Carolina Panthers ‘Ultimate Franchise Player’ Selection

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This is the fifth post in Kurt’s continuing series to identify the NFL’s Ultimate Franchise Player of All-Time. For an explanation of his methodology for choosing each franchise’s ultimate franchise player, and then how you and he will choose the NFL’s Ultimate Franchise Player from that list, click here.

To see all the category page for this series, of which there will be one for every franchise, click here.

Previous selections: ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF

Larry Fitzgerald, Deion Sanders, Ray Lewis, and Bruce Smith.

And that’s just the First Four; a diverse mix of a wide receiver, a cornerback, a linebacker, and a defensive end. Two players still active, two already enshrined in Canton.

There are still 28 automatic bids to be awarded for MSF’s Ultimate Franchise Player tourney, which will precede our own Selection Sunday, where the 32 at-large bids are awarded and we learn the seeds of 64 of the best pro football players ever out of the tens of thousands who have played the game over the past 90+ seasons.

Carolina Panthers History and Honorable Mention

Today we turn our attention to the Carolina Panthers, who have not necessarily had a bad record during the franchise’s 17 years of existence.

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NFL Suck For Luck Power Rankings Week 14: Rams Suck Edition

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Andrew Luck didn’t play this past weekend, as his Stanford Cardinal did not make the Pac-12 championship game. Oregon did. And so did UCLA, which really made the game less “championship game” and more “meaningless exhibition between a good team and a crappy team whose coach has already been fired.”

Anyway, there isn’t much to say about Luck for this week in looking back; but we can look forward.

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NFL Suck For Luck Power Rankings: Week 13

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Expected #1 draft pick Andrew Luck capped off a terrific regular season Saturday night by leading his Stanford Cardinal to a victory over the hated Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In the process, Luck went 20-30 for 233 yards and 4 TDs. He did toss one pick, but overall it was a solid, steady performance from the man who just may end up being Peyton Manning’s replacement in Indianapolis.

But today, the phrase “suck for Luck” has nothing to do with a certain NFL team losing game after game and positioning themselves for the #1 pick. Rather, it has to do with the Nike Pro Combat unis that Stanford wore Saturday night.

Which sucked.

stanford-nike-pro-combat-uniforms-andrew-luckPhoto credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma via ESPN.com

I’ve seen some bad version of the Nike Pro Combat unis (Georgia’s immediately come to mind), but these may the worst. Black helmets? Black numbers? For Stanford? I suppose the jersey itself isn’t bad, but nothing about it says Stanford. And, um, isn’t that what jerseys are supposed to do?

I have a solution.

We need to get this guy on the case:

1800-tequila-suck-for-luck

Seriously, can you imagine the indignation if this bro had seen that Stanford-Notre Dame game? He’d have downed the entire bottle of 1800 by halftime because of those uniforms.

Whatever happened to men, Michael Imperibroli? Nike. And it’s Pro Combat Uniforms. That’s what.

Now drink up while I break down the NFL’s top/bottom 10 in the race to draft Matt Barkley or Robert Griffin (if they go pro) since the race to draft Luck is pretty much done.

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NFL Suck For Luck Power Rankings: Week 13

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1. Indianapolis Colts (0-11)

Breaking news: the Colts lost again.

Here is their remaining schedule. You tell me where a win might come from: at New England, at Baltimore, vs Tennessee, vs Houston, at Jacksonville.

  • They sure as hell aren’t beating New England or Baltimore. In fact, they might lose by a combined 100 points.
  • I suppose they could beat Tennessee, but the Titans should still be alive in AFC South race then.
  • Houston at home is a possibility depending on their QB situation, and if they have the AFC South clinched, but I think the Texans could win just direct snapping it to Arian Foster.
  • Week 17 at Jacksonville is a possibility because any team quarterbacked by Blaine Gabbert could lose to any team quarterbacked by anyone else – even you, dear reader.

