Avdat

America's team

We mentioned that a lot of people hate the Dallas Cowboys.  On the other hand, a lot of people love the Cowboys.  Like referees!

"La, la, la, la, la, la, la!  I am not listening to you, Drew Carter!  My fingers are in my ears and I am not listening to you!"

"Nope.  Still not a catch.  Not even on instant replay."

Griping aside, the Panthers looked far better last night than they did against the Colts a month ago.  Wish that Fox and Hurney had brought in Testaverde as a backup and not the starter.  Matt Moore has shown great poise in his two starts.  I don't question Fox's coaching.  Well, not really.  Bryant Gumbell was right to wonder why they still run it up the gut as if Stephen Davis were still on the roster.  It's the personnel decisions that have proved costly. 

And Dallas is not finishing strong. 

Fire John Fox

It might seem strange to issue such a demand, what with the Panthers coming off a solid home victory against the playoff bound Seahawks, but Dude... did you see the game?

It was 0-0 at the start of the fourth quarter.

AAAAAAAAACK!

Monday's paper declared that this is what "Foxball" oughta look like:  a nasty defense, and a workman-like offense.

It's not fun to watch, even when you're winning.

Dude, give me the Run 'n' Shoot.  Give me an empty backfield.  Give me all the spare cash lavished on WRs, QBs and slashing, cutting RBs.  I'd rather win than lose, but I'd almost rather lose 31-42 than win 13-10.

Waxing philosophical

If your team has to be bad, better to be bad on defense than offense.  Which would you rather watch, a 45-28 loss, or a 20-9 loss?  Alas, the Panthers have a pretty decent defense, which means I've been watching a lot of boring losses. 

I'm philosophical.  I'm not calling in, raging about dropped passes, bad play calling, or lack of heart.  The Panthers just aren't that good relative to the rest of the league, and that's reflected in their record.  I would like to hear from all the Delhomme detractors after a few weeks of the Dave and Vinnie show.  Haven't heard much out of 'em lately.  That WFNZ number must have been mysteriously deleted from their contacts list.

In times like these, it pays not to get angry.  It is just a game, after all.  Lower your expectations, and if you must watch, simply appreciate good football no matter which side of the line it turns up on. 

True, that's easier said than done when it's an arch-rival, but the Packers aren't an arch-rival.  So today wasn't a bad one at all to watch.  My all-time favorite type of football play is watching an aspiring tackler get blindsided into next week.  It usually happens on broken plays, like interception returns, or special teams.  So tune in to the highlight show of your choice, and do catch Kasey's pooch punt returned for a touchdown.  Three different Panthers got slam knocked from one side of the hash marks to the other.  Never knew what hit 'em.

If it's November, it must be time for another 4-4 post!

Scott Fowler on the Panthers:

The huge gamble taken by John Fox and Marty Hurney -- to basically stand pat during the offseason other than the acquisition of David Carr -- has backfired. Carolina is no better than last year's uninspiring 8-8 squad and likely worse.

Uh-huh.  Somebody, maybe it was Fowler himself, was making this point on WFNZ yesterday.  I was never all that excited about this team.  Maybe they had to cut Keshawn because of locker room problems, but that eliminated one bona fide play-maker from an offense that boasted precious few play-makers to begin with.

So people can complain about John Fox all they want, and to tell the truth, given the IQs of most of the call-in guys on WFNZ, I'm surprised that firejohnfox.com is still available for a mere $150, but you can't get blood from a turnip.  And this team is a turnip.

Avoidance

This Quarterback Controversy landed on our doorstep at just the right time.  The Panthers have struggled to a 4-2 record against teams that are a combined 9-20.  On deck:  ten teams with a combined record of 33-22, including division leaders Dallas and Green Bay, and the defending champoin Colts.  But rather than spend this bye week in realistic yet morose conversation about our certain fate, all the talk is Vinnie versus David.

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather debate Vinnie versus David than stare into the abyss.

Of course everyone's a Vinnie fan.  Vinnie's one of us.  He's an old man.  He was literally on the couch just ten days ago, watching the Giants-Jets game with his kids.  Just like we were!  And now he's a winner! 

And he played great against Phoenix.  No dazzle, but no interceptions, no mistakes.  You don't expect a middle-aged man to dazzle you.  You expect... competence.  Vinnie is a competent middle-aged man.

