Carolina Panthers at Detroit Lions should provide a (major) feel good week

The Carolina Panthers should get back on track with a Week 11 matchup against the Detroit Lions.

How does one get around a topic of the Carolina Panthers being ‘whooped’ (as Cam Newton put it) 52-21 by the Pittsburgh Steelers last Thursday? Without getting too snarky, playing the Detroit Lions should be a time to truly forget the recent past and get on with the winning.

Fans who look at Detroit and mentally put a ‘W’ on the calendar aren’t just being optimistic or looking for some cheap balm to ease their own raw-hiding. It’s legitimate to think your team can wear someone else out both offensively and defensively when it was suggested their first year head coach (Matt Patricia) rated a ‘G’ after yesterdays 34-22 loss to the Bears. It’s not necessary to say Panthers head man Ron Rivera is a pillar of strength in comparison, just that nobody is (or should be) thinking the wheels are about to come off in Charlotte because of that Pittsburgh loss.

Detroit is 3-6 for a reason– okay, a LOT of reasons- and while Newton isn’t always regarded as the salvation factor, he’s clipping along at 68.4-percent completion rate, almost 10 points higher than during his MVP year (59.8-percent) or best previous year (61.7-percent in 2013). Right now, the Lions best thoughts are about not embarrassing themselves to a national TV audience on Thanksgiving, while the Panthers are expecting to recover their defense over the next four games; before facing ‘The Human Buzz Saw’ that is Drew Brees of New Orleans twice in the last three contests of the season. It might be specious to put Lions quarterback Matt Stafford’s most recent game (25/42, 274 yds, 2 TD/2 INT, 6 sacks) up in comparison with Newton’s stats vs. Pittsburgh, just that his 5 yr/$135M contract vs. a resume with only three playoff games (no wins in nine years) should tell a story that makes Panther fans smile a little.

Consistency is a fact for the Panthers, and whether Rivera is saying “Games like this happen,” to assuage the situation, the Lions don’t appear to ever have progressed up the food chain at all  since the disaster (31-84 record) that was President-CEO Matt Millen‘s tenure (2001-mid 2008)

in Detroit. New Panthers owner David Tepper stated early that he believed the team had a strong front office and has left the football side of operations to pros like Marty Hurney and Coach Rivera. The Lions recently traded their best receiver, Golden Tate– with two 1,000 yard seasons in a row- to the Eagles for a 3rd round draft pick next year, probably in fear of his free agency value. Hurney drafting receiver D.J. Moore and cornerback Donte Jackson this year and working out reasonable contracts with Greg Olsen and Thomas Davis (plus getting Christian McCaffrey) last year is a solid analogy.

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Right now, Detroit’s best thoughts are about not embarrassing themselves to a national TV audience on Thanksgiving, while the Panthers are expecting to recover their defense over the next four games; before facing ‘The Human Buzz Saw’ that is Drew Brees of New Orleans twice in the last three contests of the season.

There will continue to be a quantity of concern over the Panthers getting thumped, which is natural when expectations are high, but it’s NOT going to be another Panthers sub-.500 year, a historical fact after a winning season. Over a million people went nutso in Cleveland when they won a game earlier this year, and while quarterback Baker Mayfield has put a better face on the Brown’s franchise (3-36-1 under recently fired Hue Jackson), squashing the Detroit Lions isn’t an event that will do anything more than put the Panthers back on a righter course in Charlotte.

For the record, the Seahawks rushing attack and Russell Wilson looked pretty good against the Rams yesterday, so the sooner defensive coordinator Eric Washington gets the troops pressuring opposing quarterbacks the better. Same deal with Mayfield for the Browns, as nothing should be taken for granted.

And yes, ‘righter’ means playoffs.