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Here's what happens this season.
The Carolina Panthers return to the playoffs. The offense remembers how to run the ball and the defense remembers how to get to the quarterback. Rookie safety Charles Godfrey proves worthy of 30, the number he wears, Mike Minter's number. Second-year receiver Dwayne Jarrett emerges as Carolina's No.2 receiver.
The offensive line doesn't really come together until the fourth game (going into which the Panthers are 1-2) and then becomes as strong as any unit on the team. Carolina's defensive backs are the obvious beneficiaries of the rush and have an outstanding season.
Middle linebacker Jon Beason makes the Pro Bowl. Safety Chris Harris should.
I'm not writing this because I want Panthers fans to like me. I'd rather be right than be liked.
Fellow columnist Scott Fowler and I predict in these pages every season how we think the Panthers will do. Most seasons, Scott predicts the Panthers will win a lot of games, usually 15-20. I go much lower. Because I go low, I hear from Carolina super fans who question my patriotism, education and ancestry.
I use to wonder how these fans learned to access e-mail and message boards. Then I learned about a correspondence school. And when, after six short months, they finish, relatives cheer uproariously at the graduation ceremony. Darn it, they're entitled.
I admire Scott Fowler for making his picks public every year. The last time Scott was more accurate than I was, the Carolina quarterback was Dameyune Craig.
Even though Scott struggles to anticipate the record of the team he covers, he does know sports. When I need advice about synchronized diving, Scott is the first source to which I go, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. He is one of only seven journalists in the world to predict Guam's stirring gold medal-winning synchronized diving upset of the Canary Islands.
I also pick NFL winners every Friday on the John Boy & Billy Big Show. I don't keep track of how I do because, well, I don't want it to be about me. John Boy, however, does keep track. According to him, I went nine straight weeks last season without missing a game. I don't think the streak was that long. I think it was only eight.
So if I'm telling you the Panthers will be good, it's not public relations. I believe it.
The Panthers have not been good, or interesting, since they finished the 2005 season with a 20-point loss to Seattle in the NFC championship game. Seattle figured them out that afternoon and everybody else has figured them out since.
They went 8-8 in 2006 and 7-9 last season. They've been simmering. And now, after a tremendous offseason and training camp, it's their time.
Of course, Jake Delhomme has to stay healthy. In related news, Tom Brady has to stay healthy for New England, Peyton Manning has to stay healthy for Indianapolis, Tony Romo has to stay healthy for Dallas and underrated Drew Brees has to stay healthy for New Orleans.
New Orleans also will be very good, and the Panthers and Saints will compete all season for supremacy in the NFC South. In a nice scheduling touch, Carolina will finish the regular season in Louisiana.
The Panthers will move to an easy 31-17 lead in the Big Easy. But New Orleans will rally to score 10 straight.
With one minute, 51 seconds remaining, the Saints will drive to the Panthers 6. But on fourth down, Carolina's Damione Lewis will sack Brees, and celebrate with a dance his teammates will ridicule for 21/2 weeks.
The Panthers finish 11-5.
They advance to the NFC championship, where they lose to Dallas 28-24.
The Cowboys go to Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII a 2-point favorite. Indianapolis beats them 37-17.
