NFL's Top 3 Breakout Performers In Week 2

Its week 2 in the NFL and teams are still trying figure out who they are at this point of the season. There are a lot of great match ups but let me give you my top 3 breakout performers for week 2.

#3 Steve Smith Vs Bills

In Mike Shula’s debut as offensive coordinator for the Panthers he displayed a more d attack which benefited Steve Smith as he was targetd more and collected 6 receptions, 51 yards and a touchdown. As the Panthers take on the Bills this week in Buffalo they meet a team who is thin in the secondary.Stephen Gilmore will be out and Pro bowler Jarius Byrd is uncertain at this point which means more targets for Smith. I expect Steve to have a big day with more explosive plays in week 1 as the Panthers will take more shots down field he will benefit from it.

Projected stats: 7 Receptions 120 Yards 1 Touchdown.

#2 Larry Fitzgerald Vs Lions

Larry Finally has someone who can get him the ball in Carson Palmer. Last Week he had 8 catches for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns. The matchup is simple this week if Carson gets time to throw then Chris Houston is going to have his hands full with Larry. Expect less catches but more explosive plays this week out of #11.

Projected Stats: 6 Catches 110 Yards 2 Touchdowns

#1 Terrelle Pryor Vs Jaguars

Although he threw 2 interceptions against the Colts last week Pryor had his brief flashes of brilliance. He did throw a touchdown and complete 65% of his passes going 19-29. Today I like him against a weak Jacksonville secondary who allowed Alex Smith to do basically whatever he wanted. Pryor in his Raiders debut against a weak opponent will bust out and have a great game.

Projected Stats: 20-28 250 Yards and 2 Touchdowns

Tru School Of Kicks: Cam Newton's Under Armour "Superman" Cleats

During week 1 of the NFL Season Cam Newton sported these custom made Superman cleats by Under Armour. Cam as we all know has his Superman celebration when he scores a touchdown but apparently he wanted to take it from the endzone to his footwear. As great as these look Cam's offense looked less like Superman and more like Clark Kent scoring only 7 points on Sunday versus a depleted Seattle Seahawks defense. All in all though these are by far the sickest cleats in the league this season but lets not just wear them for style. If your going to wear superman on your cleats then you can't play like a regular quarterback, C'mon Cam!!

NFC South Recap:Week 1

Throughout the course of history the NFC South has been the most unpredictable division in the NFL with every team winning the division at least once in the last 5 seasons with the exception of the Buccaneers. As far as playmakes go this division has a bunch of those with guys such as Cam Newton, Steve Smith, Julio Jones, Drew Brees,Stephen Jackson,Doug Martin, Matt Ryan and more. Week 1 featured a lot of action and late game drama in the NFC South so lets get to it.

Game #1 Atlanta Falcons:17 @ New Orleans Saints:23

If your the type of fan that likes high scoring, action packed games then this is always a game to watch. It doesn’t get much better then Drew Brees and Matt Ryan as far as watching 2 QB's do battle against each other. The games between the 2 are usually high scoring but this game was a little abnormal.

The Falcons jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and seized the momentum early on in the Super Dome.With a 25 yard Touchdown to Maques Colston ,Drew Brees and the Saints took the momentum in the 2^nd quarter with 13 unanswered points to take a 13-10 lead into halftime.

The Falcons and Saints would trade touchdowns from Julio Jones and Jimmy Graham as the Saints led 20-17 heading into the games final quarter. With the game on the line deep in Saints territory Matt Ryan was picked off by Roman Harper in the endzone on what would have been the potential game winning touchdown.

Solid Debut For Jackson

Stephen Jackson was acquired in the off season by the Falcons to help the run game and he looked decent against the Saints as he collected 77 yards on 11 carries with a 50 yard run as his long for the day.

Colston Sets New Franchise Record

On his 1^st touchdown reception of the season Marques Colston moved into the top spot as the all-time leader for receptions in New Orleans Saints history.

Game #2 Seattle Seahawks:12 @ Carolina Panthers:7

One of the more interesting games to me was the match up of Russell Wilson vs Cam Newton.The game was all about the defense as nether scored more then 14 points. The Panthers went up early in the game with a touch down to Steve Smith to take a 7-3 lead.

