No-one on the Field has Swagger like Us....

When I was reading about the Carolina Panthers and their game against the Broncos, one question kept popping up, how is this team 10-3. The Panthers are in the top 10 in the league in only one category: total rushing yards per game. They have a less than mediocre +3 turnover ratio, and have the 10th most penalties, yet sit with the 3rd best record in the NFL.

The Panthers have what teams like the Saints and Chargers don't have (anymore): Swagger. Yes, the term coined by rap artist does have a place in sports. It's that noticeable edge a team seems to has as it takes the field, the feeling they give you that no matter what may happen, there's no way they are going to fall because they aren't afraid to play their game. You can't teach swagger, you can't buy it, and you can't fake it, that's why its so important to exploit as much as you can when a team has it. The team is showing more and more swagger as the season goes on. To be a team with it, you have to be exactly that, a team. The Cowboys had it before the year started, before TO could swaggerjack the entire team for theirs. Owens couldn't survive with so much swagger around him, he had to hog it for himself.

Everyone on the Panthers adds to this swagger. Everyone. Yes, even Jake Delhomme has it. At the end of games its when Jakey throws the ball 40 yards down field while Panther fans look more scared than Happy did at the end of Blue Chips. In his case, swagger is the fact that he knows he is a decent quarterback, but even more important, he is gonna throw this ball no matter how good he actually is. Thats because he trusts how good his team is and isn't scared. [quick side note, can you imagine Terrel Owens coming to the Panthers with Jake Delhomme as quarterback. Seriously, do you think TO would even bother trying to get into Jake's mind, or do you think he would just eat at KFC instead of Bojangles.]

The Broncos this Sunday could turn into a game. Shanahan has a ridiculous 5 running backs on the IR and had to re-sign free agent Tatum Bell, this means one thing.......Cutler is gonna pass. Which means our D-Line will not be the focus like it was against the Bucs...which means our DBs are gonna be the focus...which means Ken Lucas and Chris Gamble are big time players for this game...shit. Both have to play a better game than they did Monday when they couldn't have covered Ralph Friedgen running a route. By the way, if either of the recievers have two or three steps on them but Cutler overthrows them so the pass is incomplete, you can't run up and down the field motioning incomplete and yelling "its ova!" just jog back to the huddle with your head down.

With Smash and Dash going up against the Broncos terrible run defense, the Panthers should have this game, hopefully completing the first game in the modern era without attempting a pass.