Carolina Panthers: Still A Lot of Doubt in the Media
The Carolina Panthers are not the favorites to win the Super Bowl in the eyes of media members right now.
The Carolina Panthers are gearing up for this week’s showdown with the Seattle Seahawks. The team is in the middle of saying all the right things about the matchup. However many in the media and the probably the sports world at large believe the Panthers have the hard road of the two bye teams.
Consider this, Bill Barnwell of ESPN noted the Panthers had the sixth hardest path to the Super Bowl of the surviving eight teams. Most of Sports Illustrated’s writers went away from the Panthers in their Super Bowl picks, instead going with the Arizona Cardinals out of the conference. Oh the Panthers had a handful of takers but the majority are Cardinals fans right now.
Why is that? They think the road is too hard. They might really like the Panthers but the potential to face the defending Conference champs and the team that won their division in the same haul is too tough.
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Basically if the Panthers and the Seahawks rip each other apart, then the Cardinals are facing a weakened team the next week regardless of where the game is played.
So the Panthers are going to get two good shots while the Cardinals get the Packers. In the AFC, the uncertainty of the Steelers and the Broncos means an easier road for whomever the champ is. It won’t be Pittsburgh. It might well be the winner of New England-Kansas City.
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So the next thing to ask is whether it is better for the Panthers to be tested or not tested before the Super Bowl. The Panthers are 15-1, but there are still those who wonder how stout that record actually is. It is much like analysis before the Panthers hit their second four games of the season. The Panthers were 4-0 and people were ‘wait til Seattle’ or ‘wait til Indy.’ The Panthers went on to beat the Seahawks, Colts, Packers, and Eagles in that stretch. The Seahawks and Packers are half the remaining slate of playoff teams in the NFC.
So yes, we want the Panthers to be tested. And maybe after this testing session, we will finally have all the answers.
The Panthers play the Seahawks on Sunday.