Race Issues

Once again, both teams are in a race.  The Steelers are hoping to be on a run to the playoffs that ends with yet another Super Bowl victory.  The Panthers wanted to run that same race, but tripped up early, got lost, and accidentally starting running toward the number 1 draft pick.  Right now, both teams are winning their respective races.

We might mention that Jimmy Clausen has also been in a race.  He has been given an opportunity to show that Carolina has their quarterback and doesn’t need to draft one with the fist pick.  For the most part in the last few weeks, Carolina’s defense has played well and their running game has come together.  So the ball has quite literally been in Clausen’s hands.  If he could do his part and help win a couple of those games, he could keep Carolina from even having the #1 pick.  He now has one more game, but the results of that race are not looking very good for him.

Thursday’s game was eerily similar to that horrible Panther loss in ’06 mentioned above.  In both games, Carolina’s opening day quarterback was out and the game was in the hands of the backup.  The ’06 game revealed just how bad the quarterback situation was.  It was so bad, in fact, that the following week in Atlanta, Carolina won by playing an almost pass-free game of Wildcat plays and handoffs.  It appears evident after this game that the quarterback situation is no better than it was back then.  Once again, Carolina faces the Falcons next, but this time, Carolina will more than likely lose.  But that’s alright, because this time, many Carolina fans are actually hoping for their team to lose.  That way, they can win the only race they have a chance to win.  One more loss and the Panthers will be on the clock.  Race results: Steelers win; Panthers win by losing.