I have changed personally, but I guess my approach has changed slightly… I’m a little more detailed and a little more enhanced in that way.”

In 2007 Moore went underdraft out of Oregon State. Also he had advanced to mentor point. He had guided young players like rookie QBs Jimmy Clausen, Tony Pike and also Hunter Cantwell, the second-year pro.

Right now, it seems, that the team needs one more quarterback at least and it would be preferred for one having veteran experience and not a drafted- or undrafted-rookie.

It may also be that the team is in need of two quarterbacks. Well, it is on Marty Hurney and John Fox to decide upon.

Few names that can be considered here are: Restricted Free Agent Jason Campbell; Unrestricted Free Agents Marc Bulger, Jeff Garcia (expressing interest with Eagles), and also to re-sign Josh McCown.

If the team opts for solely drafting a QB or if adding a rookie QB as well as signing a veteran then some of the names that comes across may be Texas QB Colt McCoy, Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour, Cincinnati QB Tony Pike, and two quarterbacks scoring highly in the intangibles department are Colt McCoy and Florida QB Tim Tebow.

Quarterbacks:

Jake Delhomme has shown that he can take a team to the Super Bowl. I have no questions about his arm. “Experts” say he needs to be careful in camp, which I would agree with, but when they say he’s a big risk to get injured or have his play suffer, I have to draw the line. What do they know about Tommy John Surgery, seeing as he’s one of the only quarterbacks to ever undergo that type of surgery, it’s tough to tell, but he seems fine to me. He says his arm is stronger than it has been in long time which is a positive, and he’s looked sharp in camp. He is the Panthers best player when he’s on, but when he struggles, they struggle. Jake could rebound this year and lead the Panthers on a long run.

He has the strongest recieving core since the days of Moose, Smith, and Proehl. Though Moose is older, Smith is much improved now and DJ Hackett has a lot of potential. Delhomme needs to have recievers that know how to come after the ball on errant throws, and thats what he has in Smith, Moose, and Hackett.

Matt Moore showed fans last year that he knows what it takes to win games, going 2 – 1in the last three games of the season, beating playoff teams Tampa Bay and Seattle. He also almost pulled out a win versus the Dallas Cowboys despite one of the worst referee performances I have ever seen, namely a blatant pass interference by the Cowboys that wasn’t called. He gets the ball to Steve Smith, and can move out of the pocket. He has potential and will see some action this year in many games, hopefully getting some action towards the end of the year when we are resting Delhomme for the playoffs and when the Panthers are beating up on teams such as the Falcons.

With a slightly run oriented offense, Delhommes stats will slightly dip, but he should have a nice year with great endzone threats.

Delhomme: 2,800 pass yds./25 pass tds./12 ints./90.0 QB Rating

Moore: 700 pass yds./4 pass tds./3 ints./78.0 QB Rating

Running Backs:

By selecting Jonathan Stewart with the 13th pick in the draft, the Panthers showed that they want to pound the ball this year with a potentially great 1 – 2 punch in Deangelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Stewart will be getting the majority of the carries by the end of the season, but they will be basically equal. Stewart will pound the ball down the throat of the defense for the first half, and early 2nd half, then DeAngelo Williams will be utilized in the role that he is more effective, which is to run by tired defenses. I think that by sharing carries, the careers of these two running backs will be preserved, and eventually could form a great tandem. Jonathan Stewart’s toe injury does not worry me, and I predict they will both have solid years, with Deangelo getting more yards while Stewart gets the majority of the goal line carries. Together, they’ll be able to run around defenses. If the Panthers run a two RB backfield as they have tried with Foster and Williams in past years, they could have big play ability with both of them in the game.

Brad Hoover is a solid FB and will do a good job leading these backs down the field. He is a solid blocking FB and it will be nearly impossible to stop Stewart behind Hoover at the goal line. Labrandon Toefield will not be used much, but he is a solid backup in case of injuries to Williams or Stewart.

Williams: 1,000 rush yds./4 total tds./200 recieving yds.

Stewart: 900 rush yds./9 total tds./300 recieving yds.

Recievers & Tight Ends:

Steve Smith is argueably the best in the NFL. He is surely one of the only recievers in history to recieve for over 1,000 while being passed to the majority of the season by 3 different backup QBs, including the oldest in the NFL, Vinny Testaverde, the biggest bust in the NFL, David Carr, and the undrafted rookie out of Oregon State, Matt Moore. I find it amazing he pulled out that sort of season under those circumstances. With DJ Hackett and Muhsin Muhammad relieving double and triple teams from Smith, it should be tough to stop this recieving core. Hackett caught 31 footballs for 374 yards and 3 tds last year in 5 games. Moose is nearing the end of his career, but he still has a chance to recieve for at least 500 yds rotating with Hackett in that number 2 spot. Smith has deep play ability, Moose is a consistent touchdown threat near the endzone, and Hackett is a great no. 2 reciever when healthy  This recieving core could potentially be one of the hardest in the NFL to stop.

Dwayne Jarret is starting to smell like a bust, but he has shown improvement this offseason. He is studying more and catching better.  Ryne Robinson also has potential, and I am a fan. He made some impressive catches in mini camp and has good speed.

Jeff King is a well rounded tight end. I doubt he’ll ever be great, but he is a good blocker and an average pass catcher for a tight end. Dante Rosario and Gary Barnidge are both good pass catchers with good run-after-catch abilities. They could both pass King on the depth chart by the end of the year.

Smith: 1,300 recieving yds./11 recieving tds.

Muhammad: 500 recieving yds./5 recieving tds.

Hackett: 700 recieving yds./6 recieving tds.

Jarret: 200 recieving yds./1 recieving td.

