One of the more intriguing games of Week Two will feature the defending Super Bowl champions visiting Charlotte. Sure, the Panthers were 2-14 last year and 0-1 so far in 2011. But Cam Newton, the first overall pick in the draft, made the jump to the NFL in a big way, racking up 422 yards passing in his first game.
So while the Packers most likely will win, it’ll be interesting to see what Newton can do against a quality team, right?
The Panthers don’t see it that way. Linebacker Thomas Davis thinks that the Panthers can win the game.
“Man, I’m tired of talking about [Packers quarterback] Aaron Rodgers,” Davis told reporters Wednesday, via Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com. “We’ll line up and we’re going to compete as hard as we can and we should come away with a victory.”
If Davis seems irritated about the Packers, consider his feelings regarding the local happiness with the fact that the Panthers lost to the Cardinals by only seven points.
“You look back and the fans were excited about us being in the game against Arizona,” Davis said. “Arizona is a team that went 5-11 last year. So I don’t know why that is something to be excited about. We went out and fully expected to win that game, just like we are going out and fully expect to win this game.
“You can’t really go into a game thinking you don’t have a chance or we’re close. This is the NFL and any given Sunday you can win a football game.”
We like the confidence. It may be misplaced, but we like it. There’s no way any team can be successful if the team doesn’t believe in itself. And so that’s another reason for Panthers fans to feel good about their team, even if it falls to 0-2 on Sunday.