Ricky Proehl compares this years Panthers team to 98 Rams

Clipped from Brett Borden article on cPanthers.com :

It was 1998, and the St. Louis Rams had just finished their ninth
straight losing season. They had produced a 4-12 record under second-year coach Dick Vermeil, and the fans, so happy to welcome football back to St. Louis four years earlier, were losing patience. The Rams went out and won the Super Bowl the following season. Ricky Proehl scored a late game-tying touchdown for the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Wide receiver Ricky Proehl was a part of that. A big part of that.
His very difficult catch provided the only touchdown of the game in an 11-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC
Championship Game, putting the Rams in their first Super Bowl in 19 years.

Now that Proehl's a Carolina Panther, he sees a lot of similarities
between this team and that '99 Rams team. "It reminds me of what we did after 1998 in St. Louis," said Proehl. "We had a great corps of guys and we just needed to add some pieces. That's what they're doing here. Any time you have a great
defense like we have here, you can win championships. If we can just hold our end up offensively and put some points up on the board, they can hold any team to 10 or 14 points every week.

:xyzthumbs:

 

Ricky forgot about those Atlanta games I guess.)

 

that interview was also done BEFORE Dyson went down

 

So is he saying:

Marshal Faulk = Steven Davis

 

musta brought some of that St.Louis "rock" with him!!



dont get me wrong,we will be good,but our offense will never sniff the 98 rams

 

Hmmmmmmmm, does Rodney Peete=Kurt Warner ? I don't think so . . . .

 

and correct me if i'm wrong, but the rams were never the no. 2 defense were they?

 

I don't think he thinks nor most of the team thinks Rodney will be the starter. Its plausible to think (pre season) that Delhomme could break out . I don't think many folks were tooting Kurts horn so much prior to that year.

 

I think we have the potential to be a surprise great team. If Delhomme breaks out to be the next big time QB, if our OL becomes dominating with the new additions, if our defense does not slip at all from last year and the nickel backs we added are very effective, if everyone stays healthy, if Smith keeps his head on straight and has a break out year, if it all comes together just right we could win the superbowl. I think that is what Proehl is seeing, our potential to be a winner, I don't think he has any illusions that our offense will be as good as the 99 Rams.

 

They got close the second time they went to the big game, I believe. And they take a lot more chances offensively. First time they went they were deficient defensively but relied on the fire and motivation of John Bunting along the sidelines and Peter Guinta's complex defenses in the booth to at least hold a game closed once they got ahead.

I do not find this team to currently be a playoff team. Things would have to change drastically - i.e. something none of us would foresee happening - for us to be the two or three games' worth better than we currently are that it'd take for us to win the division, and we're not strong enough otherwise to just take the wildcard. I can guarantee you that the two wildcards will be stronger than at least one division champion this year.