The Carolina Panthers have an interesting season ahead of them.
The NFL released the 2016 schedule Wednesday night. The Carolina Panthers are coming off of a spectacular 2015 campaign and are one of the “teams to watch” heading into this season. Their schedule creates an interesting set of questions and matchups to look forward to as the preseason slowly comes closer.
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Carolina faces against their NFC South peers, along with teams for the NFC West and AFC West. The Panthers welcome the following teams into Bank of America stadium: Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings. Their away games feature matchups against the NFC South, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins.
There are a few compelling storylines that leap off of the page when looking at that list. For example, the Panthers put a 49-15 beat down on the Cardinals in the postseason in a game in which many believed the Cardinals had an opportunity to upset the Panthers.
The Panthers have a growing rivalry with the Seahawks which is spearheaded around the dynamic between the debates of Cam Newton versus Russell Wilson. Then there is the obvious Super Bowl rematch against the Broncos without their future Hall of Famer, Peyton Manning. The season is a long way off, but these games create immediate excitement that fans will want to talk about.
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Comparing this schedule to last season brings up an interesting point: the teams the Panthers will face in 2016 have a winning record of 110-98. Last season their opponents’ record was so bad that many experts used it as a talking point to pick apart the great season that the Panthers were able to construct. With road games again Seattle and Denver, it will be intriguing to see how well this team functions in those high-pressure environments.
In 21 seasons of existence, the Panthers have yet to find a way to put together back-to-back winning seasons. Twice they came close; in 2005 they finished with an 11-5 record to follow up with an 8-8 in 2006. In 2008 the Panthers were 12-4 and in 2009 the team went 8-8. The last three seasons could be considered successful as the Charlotte-based team has won the NFC South three straight seasons, even though their 7-8-1 2014 finish wasn’t anything spectacular at all. Since the NFL realigned back in 2002, the Panthers have a 7-5 record against the AFC West and 17-11 versus the NFC West.
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The 2016 NFL season is still months away and many different things can happen before teams strap on their helmets for the first time. The release of the Panthers’ schedule creates a number of stories that fans and experts can mull over until then. In 2015 the Panthers created a level of expectation that will be hard to surpass, but with the way the year ended few will doubt whether or not this Panthers team is rolling into the 2016 season with a wealth of momentum.