Panthers bow out in first round of playoffs
By "Bucky Katz"

Off-Season 2141 (Charlotte) - The Carolina Panthers are still shaking their heads after bowing out in the first round of the playoffs this year, lending to speculation that they might blow this team up in the offseason.

But as a legendary coach said back in the old days: “Not so fast, my friend.”

“If you blow it up, you have to blow it all the way up,” Carolina GM “Trader” Lee Remley said in an exclusive interview with Inside the USAFL. “Look at Minnesota this season. They have done that and it worked well for them. But we are still competitive. We just happened to run into the Washington juggernaut earlier this year. Then again, we only lost 17-12 to a team that went 14-0. So are we as bad off as you might think you are? You have to balance where you are versus the need to retool to get where you want to be.”

Expectations were high starting the season as many changes were made in order to take the next step after losing in the NFC championship game two straight years. But once the season started, the Panthers were hit with a strong dose of reality.

Fans were booing new quarterback Bob McCoy earlier this season and calling for the return of veteran backup Bernie Brown when the team started out 3-2 but had little success in the passing game. But by the end of the season, McCoy was the third best passer in the league after he began to shine as expected.

“Bob still has to work on his decision making, but that is something you have to live with when you have a newly starting quarterback,” Remley said. “He will learn as time goes by and those mistakes will be less and less. That’s just part of the maturing process of a quarterback.”

The big concern is the pass defense which ranked dead last in the league, something which was totally unexpected with the personnel they had at defensive back.

“We definitely have to work on that aspect of our defense,” Remley pointed out.

So while observers don't expect the Panthers GM to sit on his hands during the upcoming offseason (as if he ever does), to what extent changes are going to be made is still a subject of speculation in Carolina.

And the GM in question is not talking. At least not yet.