Carolina Panthers: Denver on Opening Night
The Carolina Panthers may get the Super Bowl rematch early according to reports.
The Carolina Panthers are not playing right now, but they will be soon enough. After training camp and preseason play, the Panthers will apparently head to Denver to face the Broncos on the first game of the season according to reports from David Newton of ESPN.
The League normally schedules the Super Bowl winner with a home game on the opening night of the season. That meant that Denver would be hosting that game no matter what.
At that point it was simply matter of who to put against them. For most eyeballs on the tv screen, the NFL needed a marquee matchup. Fortunately for them, Panthers were due to play the AFC West this year and go to Denver at some point as part of that deal.
The result is a rematch of the Super Bowl on opening night, just without Peyton Manning in uniform and no one knowing for sure what quarterback would be behind center. Von Miller will be there but some of his linemates will not. DeMarcus Ware will be there and so will Aqib Talib. Plenty of familiar faces.
This scheduling sets up pretty well for the Panthers for several reasons.
- The Super Bowl loss is still fresh and the motivation to beat Denver still there
Playing the Denver in the middle of the season after either team had suffered injuries or were more focused on divisional races might have taken some of the luster off this one for the Panthers. Of course I thought the same thing about last year’s Seattle game and it did not materialize. We play Seattle again by the way.
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- The Denver offense will be trying to grow up on the spot.
No one will have played a regular season game as the quarterback starter for the Denver Broncos when they play the Panthers week one. That will be true if it is Colin Kaepernick, Mark Sanchez, or Paxton Lynch that shows up that night. The Panthers defense on the other hand will have a crew of hungry familiar faces.
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- The weather will be a non-factor
Well, it could rain I suppose. The Panthers were due to visit Denver next season anyway, but we might as well avoid the cold and snow of the Rockies in November or December. And the wind. Kicker Graham Gano will be better served by the altitude conditions as well.
So there you go Panthers fans, you get the big dog right out of the gate. I hope the rest of the season isn’t a let down by comparison.