The next touchdown wouldn't come until all the way until the 4^th quarter as Russell Wilson on a 43 yard strike to Jermaine Kearse which would be the deciding factor in Seattle's win at Bank of America Stadium. Mike Shula in his debut as offensive Coordinator for the Panthers limited Cam Newton's carries as he only rushed for 38 yards on 4 carries.

Costly Fumble

Deangelo Williams fumbled the ball as the Panthers were in Seattle territory as they were on the verge of re claiming the lead and getting their 1^st win of 2013.

Whats Beast Mode?

Despite the loss the Panthers and the newly revamped defense held pro bowl running back Marshawn Lynch to only 43 yards on 17 carries.

Game #3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers:17 @ New York Jets:18

To say that the Buccaneers were stunned in Darrelle Revis's return to New York would be an understatement. The Buccaneers on paper are far better then the Jets but a self inflicting 13 penalties gave the Jets life which led to them losing. An early saftey on a bad snap to Josh Freeman was the pre cursor to what would take place at the end of the game.

The Bucs were up 17-15 when diaster struck and Lavonte Davis was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a late hit on Geno Smith. The personal foul moved the Jets 15 yards from the spot of the hit which set up the 48 yard game winning field goal by Nick Folk. It was a very undisciplined game by the Tampa Bay defense.

Jackson Produces

Vincent Jackson began his season with a bang collecting 154 yards on 7 receptions, very productive day for one of Josh Freeman's favorite targets.

NFC South Standings

Saints 1-0

Falcons 0-1

Panthers 0-1

Buccaneers 0-1

Week 2 Match ups

Panthers @ Bills

Rams @ Falcons

Saints @ Buccaneers

Carolina Panthers Sign Saftey Quintin Mikell

In order to sure up a whole in the secondary The Carolina Panthers have signed 2-time all-pro safety Quintin Mikell. Mikell Spent last season with the Rams where he collected 75 tackles, 3 Sacks and 4 Forced Fumbles. With a solid front 7 Mikell brings veteran leadership to a young developing secondary.

The NFL's Best 5 Young QB's Now

Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin lll, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepnerick, how do you rank them? Leave it in the comments section on what you think is the order of these young studs now.

Current Rank:

1. Robert Griffin lll

• RGlll as people like to call him, is an exceptional dual-threat QB, coming off of stellar rookie year in which he won NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year over Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, by throwing for 3,200 with a 20-5 TD-INT ratio, along with a 65.6 passing completion percentage and 102.4 passer rating. To go along with those outstanding passing numbers for a rookie, he rushed for 815 yards and 7 TD's with a 6.8 YPC average. All those numbers in 15 games, leading Washington to a 10-6 record, which meant playoffs. Griffin has all the makings of a franchise QB in the NFL and time will only tell. At this point, RGlll is the best QB among these 5. 

2. Cam Newton

• Some people may find me placing Cam Newton ahead of Andrew Luck, at this moment in their careers, absurd but I assure you, once I am done explaining, it may change your opinion on this matter. Cam Newton is better than y'all think and he does all that with a horrible O-Line and not much help on offence, other than Steve Smith, who is not getting any younger. Plus the neither Running Back, DeAngelo Williams or Jonathon Stewart get enough carries to make a serious impact. Through his first two seasons in the NFL, Newton has averaged 3960 yards passing, including passing for 4051 in the 2011-12 season, setting the rookie record, 20 passing TD's, 14.5 Interceptions with a 58.9 completion percentage and a 85.3 passer rating. On the ground, he has averaged 723.5 yards rushing, 11 rushing TD's, including 14 in his first season alone, on 5.7 YPC, through his 1st 2 NFL seasons. And the thing is, he's only improving and the Panthers as a team as well. Cam Newton led the Panthers to a 6-10 record in his rookie year and a 7-9 in his sophomore campaign. Now that may not be much of an improvement but the the record bettering, shows strides in him becoming an even better leader and decision maker. That is why Cam Newton is ranked above Andrew Luck, as of now. 

