Carolina Panthers: NFC Best by Default

Undefeated and ruling the NFC, the Carolina Panthers are the conference’s best by default. The stats are split, the opponents have been suspect, and the Panthers must keep winning to prove themselves legit. Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL Sports Debate. Check out more of the brothers in Seesaw Sports Debate on BuzzChomp. Two brothers from New York yell, scream, and debate sports.

TODD:

I am going to ask a simple question that may have no answer at all, let alone a simple one. Are the Carolina Panthers the best team in the NFC?

The surface stats say yes, of course. They are an undefeated 8-0; a full two games better than the entire rest of the conference. They’ve already played five games against NFC opponents, obviously winning all of those. They have wins over Seattle and Green Bay, the two clear-cut favorites to win the conference before the season began. Carolina has it all.

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Digging deeper, it’s easy enough to make an argument that Carolina isn’t really that good though, isn’t as good as 8-0 and a two-game lead would indicate.

Before last week’s win over the Packers, few analysts were taking the Panthers seriously as one of the league’s best teams. Should that one win be enough to swing the tides when Green Bay has really been sputtering for over a month now? And is Seattle actually any good this year? This week’s game against Arizona will tell us something more, but for now, the Seahawks don’t have much evidence in their favor.

That leaves Carolina with an undefeated record against a very weak slate of opponents. And it hasn’t been dominating those opponents either. Its +63 point differential is good but not the best in the NFC. And extended over a full season using the Pythagorean expectation formula, that type of difference would only project to produce around 11 wins, not 16.

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Of course, the third piece of this puzzle is if the Panthers are not the conference’s best squad, who is? I hate to reward titles like this by default, but at this point, it seems as though Carolina has to resort to number one. Certain numbers, such as point differential or Football Outsiders’DVOA point to the Arizona Cardinals as the NFC’s best, but they already have two losses. The eye test or gut feelings may point to Green Bay as the top talent, but it has the head-to-head loss already banked.

The answer has to be Carolina, which then begs the question, are the Panthers not only the best in the NFC but the best team in entire NFL?

Nov 8, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers defensive tackle

(93) with defensive end

(91) after recovering a fumble in the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

DAN:

I think I just spit milk out my nose. The Panthers are an excellent football team, exceeding expectations and logical levels of success week after week. Their division, previously last season’s laughing-stock, now features two winning teams and another contender. Yet Carolina is the best NFC team by default, as of today. Start screaming no respect, but come on man. Numbers always balance out over the course of a season, so every single close victory by the Panthers is likely to have a close defeat as its counterpart by week 17.

I’v been very impressed with Carolina, Cam Newton, and the entire Panthers’ team. But they are nowhere near the dominant levels of the AFC elite. Both the New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals are wreaking havoc on the league. New England in particular looks untouchable right now. Don’t put Carolina in that class. I’d have slated them a full slot below Green Bay before they handled the Packers. That victory gives them the NFC crown… for now.

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Arizona and Green Bay both win the eye test for best NFC club, but I’m not naive. Undefeated means you have not lost a football game, and that trumps everything every time. Cam Newton has stepped up to that next level of football player, and as a quarterback his improvement and leadership equals lots of victories. I’m not ready to pick them over the Packers come playoff time, but if Carolina finishes the year with two or fewer losses, they will have punched a ticket to the NFC Championship Game in my book. I have to see it to believe it, but damn, they just keep on winning football games.

Dan Salem is a Staff Writer for NFL Spinzone. He’s also Lead Editor, Staff Writer, and Featured Vlogger at BuzzChomp, and a New York Jets Analyst for Pro Football Spot. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or Instagram.

Todd Salem is a Staff Writer for NFL Spinzone. He’s also a Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp, a Featured Columnist at College Sports Madness, and an Analyst for Tipster Labs, among others. Follow him on Twitter.