Optimism abounds once again, thriving like a weed in the face of the Panthers history
Maybe it’s new head coach Dave Canales’ relentless, infectious positivity. Maybe we really think that Lucy isn’t going to pull the football this time right as we’re about to kick it. Something—and it’s something deeply ingrained—has fans of the Carolina Panthers thinking happy thought entering the 2024 season.
I’m not saying y’all are all overly confident and we’re certainly not talking play offs or any other, shall we say, more standard metric of success. Last week’s Reacts poll showed most of us think 5-9 wins is about as reasonable a level of progress as we’re likely to see. But when asked how many of y’all think the team is heading in the right direction, a whopping 79% of y’all said yes. That’s up from 2% at the end of the last season.
The biggest question around 2024, of course, is whether Bryce Young can improve on a dismal 2023 campaign. He doesn’t need to live up to his draft billing, though it would be fantastic if he did, he just has to show some signs of life. 88% of y’all expect him to look better on Sunday than he did last season. That’s not too high of a bar to clear.
Will he look better enough to have the Panthers competitive with or even to beat the New Orleans Saints? That’s an impossible question right now. Young only played one series in the preseason. His 100% touchdown-per-drive rate may not be the most telling statistic, but we’ll see how everything unfolds in just two more days.
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