Where to go from here

I had a couple of comments from people on my last post asking about the Panthers, and it's probably better to address all of the Panthers woes in a separate post. It may get a little lengthy.

My initial thought of Carolina looking like a 7-9 team seems very generous right now, seeing the Panthers would have to go 3-2 to get there.

The remaining schedule is as follows, with games where the Panthers will not be favored in bold:

Dec. 2: vs San Francisco
Dec. 9: at Jacksonville
Dec. 16: vs Seattle
Dec. 22: vs Dallas
Dec. 30: at Tampa Bay

The Panthers better win against the 49ers this week, because the schedule is brutal the rest of the way.

The game at Jacksonville and the home game against Dallas are practically guaranteed losses. My best guess now it Carolina will find a way to beat the Niners, then spring an upset on either Seattle or Tampa and finish 6-10. But I wouldn't be surprised if the team finished 4-12 either.

A couple of other thoughts:

I've heard from a bunch of people that this season cannot be necessarily blamed on coach John Fox or general manager Marty Hurney because the Panthers have been beset by a rash of injuries. I don't buy that for a second. It's the responsibility of the general manager - and coach, too - to put together a team that is capable of overcoming big injuries. Jake Delhomme has gone down with a major elbow injury, and might never be the same again. The Panthers brass hand-picked David Carr as the much-needed backup, and it was a bad signing. Thinking back to when it happened, more teams were interested in Trent Dilfer than Carr, who got serious consideration from only two teams.

The team also relied way too much on Dan Morgan, who will almost certainly be forced to retire now, and tries to skirt through positions with little to no depth.

Carolina essentially has three defensive ends - Julius Peppers, Mike Rucker and Stanley McClover. Charles Johnson has been inactive this year. At linebacker, the story is the same. Beason is a monster player, and Thomas Davis and Na'il Diggs are quite serviceable, but the lone backup who could actually produce is James Anderson. The secondary is patchwork. Richard Marshall is a solid option at No. 3 cornerback, but Panthers management stubbornly refused to get a big safety. Then they tried to sell Deke Cooper as a viable option, even though he's been cut by several teams throughout the league.

Offensively, it's not a lot better. DeShaun Foster got a a fistful of money for having produced very little as a Panther, and the zone blocking schemes have been mediocre to this point.

I'm not trying to blast this team, but if you take a long, honest look at evaluating this roster from the top down, it's not very good.

The big question is where does that leave Fox and Hurney at the end of the season? The team needs to show at least some signs, or both will be gone. Both may be gone regardless. But if the Panthers show some life in these last few weeks and finish on a high note - say 7-9 - that could be enough.

Panthers' season slipping away

It looks like the Carolina Panthers are destined for third place in the NFC South.

Tampa Bay has played consistent football all season (and already owns a win over Carolina), and the surging Saints appear to have their offense in top form. The Panthers, meanwhile, have shown no ability to get the ball to Steve Smith in the crunch (or at all) and may start Matt Moore at quarterback next week.

Let's get this straight. Jake Delhomme goes out with a season-ending elbow injury, David Carr gets his back messed up, Vinny Testaverde's improbable return gives the Panthers a win, but then he gets injured, and Carr suffers a concussion against the Titans.

Yes, there are lots of things Carolina could and should be doing better, but this might be the most injured team in the league overall. Remember, in addition to the quarterbacks, Dan Morgan has missed lots of time (shock), Mike Rucker is coming off a major knee injury and several other players have been nursing minor-but-nagging injuries throughout the season.

It's been a weird year for Carolina. I thought the win against St. Louis in the opening week would set the tone for an 11-5 season. When the Panthers lost the next week to Houston, I was sure they were a 6-10 team. Therein lies another problem. The team is so inconsistent week to week.

This week? It looks like a 7-9 team.

Can the Patriots go undefeated?

I've always maintained that, in this era in the NFL, no team is able to go undefeated. Looks like the New England Patriots are testing that theory.

The Pats, 8-0 heading into this week's game against the also undefeated Indianapolis Colts, are simply toying with teams right now. The defense is as dominant as ever, Tom Brady is in the zone of a lifetime and head coach Bill Belichick is not holding anything back in coaching ... and running up the score.

So will the Patriots go undefeated? I'm going to stick with my guns and say no, although this is the best NFL team I've ever seen. It also helps that they play in an incredibly weak conference, and are all but assured of a 6-0 conference record.

With that said, here's a breakdown of their remaining schedule with some thoughts at the end.

Nov. 3: New England at Indianapolis
Nov. 10: Bye
Nov. 18: New England at Buffalo
Nov. 25: Philadelphia at New England
Dec. 3: New England at Baltimore
Dec. 9: Pittsburgh at New England
Dec. 16: New York Jets at New England
Dec. 23: Miami at New England
Dec. 29: New England at New York Giants

The games in bold are, in my opinion, mortal locks that the Pats will win. And yes, I included the bye week.

