Charlotte.com: Panthers Preview
News, sports and entertainment from Charlotte.com

• Panthers will top 8-8, just barely
  Dan Marino believed number 13 was lucky, but most other people don't.It won't be lucky for the Carolina Panthers, either, but it will be better than average. In their 13th season, the Panthers will go 9-7, squeak into the NFC playoffs and then lose in the first round.That's not a catastrophic season by any means. It will be better than last season's 8-8, and it will be good enough that coach John Fox, general manager Marty Hurney and quarterback Jake Delhomme will survive here to fight another day.The brief playoff appearance for Carolina at the end of this season will pacify some fans, but the Panthers won't seriously challenge for another Super Bowl appearance.Why? Carolina has two slashers but no bruiser at running back. Its safeties are average. It has a middle linebacker who's had five concussions, and a mediocre offensive line that -- for all the talk about zone-blocking -- still can't get people out of the way often enough.So why will Carolina win nine games? Because Steve Smith is still Steve Smith and Julius Peppers is still Julius Peppers. Because Kris Jenkins is ready again. Because Delhomme has made a promise to himself that he will have more fun than he did in '06.And because Fox can coach -- I don't like his conservatism, but I give him credit for consistency.I'm not concerned about Carolina's 1-3 record in the preseason. After all, Carolina went 4-0 in the 2006 preseason and then stumbled right out of the gate. Preseason win-loss records mean nothing.Now, you'll also notice that my close friend Tom Sorensen has predicted Carolina to go 6-10 in the space very near mine.Don't believe him.In 12 years of making an official Panthers prediction for the Observer (and this is a real number, unlike some Tom might accost you with), he has missed Carolina's real win total by an average of 3.4 games per year.I've missed it by a more modest 3.0 games per year in my eight seasons making an official newspaper pick.And get this -- the newspaper had to run a correction last season after Tom's Panthers prediction column. He had misstated the Panthers' record while making his case. Wow, we were all stunned!Old Tom Sorensen (OTS) likes to listen to Robert Plant on his 8-track. OTS likes to carefully wipe the sweat off YMCA exercise machines. OTS likes to obsess about whether he will ever see a scoreboard marriage proposal turned down flat in an NFL stadium (will someone please do this for him? It would complete his life's dream).Incidentally, OTS knows as much about the Panthers as he knows about particle physics.Carolina will be better than OTS thinks, but not nearly as good as some of the Panthers' biggest fans believe. A nine-win season will be good enough to keep the wolves mostly at bay, but not wonderful enough to merit a parade.The 2007 Panthers aren't "six wins" bad, but they are far from great.This will be an interesting season, and not an entirely unsuccessful one. Ultimately, though, it will not be memorable.
• Carolina will tease, then disappoint
  Here's why the Carolina Panthers should be good. They lost three starters in the first game of 2006, lacked their playmaker for the first two games, never quite got it right and still finished 8-8.With the injured starters back, and two good rookies to provide reinforcements, the Panthers could win enough to make the playoffs.Here's why they won't. The power structure changes in the NFL every season. This isn't Major League Baseball, where we know the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will titillate the nation until the playoffs begin and they go in the tank. What applied in the NFL in 2006 means little in 2007.Here's another reason the Panthers won't be good. Scott Fowler expects them to be.If Scott handed me a fortune cookie, and it said, "You will have a great day," I'd stay in the house with the doors locked and the windows closed until midnight.Last season, Scott picked the Panthers to win the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.I had the Panthers losing in the NFC Championship. And Panthers fans, who had also sailed on the Good Ship Scott, criticized me for being negative.Scott is going to pull out some ancient statistics and probably allude to me criticizing dorks who propose to their girlfriends on the stadium scoreboard. It's not as if I write about scoreboard proposals all the time. I only did it twice in a six-day span. Come on, it was a slow news week.Scott is a good friend, believe it or not, and I acknowledge that there was a year when he made a better Panthers preseason prediction than I did.But do you know