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_Have you heard the breaking, exclusive news? The schedule is out, Darin! And it's a good one, ... for the most part. By my math, which has been checked by fellow unbiased and grounded fans, Ohio State CFB Champs + JAX Opener = Panthers Super Bowl. Don't check that math, I promise it's solid._
_The only issue I have with the schedule is that we, yet again, don't open at home, and now, for the second season in a row, we don't close the regular season out here either. What gives? I know that we aren't one of the NFL's darling franchises or "America's Team," but c'mon, 345 Park, making fans wait until Week 3 for the home opener feels like we're in time out. I don't know; maybe it's entitled to complain about these things, but I'm an NFL fan in May. Props to the crew down at the Bank for yet another funny schedule release week; I hope the rest of the "offseason" goes by quickly!_ **— Nate, Charlotte**
Nate's math is mathing. It's foolproof.
The Panthers have opened with Jacksonville twice before, in 2003 and 2015, and went to the Super Bowl both times.
Great work, everybody; let's call it a season. No need to play the games now. The Ohio State part I didn't know, but that's just science now, it's settled.
It's a little bit of a drag to neither open nor close the season at home, but I also know it's impossible to make 32 teams happy with the results. However, they are home for five games in an eight-game span from Weeks 3-10, during which visitors will be overwhelmed by how sublimely perfect the fall conditions here in Mayberry happen to be.
Having studied the works of the noted Eastern philosopher John Fox, I have taken up the theory "It's not when you play, it's who you play," and realized trying to break down strength of schedule in May is silly. Somebody's best player will get hurt, somebody will get on a heater you didn't expect, and things that are accepted as conventional wisdom in the spring turn out to be neither conventional nor wise by the fall.
But fans love this stuff, and it helps provide structure for planning, so that's all good.
For me, the biggest indicator in this schedule isn't the one prime-time game or the opener. The fact the league dropped the two Tampa games in the final three weeks of the season suggests that somebody thinks the Panthers might be good.
The Bucs are the most established team in this lovable mess of a division, and the league clearly desires competitive games on TV late in the year. So, ostensibly, there's at least a thought the Panthers might offer that competition. (And frankly, that's fair, based on the way the Panthers closed 2024 and the improvements on both sides of the ball.)
Now, if you'll pardon me, I'll be sampling the fine wines and cheeses with Legette while we do a little light reading.