slowing my roll

I'll always track the team's every move and always be a fan, but I think the new bar for me being batshit insane, ulcer-inducing crazy while watching a Panthers game is if they reach the divisional round. If they get within a two games of another Super Bowl, I'll bring the crazy back out. Otherwise, I just don't think it's worth it. Going to the playoffs doesn't excite me anymore. That's a weird way to frame it, anyway - "Going to" the playoffs. Like it's an actual place. It's just an extra game on the schedule. I don't view that as an accomplishment anymore.


All things considered, I'm glad we went 6-10 instead of a 9-7, one-and-done wildcard. It gives us a much higher pick, which we probably need so that our shitty GM can luck into a good player.

 

Jerry Richardson used this line at a lot of cocktail parties in 2010.

 

The saving grace with Gettleman is that he'll probably leave us with 500 million dollars of cap space. The next GM could just go buy a Pro Bowl roster if he wanted to. Hopefully the team is still playing in Charlotte and not Mexico City by then.



Honestly, though, this is kind of how I measure it now. These are the levels:


- Missing the playoffs is a failure, period. Don't care if you're 10-6 or 6-10. It's an unsuccessful, incomplete season.


- Losing in the wildcard is not a failure, but what I call "extended mediocrity". You had an extra game, but you did nothing with it. There were signs of progress, but ultimately nothing tangible came from it. The 2016 Lions were the essence of Extended Mediocrity.


- Making the divisional round is a successful season. Whether it was through earning a bye, or though a wildcard round win, you gave yourself a chance to advance deep into the postseason. Even if you earned a bye and lost.


- Making a conference championship is a great season. Most franchises only do this a few times a decade, at best. These years should be celebrated and cherished, even if they ultimately ended in heartache.


- Losing the Super Bowl is an amazing, historic year - but man, it really feels like shit. It's bittersweet, to say the least.


- Winning the Super Bowl is immortality.

 

Mario Addison wants to resign here fwiw

 

Our starting defensive line in 2017 will be Wes Horton, Star Lotulelei, Vernon Butler, and Ryan Delaire.

 

Gettleman will draft a dt in the first two rounds