Panthers don't need Vick, so shhhhhhhh!!!

While walking the course at Wednesday’s Quail Hollow pro-am event, I couldn’t help but overhear a number of conversations from the thousands of attendees on hand. And, though I tried to tell myself I was just imagining things, I heard lots of people talking about how they believe the Carolina Panthers should go after Michael Vick.

These people were displeased with the Panthers and their recent contract moves with current quarterback Jake Delhomme. They felt that Vick, fresh out of prison and no longer fighting dogs, would be the best bet to lead the team forward after their unceremonious departure from the NFC playoffs last year.

Let me tell you why that is a stupid idea.

First of all, despite one of the worst playoff performances I’ve ever seen, Jake isn’t a bad quarterback. He helped led the team to a great record last year before falling apart in that last game. And even then, how much of that was his fault? How much fault lies on the coaching staff from going away from the ground game that much of the year had been hammering teams? Despite their increased defensive abilities in the playoffs, Arizona could be ran on.

But Delhomme isn’t the questionable part of the (Carolina +Vick) – Delhomme = Super Bowl formula. The stupid part is the section of that formula where we bring in a quarterback that, at his best, was just a rich man’s Kordell Stewart. Vick is not a good quarterback. In fact, he’s a terrible quarterback, and that was before he spent time in the slammer. I doubt he learned how to throw accurately while lifting weights in prison.

Vick is a running back who for some reason likes to throw a lot. The Panthers don’t need another running back. And they don’t need a new quarterback. People need to chill. Peyton Manning had some bad playoff games, but you don’t hear people calling for his head. And, he got over those problems and won a Super Bowl.

The Panthers, despite the pain many people are still feeling from last year, still have Steve Smith and a dynamic running game. Hopefully we can still get something out of Peppers. Matt Ryan is due for his sophomore slump, New Orleans can’t play defense and Tampa Bay is rebuilding. The Panthers ought to still win this division and make another run at the Super Bowl with Jake leading the way.

Michael Parks ~News14.com

Peppers looking to bounce back

Julius Peppers is a 6-foot-7, 283-pound freak of an athlete who is faster than a speeding bullet—4.68 second 40-yard dash—and more powerful than a locomotive—56 all-time sacks tops in team history.  And if the Panthers hope to turn around their abysmal 2007 season, they will need Julius Peppers to be Julius Peppers again.

More magician than locomotive last season, Peppers started two

 fewer games, made 20 fewer tackles, and collected a whopping 10.5 fewer sacks, doing an all-around disappearing act for the length of the Panthers’ mediocre 7-9 season.

‘‘Going 8-8 and 7-9, that doesn’t cut it in this league,’’ quarterback Jake Delhomme said of the Panthers.  ‘‘If you don’t perform well, you’re looking to get run out extremely quick.’’

If the preseason is any indication though, the freak who grew from the ground up in Wilson, N.C. is back.  Peppers has embraced his move to the right side of the defensive line and has been a stud in the preseason, terrifying NFL coaches into trotting out sacrificial second-stringers.

Even though NFL teams actually stopped sending double-teams Peppers’ way in the final games of his pedestrian 2007 season, Peppers said he isn’t playing with a chip on his shoulder this year.

"Some people may feel like I should prove something, but I don't feel I've got anything to prove to anybody," Peppers said. "I feel like I'm the same dude I've always been for 10 years now playing football."

But that’s not exactly true.  Peppers has a lot to prove if this team wants to make a postseason run.  The Panther’s defensive roster looks fresher if not younger, with new faces replacing those names Panther fans knew for years, names like Rucker, Jenkins, and Morgan.

And Peppers also has a lot riding on this year in terms of contract money.  If he goes back to being in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year talks, he will get the money reserved for those game-changing players; if not, well it could cost him millions.

"I've got to focus on playing San Diego right now," Peppers said of Sunday’s season opener. "I can't really be focusing on contracts or what's going to be happening with contracts and what's going to happen after the season or during the season.

“I've got to focus on right now."

For the Panthers, they are focused on the “right now” too, and if Delhomme stays healthy, the upgraded receiving corps gives Steve Smith just a little help, and Julius Peppers plays anything like he did this preseason, the Panthers will be one scary team to face going down the stretch.

Wes Wilson