how long ago that was? Here's a hint.Frank Reich was Carolina's quarterback, Frank Sinatra was on top of the charts and Frank James (Jesse's brother) was still robbing banks.Unlike Scott, I'm not going to cheapen this column by using facts.Could the Panthers tear through the schedule this season? Sure. The NFC again is free range, open and inviting and ready to be claimed. A small winning streak here, another there, a little late-season momentum and you're in the NFC Championship.But I don't see it. And my prediction has nothing to do with Carolina's 1-3 record in practice games.The Panthers will be up and down, offer promise, look as if they're going to be good, win a game they're not supposed to, get everybody excited and lose to a team they should not.By the end of the season, the Panthers will be a team opponents don't think they should lose to.So many facets of the game have to go right for Carolina to compete.I have always been a DeShaun Foster fan, but will he ever carry the rushing game or crank out 1,000 yards? Will DeAngelo Williams emerge as a full-time player if Foster fails?Does Jake Delhomme have another miracle season in him? Can Keary Colbert, who established himself as the No. 2 receiver even before his exhibition heroics, punish opponents for the attention they devote to Steve Smith?Or is this the season the model stops working and the Panthers come undone?It would be more fun for fans if Scott Fowler's prediction is accurate.It would be more fun for all of us if Scott replaced talented Terri Bennett as WCNC's meteorologist, because his forecast would be: perpetual sunshine!Frankly, I see clouds, cold fronts and a record of 6-10.
• Campbell set to take over for Redskins
  Jason Campbell, a little woozy from a hit late in the second quarter, arrived early in the locker room for halftime. He and the Washington Redskins had put on another stinker of a performance, trailing 20-7 to the New York Giants. Campbell had passed for 41 yards.It was time for a one-on-one pep talk."I went up to him," said assistant coach Al Saunders, who oversees the Redskins' offense. " `Jason, this is your defining moment as a quarterback. It's up to you to bring this one back. Let's see what you can do.' The second half of that game was about his development. `You make the plays. You take the team into the end zone. You score the touchdowns. You take it in on your shoulders to be the guy.'"Campbell emerged a new quarterback. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 179 yards in the second half and led three consecutive long touchdown drives. The Redskins made a game of it before losing 34-28. A 5-11 season was over and everyone was ready to go home -- except Campbell."You've got to put a chip on your shoulder and be like, `This is my defining moment.' I want them to understand that they've got the right guy," Campbell said."In the second half, I just came out there and found a rhythm. It was like night and day from the first start. You get into a groove, and once you get that mentality, you start playing loose. Then it's -- darn! Season's over with. Wow!"Campbell has been eagerly waiting eight months to pick up where he left off that December night, waiting for his first full season as the quarterback who is supposed to reverse the fortunes of the franchise. He had never taken a regular-season snap before taking over for benched starter Mark Brunell."It's time for me," he said, "to take the leadership role."The Redskins were humiliated last season. They came in cocky, expecting a Super Bowl run, and were promptly put in their place.Coach Joe Gibbs had the worst season of his Hall of Fame career. Their biggest offseason signings proved to be flops. The defense set records for ineptitude. The five-game winning streak that snatched a playoff berth in 2005 turned into an aberration instead of a sign of things to come.Overconfidence will not be a problem this year, not after 5-11. The Redskins, according to defensive end Andre Carter, are humbled and hungry. This year's acquisitions -- LaRon Landry, London Fletcher, Fred Smoot -- look like a more promising harvest. The starting defense has looked better in preseason, although the sacks and takeaways are still missing.The key to the enterprise is Campbell, the 2005 first-round draft pick who last year became the 17th quarterback to start for the Redskins in 14 seasons. He is in the same offensive system for the second year in a row for the first time since high school and -- notwithstanding a bruised knee that shelved him for a week in preseason -- feels he is up to the task, if nothing else because he can't stand his 2-5 record as a starter."That's what hurts the most," Campbel