3. Andrew Luck

• Luck was certainly on Luck's side (no pun intended) in his rookie campaign, leading the Colts to an improbable, 7 come-from-behind victories en route to a playoff appearance with a 10-6 record. Andrew Luck did set the rookie record for passing yards with 4,374, however on a putrid 54.1 completion percentage and a pedestrian 76.5 passer rating. He did however throw for 23 TD passes, but unfortunately with 18 Interceptions. Luck wasn't bad on the ground either, he rushed for 255 yards on 4.1 YPC and 5 Rushing TD's. For however many good things Andrew Luck did, he did an equal amount of bad. With the success and numbers, Luck finished 2nd in NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, to the aforementioned RGlll. Luck also had a way better O-Line compared to Cam Newton and a better defence as well. The Panthers defense is improving but let's face it, it was average both the season's Newton's been in the NFL and the Colts has been above-average. All this information only proves that at this moment, Luck is not better than Cam Newton.

4. Russell Wilson

• The 5'11, 3rd round draftee is the lowest QB drafted from all these 5, performed like an underdog in his rookie year, finishing 3rd in the NFL Rookie of the Year voting behind Luck and RGlll. However, he did get the most passing TD's with 26 in his rookie season, ahead of Luck's 23 and RGlll's 20. To round out his stat line, Wilson passed for 3,118 yards with 10 Interceptions, on a 64.1 completion percentage and 100.0 passer rating. He also contributed 489 rushing yards and 4 rushing TD's on a 5.9 YPC average. Leading his team to a 11-5 record, Russell Wilson showed leadership of a veteran in his rookie season. Albeit, he did play on a great team, the Seahawks, but they wouldn't of gotten as far without him. All that and he wasn't even given the starting job at first. He had to work hard and win it. Taking all the above considered, Russell Wilson is the 4th best QB on this list. 

5. Colin Kaepernick

• A 6'5, 2nd round pick of the 49ers out of Nevada, Kaepnerick, like Russell Wilson, wasn't handed his starting job on a platter like the first three on this list. He got the start in week 12 when Alex Smith went down and didn't look back. In all the 8 starts he's had in his career (playoff included), he has compiled a 6-2 record, including a Super Bowl trip where the 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens. If you make those 8 game numbers into a full 16 game NFL season, his stats translate to 3,472 yards passing and 24 passing TD's on a 62.1 completion percentage and amassing 838 yards on the ground with an amazing 10 rushing TD's. As you look at these numbers, you think, "Well shouldn't he be higher then?". The only thing holding Kaepnerick from being higher on this list is that he's only started 8 games and we don't know how he'll be over a whole regular season. We haven't seen enough of Colin Kaepernick to justify him being higher on this list. At this point in his career, he's the 5th best QB out of all these future superstars.

Steve Smith Takes His Talents To The Slot

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12 seasons and still counting Carolina Panthers wideout Steve Smith is still getting it done at a high level. Like most great players he continuously is trying to get better and evolve his talents for the benefit of his team. At 34 years old Smith is going to be used a lot more in the slot this season which makes sense due to the fact that he has ideal slot receiver size. Smith said the following about his new role "I'm looking forward to it, As you get older as a player, you can do a couple things. You can either adapt or not adapt and fade out. For me, what I'm trying to do is adapt."

Smith is embracing that role this season due in large part to former teammate and slot receiver Ricky Proehl becoming the receivers coach, Proehl was Smith’s teammate from 2003-2005. Proehl  when speaking about his former teammate expressed the following "I'm excited about working with him inside, between the hashes,He's got all of the tools to do that, and it's something that he wants to get better at. He's already communicated that to me”. Smith’s incendiary speed and explosiveness is going to allow him to get off the line quick and make plays in the middle of the field further adding to the Panther offense.

So 12 seasons in, 11,000 yards and still counting and Steve Smith at 34 years old is still trying to find ways to evolve himself and not stay content. Love him or hate him you have to respect the hunger and work ethic of the man who wears number 89 in the electric blue on Sundays.