So, with nothing else really to say about this sorry sack of a Manning-less team, here is a picture of Curtis Painter doing one of the few things he does better than Peyton Manning: carrying laundry.

curtis-painter-sucksPhoto credit: USA Today

2. St. Louis Rams (2-9)

That’s it. I’m done with the Rams. And they still have to play San Francisco twice! If you own Steven Jackson in fantasy, trade him. Trade him now.

3. San Diego Chargers (4-7)

A bunch of the other craptastic teams won this weekend, so we’ll bump the sorry Chargers all the way up to #3. When you start out 4-1 then lose six straight games, each in excruciating fashion, you get rewards like this.

It’s safe to say that the Norv Turner Era will soon be ending in San Diego, and all 16 of their die-hard fans must be thrilled with that news.

In honor of the Chargers’ rapid ascent up these Suck For Luck Power Rankings, here is the most disturbing image of Philip Rivers on the first page of a Google Image search for his name:

philip-rivers-mouthface1-suck-for-luck-power-rankingsImage source: Pyromaniac

Ah, what the hell. Here’s another one:

philip-rivers-mouthface2-suck-for-luck-power-rankingsImage source: Pyromaniac

My apologies in advance for any nightmares you have tonight.

4. Carolina Panthers (3-8)

Let’s not carried away with excitement here. You beat Indianapolis, and you allowed them to score 19 points. And congrats on running all over them, but everyone does that.

5. Cleveland Browns (4-7)

The Browns jumped out to an early lead over the Bengals, only to give it away to the clear #1 football team in the state of Ohio (since Ohio State is down this year).

But hey, at least Peyton Hillis was back! Maybe now he can start to recapture the magic of 2010. Assuming, of course, that he doesn’t get anymore sore throats or have any more shotgun weddings.

6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-7)

The Bucs have now lost five in a row, and they actually make the Colts looks suffocating against the run. Chris Johnson hasn’t been able to juke a brown paper sack this year, yet he racked up 190 yards against the Bucs on Sunday.

The only question for this team now, with the playoffs clearly out of the question, is does Raheem Morris make it to next year? If the Bucs want to have any hope of not squandering the talent they’ve accumulated, I say the answer is no. We’ll see.

7. Philadelphia Eagles (4-7)

Yes, I think the Vikings and Dolphins, among others, would beat the Eagles right now. That is how bad this team is playing. Their coaches are yelling at eachother on the sidelines, Desean Jackson isn’t blatantly short-arming catch attempts, and good players are getting injured one right after another.

Side note: when Andy Reid gets his walking papers at the end of the year, and it’s becoming likely that he will, some team looking for a head coach (hello Dolphins!) better snatch him up quickly. I’ll agree that perhaps it’s time for a parting of the ways in Philly. Sometimes that happens, even to good coaches. Sometimes change is needed. But it doesn’t mean Reid is no longer a good, perhaps even great, NFL coach. I don’t think he’d stay unemployed for long.

Now, apropos of absolutely nothing, here is a video of a hippo releasing a little pressure after a second helping of Thanksgiving dinner.

8. Minnesota Vikings (2-9)

Yes, the Vikings have now replaced the Rams as the team I irrationally support despite their record. But seriously, the Vikings have played decent football in hanging tough at Atlanta without Adrian Peterson and almost coming back to beat Oakland. Can you honestly tell me you don’t think Minnesota could beat the seven teams above them on this list?

9. Seattle Seahawks (4-7)

You lose at home to Rex Grossman and the Redskins, you make this list. It’s as simple as that.

10. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-8)

Frankly, I kind of forgot about the Jaguars. Had I remembered them, I probably would have placed them in the 4-6 range because Blaine Gabbert sucks so much. But out of deference to the great Maurice Jones-Drew, who continues to play hard and churn out tons of yards in losing efforts, I’m going to keep the Jags here.

