As the Atlanta Falcons look to regain NFC South dominance, their division rival Carolina Panthers, who ironically defeated the Falcons in the 2024 regular season finale between the two teams, are looking for relevancy within the division after finishing with a 5-12 record and third in the standings, marking the seventh consecutive season they finished below .500.
On Wednesday, Carl Dukes and Mike Bell continued with their ‘look at Falcons’ division opponents’ and were joined by Mike Kaye, who covers the Panthers for the Charlotte Observer and shared his thoughts on why Carolina has a legitimate chance to make it a three-team race for the NFC South title this season.
“It typically felt like the Panthers’ season was done the first four or five weeks, that will not be the case this year,” Kaye said as he explained why he believes the Panthers have the ability to compete for the division championship.
“This is going to be a team that competes,” Kaye added, however noting he believes their will be ‘hope’ for the Panthers to insert themselves into division title contention, particularly due to the fact the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are entering the season with a new offensive coordinator for the third straight season.
“I think this division is going to be tight again,” Kaye said pointing to the fact Carolina doubled their win total last season from the previous season and will look to do so once again and possibly be an eight to nine-win team this year. “If they can do that, they’ll be competitive throughout the season,” Kaye said.
