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Morning After Musings: Texans and Panthers

Joe Soriano — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:49:45 +0000

A collection of random thoughts stimulated by the Panthers recent victory over the flat Houston Texans in Reliant Stadium.

149 isn’t so bad

Although Cam Newton fell short in his quest for the rookie passing record by only amassing a meager total of 149 yards, his career-low for passing yard mars what was actually a solid game from Newton. True he didn’t have the gaudy numbers, but he stayed back, showed poise, and didn’t make any huge mistakes. That’s tough to do against one of the best defenses in the NFL, and there is one stat that I want to point out here. WPA measures how much a player helped his team win and is based on down and distance, time, situation, score, and other factors. Newton’s WPA of 0.31 was the 6th highest of the week, and his performance, in this game, went beyond any counting statistics.

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Previewing Texans and Panthers

Joe Soriano — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:44:13 +0000

The playoff-bound Houston Texans will face off against the Carolina Panthers, who are forced to play the spoiler role as the season winds down. The Texans are striving for a playoff bye at 10-3, and they will host the Carolina Panthers in Houston, Texas today at 1:00 PM eastern time. The Panthers are 4-9 and are looking to carry some momentum into the 2012 season with a win here. An upset against the Texans would be huge for a team that could easily be closer to .500 right now. In fact, their expected record is 6-7 when looking at point differential, so a lot of bad luck has hurt this club.

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Carolina’s Most Wanted: Wide Receiver

Eric Quackenbush — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:23:57 +0000

Could the Cards' Anquan Boldin be the Panthers' No.2 receiver in '10?

I’ve been told—not that I needed to be reminded—that Carolina’s biggest need this offseason is at the wide receiver position.

In case you missed last season, it is becoming more evident with each passing year, that the Panthers need a changing of the guard at the No. 2 receiver slot in a legitimate receiving threat.

About a month ago, receiver Steve Smith was adamant with Panthers’ beat writer Tom Sorenson about the team’s need for a speedster opposite him at the No. 2 spot.

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