Seriously though, watch Gabbert in the pocket anytime anyone gets near him. He freezes up and braces for contact instead of standing in there like a man and delivering a throw (which I obviously would do if I were a professional football player). I wonder what Michael Imperioli would have to say about that after a few shots of 1800 tequila.

Honorable mention: Kansas City Chiefs (4-7), Washington Redskins (4-7), Arizona Cardinals (4-7), Buffalo Bills (5-6).

Honestly, all four of those teams deserved mention. There is a pretty clear line between the top 18 teams in the NFL and the bottom 14. So congrats to everyone who made this list! You officially suck.

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NFL Suck For Luck Power Rankings Week 12: Stiffen For Griffin Edition

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For once, Andrew Luck is not the toast of the college quarterback world.

Combine Stanford’s loss to Oregon two weekend ago with Luck’s pedestrian numbers against Cal on Saturday (20-30, 257 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT in a 31-28 win), and then mix in superlative performances by Baylor’s Robert Griffin III and USC’s Matt Barkley this past Saturday, and Luck doesn’t seem luck such a clear-cut #1 prospect any more, now does he?

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NFL “Suck For Luck” Power Rankings: Week 11

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In the aftermath of Stanford’s disappointing loss to Oregon on Saturday night, you are likely to hear little birdies chirping that Andrew Luck isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.

Don’t buy it.

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NFL Power Rankings Week 9: The Midseason Motown Edition – One Classic “Hitsville, U.S.A.” Track For All 32 Teams

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Week 8 is now in the books after Philip Rivers fumbled away a road win in Kansas City, which means we are right around the midway point of the 2011 season. Most teams have played 8 games, a few have played 7, and we can finally start to state with some level of certainty who is good, who is not, and who is too enigmatic to declare.

Without question, the story of the first half of the season (other than this) has been the ascent of the Detroit Lions.

They went 0-16 three years ago, then 2-14 in Jim Schwartz’s first year, then 6-10 last year; and now halfway through their 2011 slate Detroit, sitting at 6-2, is a bona fide contender in the NFC. And the Lions aren’t just an empty record either. They have the skill, attitude, reputation, and right now the health (knock on wood) to suggest that they aren’t going away.

So in honor of the Motor City Mufasas, and their roaring wreakers of wreckage Ndamukong Suh and Calvin Johnson, I give to you my Midseason NFL Power Rankings, with each team presented alongside a Motown classic that sums up the first half of its season.
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How many NFL teams would trade their current QB for Cam Newton right now?

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How many teams would trade their current QB, right now, for Cam Newton?

This is a question I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past several weeks, as I continue to be more and more impressed (and surprised) by how well Cam Newton is transitioning to the NFL in his first season.

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NFL “Suck 4 Luck” Power Rankings: Week 9

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The Chiefs and Chargers are playing tonight, and though the Chiefs were the #1 team on my original “Suck 4 Luck” Power Rankings, they have done enough non-sucking to remove themselves from consideration win or lose tonight. So unlike last week, when I had to amend my Suck 4 Luck Power Rankings due to Jacksonville’s improbable win over Baltimore, I have no such fears today.

Before we count down the NFL’s suckiest, let’s get our weekly reminder of what the contestants are playing for.

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The Unsung Heroes From Week 7 in the NFL

Tim Tebow should buy Virgil Green a beer. Or at least an iced tea. (Wikipedia)

Drew Brees went 31-35 for 325 yards and 5 touchdowns in the Saints’ 62-7 undressing of the Colts.

Aaron Rodgers put together another near-perfect performance for the undefeated Packers.

Cowboys rookie DeMarco Murray ran for 253 yards in relief of injured starter Felix Jones (and fumble-prone backup Tashard Choice), breaking a single-game franchise record set by Emmitt Smith in 1993.

Cam Newton continued his impressive freshman campaign, going 18-23 for 256 yards, rushing for another 59 yards, and scoring one touchdown through the air and one on the ground.