Cam vs RG3

In a society where we live with a "what have you done for me lately" mentality Cam Newton has kind of been forgotten about with everybody being goo-goo Gah-Gah over this years rookie sensation Robert Griffin III. Last year Cam exploded onto the scene breaking every rookie QB record imaginable it semmed like the Carolina Panthers had finally found a franchise QB. This season has been the definition of a "sophmore slump" for Cam only throwing 5 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. It's more then a stats thing though with Cam it looks like he isn't even having fun playing football anymore and he is dwelling on all his mistakes to the point where the post game press conferences are sounding like a broken record. The Panthers are 1-6 and have lost games in every way imaginable. With 10 games left there is still time for Cam to prove naysayers and critics wrong and salvage his season.

On the other side you have Robert Griffin III who has looked more like a QB as opposed to Cam who looks to use his legs more then his arms and you can see in the stats. RG3's QB rating is 13% higher then Cam's rookie season along with his completion percentage being 6% higher. Also The Redskins have half the wins that Cam did his rookie season at (3-5) with  9 game left. Cam went (6-10) in his Rookie season. It's more then record or statistics when comparing the 2 super athletic QB's. Griffin has looked more like a Quarterback then Cam and i feel that it's a mentality that seperates these two. When Cam drops back he is looking for a big play throwing the ball and if it's not there then he is looking to use his legs. Griffin on the other hand can do it all with checkdowns and play that short intermediate game but if saftey's or DB's creep up he will hit you over the top for a 50 yard Touchdown but he does have the ability to use his legs when the play breaksdown.

The Panthers take on the Redskins at Fedex Field at 1 as Cam Newton Takes on Robert Griffin III. It should be a good one i hope both Qb's Give us a great Show. Will Cam Rise above the hate or will Rg3 prove that he is the better of the two QB's?

#PATHETIC

The Image above is the best way to describe how i felt after my Carolina Panthers took a beat down from the New York Giants on national TV. 36-7 at home in Charlotte that's down right pathetic!!!! Cam Newton needs too stop staring down his targets and survey the field. The defense played uninspired and just flat out terrible football. Don't even get me started with the special teams. We got embarrassed and outclassed o national TV. Let's get it together i don't want to have to hear how bad we are whenever i go get my haircut at the barbershop by these giants fans. Cam Newton seriously made me miss Jake Delhomme .

Throwback Thursday: Sam Mills

As Thursday nights prime time match up rapidly approaches between the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers I can’t help but  get excited for the game. As a long time Panther fan I have always loved when we are at home for night games in Charlotte. I can’t stop thinking about how our defense will perform vs. Eli Manning but I would love them to play with the same intensity and spirit of the late great Sam Mills.

Anybody who has a solid knowledge on the history of the Carolina Panthers knows how important Sam Mills was to our team. He was an important piece in the teams early years. Helping the Panthers reach the playoffs in 96 for the 1st time and defeating Troy Aikman and the Dallas Cowboys. When his career was finished he ended up with 5 Pro Bowls for his career and became a coach with the Panthers and was still making an impact. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 an assistant coach and the night before the Panthers would take on the Dallas Cowboys in Charlotte for a home playoff game he made a statement that would become the Panthers identity forever. In his speech Mills said “ When I found out I had cancer there were 2 things I could do- Quit or Keep Pounding”   .“I’m a fighter I kept pounding. You’re fighters too. Keep pounding!“ Following the awe inspiring speech the Panthers would dominate the Cowboys 29-10 en route to a Super Bowl run which saw them fall short to the New England Patriots 32-29. Despite that though Sam Mills remains an example of what Carolina Panther Football is and what every player who puts that black and Electric Blue should strive to be on and off the field. In 2005 He lost his battle to cancer and passed away. Although he is no longer with us in the flesh he remains a luminous presence in the Panther  Organization. On the inner collar of the players jerseys the phrase “Keep on Pounding” is embedded in there as well as the the weight room. If you really want that visual of Sam Mills then Look no further then his statue outside of Bank of America Stadium. Whether your winning or losing in the game on the gridiron or in the game of life all you can do is “Keep on Pounding”………R.I.P Sam Mills

LETS GO PANTHERS!!!!