Robinsion: 100 recieving yds./0 recieving tds.

King: 100 recieving yds./1 recieving td.

Rosario: 300 recieving yds./2 recieving tds.

Offensive Line:

Jordan Gross moved over to the left side this year, which shouldn’t be a problem. He will probably adjust quickly and be able to protect Jake Delhomme’s blind side. Hopefully, they can resign him to a longer contract before the year ends because I feel he is crutial to our offensive line. At LG, we have Travelle Wharton, who used to be the starting LT. He will be a great guard because he is surely mobile enough, and is a solid pass and run blocker. Ryan Khalil is the starting center after Justin Hartwig’s departure. He was less than impressive at guard last year, but he can be a solid center in the NFL. He could be the weak point in our line if it turns out he was put into the starting role too early.

The RG spot is up for grabs between Toniu Fonoti, Jeremy Bridges and Keydrick Vincent. I feel that the larger than life Fonoti will get the job. If he keeps losing weight, he could possibly return to his former self and be one of the best run blocking RG’s in football. When he was with the Chargers, he was great, but weight problems ruined his career for a short time. This could be the year that will revives his career or ends it. Jeff Otah was the best run blocking tackle in the draft IMO. He needs to improve on pass blocking, but I think he will pave the way for Stewart and Williams for years to come.

Evan Mathis has shown that he can start at G and play alright in case of injury, but he might not see as much playing time due to Keydrick Vincent, Jeremy Bridges and Toniu Fonoti. Hopefully, Geoff Hangartner will be able to fill in due to poor play by the pass blocking center, Khalil. Hangartner is a better run blocking center and that might be what John Fox wants. Geoff Shwartz was a steal in the late rounds of the draft. He could become a solid LT if coached right. He is big enough to be an overpowering run blocker and is already a proven pass blocker. He won’t ever be great, but he has potential to be a starter.

By Tyler Horner

Here are some of the best questions that can be asked by the fans to the Panthers.

1. In what manner Jake Delhomme respond to last year’s playoff debacle?
2. Is it that Julius Peppers will be a distraction?
3. What will in fact happen if a starter on the offensive line goes down?
4. Will the defense of Ron Meek work in Carolina Panthers?
5. Will Dwayne Jarrett be taking the next step and emerge as the No. 2 receiver?
6. Will the long snapper problem be an issue?
7. Who will become Panthers nickel cornerback?
8. Who will return punts and kicks?
9. How does Everett Brown fit into the team’s plans?
10. Will Carolina Panthers buck history and make the playoffs?

Many more questions may be there, but we stick to only the above ten. Lets see how the Panthers make fans happy.

The Carolina Panthers Quarterback Jake Delhomme had 6 turnovers in that game of last season but the organization of the club thought nothing of it apparently, signing Delhomme to a 5-year contract extension.

They have return 21 of 22 starters from 2008 season’s 12-4 squad so this years Carolina Panthers should have similar success. One can bet Carolina +225 to win the NFC South this season.

This year Carolina likes to pound the ball behind a monster offensive line with Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. The offense of Carolina averaged 26 points per game with a philosophy of run-first last season but Delhomme’s turnovers were killers.

He is an accurate passer and also has an excellent leadership skills. He benefits from having a bona fide All-Pro in WR Steve Smith.

There have been reports that the Panthers are looking to trade for Favre, possibly for draft picks. This comming today from 1010XL out of Jacksonville Fl. This is now the second article reporting that Favre could be traded to the Panthers, and now suddenly this trade seems much more possible A few days ago, Favre made it clear that he wanted to return and play for the Packers, but their disinterest in letting him come back in the starting role has changed Favre’s mind, and he now says that he wants to be either released, or traded to anther team, among those could be Carolina.

Now that Favre has made it public that he wants out of Green Bay, there is no doubt that the Packers have seen increased interest from other teams, most notably from the Vikings, Buccaneers, and now the Pnahters. Yes, it is possible Favre may want to come play here in Carolina, there are some plausible reasons why he would want to come: it’s somewhat close to home, it’s in the NFC, and I was informed that his daughter goes to school in Charleston, which is three hours away.

But even though the Panthers are interested there are some things that would suggest this trade isn’t going to happen. First of all, it has been reported that if the Packers trade Favre, it wont be to an NFC team for fear of him playing against the Packers in the playoffs, second, I don’t see John Fox and Marty Hurney aggressively going after Favre, especially since the team already has constricted salary cap space. Just because they are interested, doesn’t mean they are going to try and out bid other teams. Thirdly, I don’t think it would improve the team.

Sure, everybody has high praise for Favre after the season he had last year, but let’s not forget the two seasons before that where Favre was average at best. When you compare his statistics with Delhomme’s over those two years, Delhomme, not Favre has been the better quarterback. In 2005, though Favre threw for 400 more yards and had a slightly better completion percentage, he threw for 20 touchdowns and 29 interceptions for a 70.9 quarterback rating. Delhomme on the other had threw for 24 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for a 88.1 quarterback rating. In 2006, Favre did throw for more yards, but Delhomme had a higher completion percentage and less interceptions, with a 82.6 quarterback rating while Favre only had a 72.7. Even when you look at 2007 Delhomme had gotten off to the best start of his career. I am tired of people throwing Delhomme under the bus, when you look at the numbers, you really can’t make the case that Favre has been the better quarterback over the past few years.

Even if Favre does get traded to Carolina, he is going to have to compete with Jake, and there is a strong possibility could be backing up Jake for a few games, something he clearly doesn’t want. If Favre is going to come back, it is going to be to a team where he knows he can start, and that is not Carolina.  I think this would be a big mistake if the Panthers trade for Favre, but I guess John Fox and Marty Hurney have nothing to loose this season.