I think New England will win at Indianapolis this week. So the biggest test remaining?

Actually, there are two. Dec. 3 at Baltimore and Dec. 9 at home against Pittsburgh.

The game against Baltimore stands out because the Ravens are one of the few teams in the league as physical as New England. That's a big Monday night game, too. If New England wins that game, then it has a short week to prepare for the Steelers, another physical team.

If New England somehow makes it to 15-0, which is certainly possible, what will Belichick do in Week 17? Will he play his starters the entire game, or will he rest them for the playoffs? With Dallas having a pretty good year, too, this game might decide the NFC East for the Giants, so they'll play their top guys all game.

There's just too many different scenarios for the Patriots to go undefeated. I don't think they'll do it. They will win the Super Bowl, though, and easily.

Random thoughts

Here are a couple of my quick-hit thoughts on a rainy Friday night.

The Colorado Rockies are down 2-0 to Boston. Was it the long layoff that hurt? Or are the Red Sox just a better team? I say a little bit of both. Colorado had a magical end to its season, but there's no way it can come back in this series.

Watched the Boston College/Virginia Tech game on Thursday. I Tivo'd it and, for a while, was certain I wouldn't finish it. Boy am I glad I stayed awake to watch the whole thing. Keep giving Matt Ryan all the credit, he deserves it, but man Virginia Tech sure blew it. The Hokies shut down the Eagles all game, but allowed two late touchdowns and failed to recover an onside kick.

So what happens if Ohio State loses to Penn State or Michigan and Boston College loses one of its final four games remaining? (And let's be honest, Kansas and Arizona State will not go undefeated). That could potentially leave college football with the following one-loss teams: Ohio State, Boston College, LSU, USC/Oregon/Arizona State, Oklahoma, West Virginia, South Florida and Missouri. Theoretically, that could happen. All of those teams probably won't finish with just one loss, and conference championship games will clear off some off the riff-raff, but who gets the nod into the BCS Title game? A lot of times, whoever lost earliest in the season gets a get out of jail free card. People tend to forget about losses in Week 2 or 3 while losses in Week 10 knock you out of the national title picture.

No way should Hawaii play in a BCS bowl. This team struggled to beat Louisiana Tech on the road and has one of the softest schedules in college football history.

I think four area teams will make the football playoffs: Statesville, West Iredell, South Iiredell and Mooresville. I don't know who will advance the furthest, but I think out of that group, Statesville will be the toughest out. They have a ton of speed.

The NBA season will start soon. Anyone else care?

Rockies playing incredible baseball

I think it's great the Colorado Rockies are in the World Series. It's always an interesting angle when some unknown team sneaks into the playoffs and suddenly makes the championships game.

What makes this team even more remarkable is that they are 7-0 in the postseason and 21-1 in its last 22 games. 21-1! That's inconceivable, especially in baseball, the game of inches.

Here's a couple of things on my mind regarding Colorado.

Will this long layoff hurt? The World Series begins Oct. 24, which means Colorado players will have more than a week without playing a game. I'd think not, but momentum and layoffs can be a funny thing.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, how will the Rockies respond to a loss? It looks like Cleveland is the best team in the league, and Boston's second. Both are more talented than Colorado. Let's face it, the Rockies will not sweep the World Series (at least I don't think they will). What would a loss in Game 1 do to them?

Carolina's new quarterback

I only have one thing to say about the Carolina Panthers signing Vinny Testaverde (43 years old) to be their backup quarterback.

At least it's not Aaron Brooks.

Why Lou Piniella was wrong

I hate to question Lou Piniella.

I thought the Cubs hired the wrong guy before the season (Joe Girardi would have been my choice), but he proved to be the right person for the job by leading the Cubs to the Central Division title.

Piniella made timely, key decisions during the season, kept his players motivated and orchestrated a tirade at an umpire that energized the team and swept it into the playoffs.

All that said, he was wrong to pull Carlos Zambrano after six innings last night against Arizona.

Look, I understand the logic behind it. Zambrano will pitch again on Sunday in Game 4 (if the series gets that far). Piniella wants to be sure he’s rested, and relied on a bullpen that had been steady the last two weeks.

But if you are Chicago and tied with Arizona 1-1 in Arizona with Brandon Webb pitching, that’s almost a must-win game.

Despite giving up a solo home run, Zambrano was absolutely filthy. Why take him out for essentially a rookie? Carlos Marmol had a great regular season, but he’s still young and without playoff experience.

I think you have to leave in your horse and ride him through about eight innings. Hey, Zambrano is a big-game pitcher too. Even on three-days rest, he’s be ready to go on Sunday.

A 1-0 lead in a best-of-five series is crucial — almost essential. When you have a real chance to get that done, you stick with your best players.