The Carolina Panthers have played 8 of their 16 game regular season schedule. The Panthers defeated the 4-4 Tennessee Titans today making the Panthers 5-3 on the season. Carolina had just came off of a horrible performance in a week 8 51-13 loss to an undefeated 49ers team. However, with this week’s win the Panthers are still very much in place for a playoff push.
Christian Mccaffrey gained over a 160 yards from scrimmage and reached the end zone 3 times in the Panthers 30-20 win. Mccaffrey now leads the NFL with 10 rushing touchdowns and is in contention for MVP honors.
The Carolina defense also looked good against Tennessee’s offense led by Ryan Tannehill. The Panthers defense forced a total of 3 turnovers with 2 interceptions from Cornerback Donte Jackson and Saftey Tre Boston.
The Panthers face a tough Green Bay Packers team on the road in week 10, and they should have more information on weather QB Cam Newton will be ready to play. With the New Orleans Saints leading the NFC South division, I believe that the Panther’s best shot at a 2019 playoff appearance will be a wild card game. For that to happen, the Panthers will probably need to finish the season with at least 10 wins.
Question of the week: How do you think think the Panthers will finish the 2019 regular season?
The Carolina Panthers Have been led by Quarterback Cam Newton for almost ten seasons now. The Heisman award-winning QB was selected with the 1st overall pick of the 2011 NFL draft, and the Panthers have reaped the benefits of the electrifying QB ever since. Newton received the Rookie of the Year award as he shocked the entire NFL with his unique approach to the QB position. By 2015, Newton brought the panthers to Super Bowl 50 and was named MVP of the league.
In recent years the Panthers QB has been plagued with injury. However, This didn’t come as a surprise due to Newton’s hard-nosed playing style. Cam Newton is a listed at 6’5 and weighs in at 245lbs. Because of his unmatched athleticism at the QB position, Newton has never been afraid to take a hit. In fact, since being in the NFL Newton has been hit more than any other QB in the league.
This year Newton was sidelined after week 2 with an injury to his foot. This meant that Kyle Allen was forced to step in for the Panthers. Allen shocked the NFL winning his first 4 games as the starter. While he has not necessarily been surprising people with his talent. He has turned the Panthers 0-2 start to a respectable 4-2 record this year.
So now the question being asked around the NFL is “Does Newton deserve his starting position back?”. There is no doubt that Cam’s production has dropped in recent years, but I personally believe that a healthy Cam Newton deserves the Spot. Newton is planning on returning by Week 9. So time will tell what the Panthers are planning on doing with the QB position. To me, this seems like a good problem to have due to the scarcity of quality QB’s in the NFL. So should the Panthers trade one of these QBs? Should they wait on Cam to make a full recovery? Or should they try and utilize both?
The Houston Astros recently punched their ticket to the world series Saturday night by defeating the Yankees in spectacular fashion. MLB superstar Jose Altuve hit a series winning walk-off Home-run in the bottom of the 9th inning to secure their spot in the World series. As a New York Mets fan, I was ecstatic to see the Yankees head home. This meant that the Yankees would go there first decade without a world series appearance in 100 years.
The Astros will face-off against the Washington Nationals Tuesday night in the first game of the world series. The Nationals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS in just 4 games, however the Astros will head into the world series as the favorites. The first game will be this Tuesday at 8:08 PM.
Both teams have some of the best starting pitchers in the league. They also have 2 of the league’s best third basemen in Anthony Rendon (WSH) and Alex Bregman (HOU). So this should be a entertaining world series. If I was betting man, I would have to pick the Houston Astros. I say this because the Mets have played their division rival Nationals several times this season, and I am not convinced that Washington has a strong enough bullpen to compete with the Houston offense. Tuesday’s game 1 will take place in Houston, so we will just have to wait and see if the Nationals can pull-off the upset.
These first few weeks of NFL Football have certainly been interesting. While the Patriots and the Chiefs still look like the top tier teams of the league, other preseason favorites have been cursed with injuries and misfortune. Veteran quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees suffered significant injuries early on in the season.
It also looks like the Eli Manning era in New York is over, and the Giants will be starting their first round pick Daniel Jones. The Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck shocked the entire NFL when he announced his retirement earlier this year. Cam Newton has also missed games with a foot injury forcing the Panthers to start Kyle Allen at quarterback. The New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold has already missed 3 games of the season with mono and still is not ready to play again.
Finally, the Jacksonville Jaguar quarterback Nick Foles was also injured in week 1 of the season. Rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew has stepped up to the challenge and captured the hearts of NFL fans across the nation. Minshew was a sixth round pick in the 2019 draft out of Washington State University. Minshew first caught the attention of the league because his mustache, and then surprised the league by playing very well for the Jaguars in his first few starts.
It seems that there is a big generation of NFL quarterbacks that may very well be retiring in the coming years. With veteran QB’s like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Aaron Rodgers running out of time. This does seam a little bit sad, but it should be interesting to see the incoming classes of NFL quarterbacks.
Antonio Brown has dominated sports news throughout the last few months. He started this discussion at the end of his 2018 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. 2018 was a dissapointing season for the Steelers with their star running back, Le’veon Bell, sitting out due to a contract dispute. The Steelers ended up missing the playoffs, and rumors of altercations between Antonio and long-time quarterback Ben Roethlisberger began.
Due to this and other team related issues surrounding Brown, The Steelers choose to release him for the 2019 season. However, due to the contact Brown had with the Steelers, they were forced to pay nearly $20 million for moving Antonio. Soon After, Brown was signed to the Oakland Raiders. Brown Seemed excited to start his new saga in Oakland, but was sidelined for the beginning of training camp due to frostbite on his feet. Brown claimed the frostbite occured during a cryotherapy session in which Brown did not wear proper footwear. This very unusual injury started to raise more questions about Antonio’s commitment to team.
Brown was universally recognized as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in recent years. So the signing of Brown brought hope to a Struggling Raiders team. Unfortunately, shortly after the frostbite injury Brown had already started a new dilemma with the NFL.
In order to reduce the number and severity of head injuries, the NFL started to regulate the helmets that their players could use. Brown’s long-time helmet did not make the list of approved helmets for the 2019 season. Brown dealt with this by filing a grievance against the NFL. He also threatened to sit 2019 season if he could not use his preferred helmet.
While Oakland claimed to support Antonio in his battle for his preferred helmet, Brown was eventually fined for missing out on mandatory team practices. Brown then took to social media to express his displeasure with the fine. After that, Brown confronted Oakland GM Mike Mayock about his displeasure with the fine. During this confrontation Brown was Livid and was reportedly held back by several of his teammates. Brown later publicly apologized and claimed that he was ready to start his career with the Raiders.
Prior to the Oakland season opener, Brown requested his release via Instagram. Brown never played a game as an Oakland Raider. However, He was soon picked up by the New England Patriots. He was released the next week due to recent allegations of sexual misconduct, and he is currently trying to make his way back into the NFL. Will any NFL team take a risk on the once great receiver or are Antonio Brown’s days in the NFL over?
I am currently enrolled at Coastal Carolina University as a marketing student. I am planning to graduate this May. After that, I hope to begin my career in social media marketing or any related field.
I am writing this blog for my MKTG452 class, so I choose to make my blog about sports. I’ve always had a passion for sports and competition. In high school I was football and wrestling team captain, but I have an interest in many other sports as well.
I was born and raised in South Carolina, So I am an avid Carolina Panther fan. I am also a fan of the New York Mets and the Arkansas Razorbacks. So I know what it is like to support a struggling team. Furthermore, I will try not to use my blog posts to vent about my teams (no promises).
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