Are the Carolina Panthers elite?

by | Oct 26, 2015

The Carolina Panthers remained among the fraternity of the NFL’s unbeaten teams with Sunday night’s 27-16 home win over the Eagles.

Carolina is one of five unbeaten teams in the NFL, the most through seven weeks in any season since the merger in 197o, according to NFL.com.

It takes more than just a perfect record, therefore, to be anointed “elite” in the NFL in 2015.

The first step toward elitism is owning your division. The Panthers (6-0) have a half-game lead over the Falcons (6-1) in the NFC South, which probably won’t be decided until the Panthers and Falcons meet in Week 14 at Carolina and Week 16 at Atlanta.

At this point in the season, however, the Panthers look like the best team in the division. They posted a signature win at Seattle in which they overcame a 20-7 deficit in the third quarter and a 23-14 deficit with eight minutes left, winning 27-23.

Of course, nobody does comebacks in the NFC South like the Falcons. They’ve trailed in the fourth quarter five times this season and have won four of those games. However, consistently falling behind is a red flag (and not the kind a coach throws on the field) for a team hoping to make a deep playoff run.

After their comeback win in front of The 12th Man, the Panthers didn’t experience a letdown against an Eagles team that wouldn’t quit. That’s another notch in their belt.

No Panthers receiver has caught 20 passes this season, and Carolina’s leading pass catcher is tight end Greg Olsen with 27 receptions. But even with Devonta Freeman grabbing all the headlines, the Panthers boast the NFL’s top rushing attack with 144.7 yards per game. Cam Newton’s 245 yards have a lot to do with that, but at 423 yards Jonathan Stewart is on pace to run for more than 1,100 yards. This is an all-weather offense that will serve the Panthers well in December and January.

Defensively, the Panthers are tied for seventh with the Ravens (who play Monday night) with 18 sacks. The Falcons? They’re dead last with eight. The Panthers are the best team in the NFC South until the Falcons prove otherwise, and Sunday’s unimpressive 10-7 win over Tennessee (1-5) won’t do much for the Falcons’ case.

But are the Panthers the best team in the NFC?

They’re better than anyone in the NFC East, although playing on Thanksgiving on a short week at Dallas won’t be an easy task especially if Tony Romo and Dez Bryant are back. The Panthers’ Week 15 game at the division-leading Giants has trap game written all over it as it falls in between their two games against the Falcons. Even if they don’t go 4-0 against NFC East teams, the Panthers can handle any of them at home in the playoffs.

It also will be key to ensure that they stay ahead of Arizona (4-2) and make the Cardinals come to Carolina if these teams meet in the playoffs for a second straight year. The Cardinals are a complete team. Offensively they rank second in points per game (33.8) and fourth in yards per game (405.7). Defensively they’re eighth (19.2) and sixth (328.7). But the Cardinals have lost to Nick Foles and Landry Jones.

Then there’s the Packers, who go to Carolina on Nov. 8 in what could be a showdown of unbeatens. The Panthers could claim to be the best in the NFC, and decrease their chances of going to Lambeau Field in January, if they win that game. For now, though, let’s just say the Panthers are one of the two best teams in the NFC.

Three of the league’s five unbeatens reside in the AFC. But Peyton Manning’s arm is hanging by a thread and the Bengals are 0-4 in playoff games during the Andy Dalton Era.

That leaves the Patriots. Nobody is better than them right now.

So the Packers and Patriots are the only two teams that are clearly a cut above the Panthers at this point. That means the Panthers can make a case as the NFL’s third-best team.

That’s elite.