Screw Clausen and hop on the Matt Moore bandwagon.
According to the NFC South's history, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should win the division this year. Unfortunately for them they're terrible. Unless Josh Freeman turns into Gandalf with Antonio Cromartie's legs it isn't going to happen. The Panthers, on the other hand, have a shot at keeping up the trend of climbing out of the cellar and Matt Moore may be the guy to lead the way. Screw the fact that ESPN ranked him behind everybody in the league except for Jake Delhomme. The guy went 6-2 as a starter. He may have never taken the job from Delhomme in a training camp, but he gives them consistency at the position that the team sorely needed. You never knew if Delhomme was going to light the world on fire or throw 2 pick sixes. With Moore, they don't have to worry about that. They know he's going to be mediocre and in this case it's a good thing. Worst comes to worst he sucks and they go to Jimmy Clausen who won't be asked to do much (and he's probably the most polished rookie quarterback this year so it could be much worse).
The Panthers are built to run the ball and that's what they should be doing. Smash and Dash (Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams for those keeping score at home) make up the best tandem backfield in the league (even when Ronnie Brown isn't hurt) and relying on them beats relying on Delhomme any day of the week. Their offensive line finally has some experience under its belt and, like the Jets from last year, they only need the pass to occasionally offset the run so expect a return to smash-mouth football. When they do need to go through the air they have Steve Smith. He had a down year last season, but he's a smurf with a fire in his belly. You think he likes being called The Other Steve Smith? No. He'll be back and it's hard to knock him when his quarterbacks were tossing the ball to the guys in the wrong jerseys. Dwayne Jarrett needs to get his act together to give a viable second option, but with Smith and their running game they should be able to control the clock and win games.
Finishing eighth overall in total defense is good, but that was a unit that still had Julius Peppers. He's irreplaceable, but can the rest of the unit should pick up the slack now that they can no longer rely on him? I guess yes. This is no longer a team defense built around superstars and there aren't many household names on the defensive side of the ball, but as long as they have leadership then the burden is on the group. Think of it like the Ewing theory. There are no excuses and everybody becomes accountable. If Chris Gamble and Richard Marshall can provide leadership from their corner spots, this unit is good enough to win now. Remember, they'll be well rested if they can run the ball like they hope to on offense and it's also hard for a team to find rhythm in a passing offense when they don't have the ball in their hands.
Until Jake Delhomme lost it, the Panthers were a competitor. Their 12 win season in 2008 was no joke. With him out of the picture they don't have to answer questions about how they could possibly send him to lead an offense after tossing 4 INTs, or watch ESPN break down Steve Smith's pep talks on the sidelines. There are no expectations, good or horrendously awful, with Matt Moore. They may have the second worst quarterback in the league, but it's an improvement on what they had.
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