The Crew got crazy enough to put out some predictions. Out of the 5 writers, who do you think predicted best? Leave a comment below.
Mel Mayock:
This is a season has a lot of uncertainty; yet there is also a lot of potential. On the one hand, we were 12-4 last year without a lot of talent at the WR position. Yes, Steve Smith is the greatest Panther of all-time. But the 2013 Steve Smith was not the same Steve Smith of old. He was simply an old Steve Smith. He dropped a sure-fire TD that would have been the difference in the Arizona game (that I attended). And he only put up 4 TDs the entire season. I fully anticipate for our WRs to average more than the pedestrian 9 receptions per game we averaged a year ago. So there is room for optimism. But we also won a lot of close games that could have gone either way. Remember the squeakers against San Francisco, New England, Miami, New Orleans and Atlanta. Those 5 games were decided by a combined 14 points. Will we win the close ones again? The key questions are the offensive line and a banged up Cam Newton. Will we win the close games? I see us going 0-4 on Opening Day under Ron Rivera, but I also see us bouncing back Week 2 vs the Lions. I also see wins against Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago, Minnesota, and Cleveland while splitting with New Orleans, Tampa and sweeping Atlanta. That puts my prediction for the season at 10-6. Hopefully that will be good enough to get us into the Dance.
Prediction: 10-6
