What do you make of a team that opens with back-to-back demoralizing losses on the road then tosses out a seemingly effortless 30-0 domination of their closest rival in their first home game of the season?
That is the question that the Atlanta Falcons have forced Carolina Panthers fans to confront this week.
We’re going to keep it simple in this week’s reacts survey by just asking our standard confidence question. Once again, this is not a question asking if you think the Panthers will win this weekend against the New England Patriots. This is a question asking about your opinion about the long term prospects of the franchise as a whole. Think of it as a referendum on the leadership of general manager Dan Morgan and head coach Dave Canales.
Their Jekyll (Weeks 1 and 2) and Hyde (Week 3) performances this season make that confidence question a pretty good barometer for who fans think the 2025 Carolina Panthers will really be.
Something about the last three weeks is going to prove to be an outlier. Whether it was the defensive shutout of Week 3 or the offensive ineptitude of Week 1 remains to be seen. My guess is that this team is closer to the team that showed up Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals: they’re going to be competitive when they play cleanly, but they still won’t win most of their games.
That said, this team has obvious places to take elevate their game. Getting some defensive starters back from injury would be a good step. Bryce Young and Canales stepping up their decision making skills would be another. If they start to do that in the next couple of weeks then maybe we’ll revisit our season win predictions. For now, let’s just stick with confidence and see which way our doom spirals are trending.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Panthers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
