Written by:
12/28/2009 6:50 PM 

• SO the Panthers decide to play their two best games of the season last Sunday night at home against Brett Favre and the Vikings and in the Giants finale at Giants Stadium Sunday. The wins guarantee John Fox will not have a ten-loss season on his resume. According to published reports, no changes will be made in the front office or coaching staff should they want to return next season. While this makes sense in many regards, there are a few questions in regards to some players that need to be asked before many will jump onboard with this decision:
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  •  Jake Delhomme- Where do things stand with Jake? Fox has been loyal to a fault when it comes to Jake. Jake has thrown 23 interceptions in his last twelve games. Many wanted the Quarterback change to take place after the Buffalo game. Some have asked would Matt Moore be getting the opportunity he is presently had Jake not been injured? The question now is what do you do with Jake and his contract, restructure it, cut him, or just let him play it out? Jake seems to be a team-first guy, so restructuring it may be the best option for all involved.
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  • Matt Moore- Matt Moore is 5-2 as a starting quarterback for Carolina, including a 3-1 record in 2009. He has outplayed Brett Favre and Eli Manning the last two weeks and against teams fighting for the playoffs on a team playing out the string. This upcoming week he gets Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints here at home. The Saints will be playing to ensure that they are the # 1 seed in the NFC. Moore’s play has many thinking he may be Jake’s successor at QB, but it is one thing for a QB to have success out of the gate, but how will Moore perform once there is film on him? Once teams know that he is the QB here with the Panthers, teams will gameplan on defending the things he does best. It may be difficult for the Carolina front office to get a true look at him until next season, but hopefully the team will truly make it an open competition come training came should both men be around in July.
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  • Julius Peppers- This may be the most difficult situation to predict. The Million-dollar-a-game defensive end’s contract is up after the Saints game next weekend. The Panthers could tag him again next season for $20 Million or they have a short window to sign him to a long term extension. There is also the possibility Peppers decides to walk away and sign with another team should the Panthers not franchise him. This season has been a bit of a roller coaster for Peppers. Part of the season he looked like the player everyone thought he should be, went into a bit of a funk while his hand was injured, but has played great the last two weeks. Should the Panthers franchise Peppers again, what will that do for the contracts of Jon Beason, DeAngelo Williams, and possibly Steve Smith?
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  • John Fox- This one may be the toughest to change. Fox is a guy who believes in running the ball and stopping the run. Look at the Top 5 teams rushing this season: Jets, Titans, Panthers, Dolphins, and Saints. Only the Saints, at #5, are in the playoffs currently. Now look at the Top 5 teams in passing: Colts, Texans, Saints, Patriots and Chargers. Only the Texans in this group are not in the playoffs. Winning in the NFL today requires big plays in the passing game and this team has been lacking in that area this season. Steve Smith has been the only deep option for several years here. Another option opposite Smith has not been developed here and it has hurt the passing attack this season. Fox and staff have to make finding a true # 2 receiver a priority in the offseason and find a quarterback that can get the ball downfield efficiently to get back to where they want to be. While Fox may believe he is doing what he has to for this team to be competitive by running the ball, the last two weeks on offense have shown what a deep passing attack can do in opening up some space for the ground game. Fox may need to adjust his approach to the game on offense or allow his offensive coordinator a little more autonomy to call games.    

• So the Colts decide to sit Peyton Manning and many starters for the majority of the second half of their game at home against the Jets and lost 29-15. Taking my fantasy interest in Manning out of the equation, there are many issues this creates. Everyone knows NFL teams charge full price for preseason games and fans have no choice but to deal with that. However, once the real bullets of the regular season begin to fly, the assumption is that teams will play their best players for games unless the game gets out of control. Well, the Jets playoff life was on life support Sunday and the Colts gave Rex Ryan and the Jets a belated Christmas gift by essentially giving up on the second half of their game. The fans that paid full price for a ticket did not receive any refund or discount for only getting ½ a game from the starters of their home team. The argument that no one remembers teams going 16-0 if they don’t win the last game won’t carry any weight if they don’t win the Super Bowl. Now that they have nothing to play for next week, the assumption is that the Colts will treat the game at Buffalo as they would the 4^th preseason game. The gambling aspect of this is a rather large issue, especially to many out west( Las Vegas) that will only be mentioned here. The Colts organization has now placed the weight of Super Bowl or bust on this team and now they will have pressure of a different variety for the playoffs. On a team with some young players at key positions, watching hoe they respond to this burden will surely be something worthy of following.

• Several weeks ago, many thought it was a forgone conclusion that the Vikings and Saints would be playing each other in the NFC Championship game, the only thing to decide was would it be played in the Minnesota or New Orleans? Fast forward a couple of weeks and look at how things have changed. New Orleans has now lost two in a row and Minnesota is not even guaranteed a first round bye. The NFC is now wide open and should be very interesting beginning in January.

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