That said, he is 43 in a sport where NFL stands for "Not for Long", and you could tell it on that bootleg the Panthers ran when they went for two.  Compared to the speed of the Phoenix defense, Vinnie looked like he was running in about two feet of water.  And it's not like the NFL trembles at the team speed of the Cardinals D. 

I don't think he can hold up for ten games.

I say, start Carr, and if he blows it, you can always bring in Vinnie.

Like it's going to matter.  Did I mention that we've got the Colts, the Packers, the Cowboys and the Jags to play?

Circumlocutions

There's a handy little obscene expression that involves joining with a hyphen the word for a female dog to another word meaning "a quick sharp blow, especially with the hand."  Sorry to speak so cryptically, but I am a man of the cloth, and I do have a reputation to uphold.  Anyway, that phrase is all I can think of to describe what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did to the Carolina Panthers yesterday.

Pooling Our Ignorance

My wife is the best!  She let me listen to Sports Talk 610 the whole way to Charlotte and back!  Her take after 2 hours of sports jabber:  "If you've got time to call these guys up and talk sports during normal working hours, there's probably a reason why." 

Mrs. Avdat, however, has nothing but praise for the funny and intelligent Brenson Buckner, a former Panthers lineman who thinks that they got away from the run too soon Sunday.  "Delhomme needs the play-action to be an effective QB," he explained to our eager-to-understand-why-the-Panthers-laid-an-egg-on-Sunday ears.

But what about the D, Brenson?  I never would have figured that our defense, coming off an impressive performance against a St. Louis offense that has some bona-fide weapons, would get shredded by a bottom-feeding team like Houston.  They ran on us.  They passed on us.  There were open receivers across the middle all day.  They pretty much scored at will.  Before the season started, I wouldn't have thought that San Diego or Indy could score 34 points on us.  Houston!  Add to that the fact that their former starting QB is our backup QB.  That's not Bill Belichick quality intelligence, but it's pretty good.  And knowing what we knew, they still torched us.  Umm...

This means that either the vaunted Panther D has an Achilles heel, or that they just showed up for work stoned Sunday.  If it's the former, and every opponent from here on out will discover it too by watching the film, then it will be a long, long season.

On the other hand, maybe they're just mediocre.  Isn't that the definition of a team that wins sometimes when they shouldn't and loses sometimes when they shouldn't?  Maybe all the changes--zone blocking for DeShaun, cutting Keyshawn, adding Beason, and getting Dan Morgan back--don't mean much when it's all said and done.  Another 8-8 season.

Pigskin

It was a mixed weekend.  What can you say when your new QB debuts with over 340 passing yards and 5 interceptions?  Those are crazy stats.  Like, Nuke LaLoosh stats.

Meanwhile, Tom Sorenson is pleased that the official roll-out of www.firejohnfox.com has been delayed for at least a week.  But for a loss to Houston and $150, it could be yours!

I had a Ken Lucas Sunday in the pulpit.  Lucas was flagged twice for pass interference, and gave up a TD pass to Torry Holt.  I skipped the call to worship, became rattled durin gthe children's sermon when a seriously mentally ill member of the congregation teetered over to join the one child who'd come forward, a 20-month-old, caused the liturgists to lose their place, and preached a ragged sermon.

But unlike the Panthers, I don't get Houston at home next Sunday.  I get Jeremiah instead.  Sigh.

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Tom Sorenson says I'm wrong.  It's not the offensive line.  They just aren't that good:

We were all wrong about what they had. The Panthers believed this was their season, which is why they committed millions to free-agent defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu and receiver Keyshawn Johnson.

With these guys, these final pieces, the theory was that Carolina would be in position to roll.

Alas, the infrastructure was crumbling. It's as if players that for years have been stalwarts all got old at the same time.

They just aren't that good.  Ouch.  That's like the NFL equivalent of "He's just not that into you."

QB Controversy

Put me down for Delhomme.  In my opinion, all the people who are clamoring for Weinke are the same people who think that when you've met one, grain-fed, Midwestern white boy, you've met them all. 

No, Dear Panther fan.  Left Tackle is not a skill position, but it is a position that matters.  You can't stick just any no-necked guy from Iowa State down there and expect the same results.  The Panthers offensive line is being held together by duct tape and wishful thinking.  That's why a franchise that did all the right things to shore up the skill positions in the off-season finds itself at 6-6 in the lackluster NFC.

Injuries count.  You can't do anything about it.  They count when they happen to tackles too.  Face it.  "Weinke!  Weinke!" does not address the root cause of the problem. 

But God bless him when he starts this weekend.  On that, we are agreed.