 Are the Carolina Panthers playoff contenders? I know. Wishful thinking. Head of the game. We haven't even gotten to the playoff season just yet. But looking at the way that this team has played, I would assume that you can't count them out. That maybe they won't contend in the NFC South with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being there. But maybe in the wildcard race, could they make a push? Let me go ahead and read off some stats for the Carolina Panthers and let you guys just kind of soak in and develop your own opinions on this. First off, let's look at offensive team stats, OK? It's good. It's not great. 14th in yards per game. Now, where they do excel is passing yards per game. Surprisingly, Sam Darnold, with the weapons that he has, has been looking great. 9th, top 10 in the NFL and passing yards per game. All right, so this offense, they can get some things done. But this is where the bread and butter is. It's that defense. That Carolina Panthers defense has improved heavily. First in yards allowed, first in passing yards allowed, first in rushing yards allowed, first in points per game allowed. First in four major categories. That's huge, huge for the Carolina Panthers. This defense is the soul of this team, and they really want to lean in on that. And I think the Carolina Panthers, as an organization in general, has done a fantastic job in building their team for the last couple of years. Under the Matt Rowe era, plus maybe a little bit of the last year of Ronald Vera drafting people like Brian Burns, has really helped out for the Carolina Panthers now here in 2021. Let me just read off some of the draft picks that they have acquired for the last couple of years. We talked about Brian Burns. That was during the Ron Rivera era. But he still kind of counts. Let's talk about the draft picks during the Matt Rowe era. Who did he take? Well, in 2020, he had an all defense draft. And what I mean by that is that he took players like Derrick Brown with their pick number 7, their first round pick. He also took Yatour Gross-Maitos, who fell. People thought he was going to be a first rounder, and he fell to the second round. Those seemed like two solid pieces for that defensive line. And then you talk about this past draft, the 2021 draft. They took players like JC Horne. They took an up-and-coming player like Terris Marshall. Oh, I forgot. How could I overlook this guy? In 2020, they took Jeremy Chin. This secondary has some up-and-coming players. This defensive line has some up-and-coming players. One of the best front 7s, I would say, in the NFL right now. Guys, this Panthers defense is legit. Instantly make the Carolina Panthers a playoff contender. When we want to talk about how Sam Donald has improved in this passing game, being 9th in the NFL and passing yards, 68.5% of his pass is completed, 584 passing yards, three touchdowns to just one in reception. He's not really lighting it up, per se, but he's been careful with the ball. He's doing the best that he can. And for the value that this team got Sam Donald for, and the fact that they only got him for a second round, a fourth round, and a sixth round, didn't even have to give up a first-round pick for Sam Donald. Beautiful, beautiful job by the Carolina Panthers. Now, what makes them a playoff contender, per se? Because yesterday's show, I talked about Indianapolis Quilts. They're talented, but the schedule prevents them from making the playoffs. Well, let's take a look at the Panthers, who are talented, but the schedule might actually help them get to the playoffs. We've got the Texans coming up here tonight. People expect them to win. You've got the Cowboys. This is going to be a little bit of a tough game. Got the Eagles, which they are the favorite to win in that game. The Vikings are the favorite to win in that game. The Giants, the Falcons, the Patriots gets a little tough with the Cardinals. Washington, that defense might be tough. The Dolphins, the Falcons, again. The Bills and the Bucks, they're tough. The Saints and the Bucks. This is the games that are coming up for the Carolina Panthers. So let's just say realistically, how many of these games can they win? How do the next 14, 15 games that they have coming up? I would say realistically, they have a good shot to be on the safe side of winning maybe six, seven of those games at least. I mean, you've got the Texans, like we mentioned. You've got the Dolphins who are losing their identity on offense, it seems like. The Vikings, I know they were just two plays away from being 2-0, but there's a lot of teams here that they face that they have a good shot at beating. And I think that the Panthers are going to be that surprise team that slips in to the NFC playoff race. So that's my opinion on the Carolina Panthers. To answer the question, are the Carolina Panthers a playoff contender? I say yes, absolutely. And tonight in prime time, as you guys are watching, you guys are going to figure out why the Carolina Panthers are going to make the NFC playoffs. Leave your comments, leave your thoughts down below.