And Tim Tebow raised as many questions as he answered Sunday, struggling for much of the Broncos’ overtime win over the Dolphins before scoring 2 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in the final 3 minutes of regulation.

These are the players whose names you read in headlines and whose highlights you saw on SportsCenter. But football is an 11-on-11 game, and most of this weekend’s winners wouldn’t have been successful without the contributions of several players who didn’t hear their names mentioned in the post-game press conference.

Here are just a few of the unsung heroes from Week 7 in the NFL:

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NFL “Suck 4 Luck” Power Rankings: Week 7

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A few days ago, Andrew Luck said it was “stupid” for fans of NFL teams to wish losses upon their favorite franchises in the hopes that it would possibly position them to draft the Stanford signal-caller. As Pro Football Talk accurately predicted, “Luck might not like it, but the ‘Suck for Luck’ campaigns aren’t going away.”

No, they most certainly are not; not when quarterback is by far the most important position on the field, in a sport where it is virtually impossible to win consistently without at least above average play from the position.

So even though this post series’ namesake likely thinks I’m an idiot for continuing to post it, post I will. Because while it may be “stupid” from his view, no one who has a franchise QB is lamenting the losses it likely took to get them. Neither will whoever grabs Luck, as close to a “can’t miss” quarterback prospect as we’ve seen in a long while.

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NFL Power Rankings Week 5 – “Drunk Girls Alone At The Bar” Edition

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I don’t like that NFL teams wear pink during the month of October. I love the idea that they are celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month and doing what they can to increase awareness and honor those who have fallen victim to the disease, but I don’t like that they add pink to the uniforms for the whole month.

30 years from now when the next generation of kids are watching highlights from the 2011 season, they will randomly see players wearing pink, and unless the NFL continues this practice forever, they won’t know why. The great thing about highlights from the 60s and 70s is that teams always looked the same. They were the definition of uniform.

Nowadays each team has at least one throwback or alternate uniform that they wear periodically throughout the season. And while they look great, it messes with continuity. I realize that the extra uniforms bring in racks on racks on racks of extra money each season, but they need to do away with it. Teams should be forced to pick one uniform design – one home, one away – and stick with it. If the throwback uniforms are such a hit and look better than the default uniforms, then switch back.

On to the Week 5 Power Rankings.

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NFL “Suck 4 Luck” Power Rankings: Week 4

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We are a mere three weeks into the 2011 season for the National. FOOTBALL. LEAGUE. and already several teams have been eliminated from playoff contention. Oh sure, mathematically they are still alive, but in reality they have about as much chance of making the playoffs as I do of having Thanksgiving dinner with Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams…together.

So while other websites (and possibly Drew here at MSF) give you complete power rankings from 1-32, I am going to do something a little different. I am simply going to concern myself with the teams whose seasons are over, as deemed by the democracy of me, and rank them in terms of their likelihood to land one of the biggest draft prizes in recent memory: quarterback Andrew Luck of Stanford.

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Irrational Overreaction: Cam Newton

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By now we’ve all seen the statline for Cam Newton against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but the magnitude of his performance bears repeating.

Newton finished with 422 yards passing and two touchdowns and also ran for 18 yards, picking up a rushing touchdown as well. 422 is the most passing yards ever for anyone in their debut, and that includes other-worldly players like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Chad Henne, and Jay Cutler. [Editor's note: the latter two who dominate.]

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Panthers interested in Asante

Update: The Charlotte Observer reports that the Carolina Panthers are interested in trading for Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel.  This speculation has started because former Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott is now the defensive coordinator in Carolina, and is known to love Samuel.  The Panthers can take on the salary, as they have cap room, but this is far from being something legit to consider.

Agreement in principle reached

Update:  ESPN is reporting that the players will reportedly receive 48 percent of "all revenue" under the framework of the labor deal currently being discussed. NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith insists the players only saw 53 percent of the revenues under the previous agreement, though 60 percent is the number most commonly cited.