Last week: 27 (-1)

Record: 1-5

After last week’s loss to the Cowboys, which dropped them to 1-5 on the season, Cam Newton said in a post game interview “something’s gotta change.” Well, maybe this will appease him. GM Marty Hurney was fired Monday Morning. For Hurney, it was about 2 years too late. At the very least, he should have been fired after their 2-14 season in 2010, along with John Fox. Since then, the only good move he made was drafting Cam Newton.

Everything else, from the rest of their 2011 draft to overpaying players such that they were a 6-10 team over the cap coming out of last season, has been a failure. Unfortunately for Panthers fans, it’ll be a year or two for the new front office to clean up this mess because they won’t have much cap space this offseason. Fortunately, they should have another top-5 pick.

As for this season, it appears to be a lost cause after coming into the season with so much hope. Not only are they 1-5 in the tougher conference (they’re the only 1 loss team in the NFC), but they’ve lost Ryan Kalil, Chris Gamble, and likely Jon Beason for the season. Kalil is not their best offensive lineman because of left tackle Jordan Gross, but he’s one of the top-3 centers in the league. Gamble is not only their best defensive back, but their only good one. Beason, meanwhile, isn’t the player he was two years ago, but his loss still hurts. His loss means up and down rookie Luke Kuechly will have to play an every down role, while Thomas Davis, an injury prone linebacker who had torn his ACL 3 times as a pro, will have to step into the starting lineup and see more snaps than maybe his knees can handle.

With Hurney being fired, there has been some talk that the coaches, including Head Coach Ron Rivera, should go along with him. I agree and disagree. I believe defensive coordinator Sean McDermott should be fired and I don’t even know if I’d wait for the end of the season. He’s a terrible defensive coordinator and that dates back to his days in Philadelphia. As for the Head Coach and the rest of the coaching staff, I say keep them in place. The last thing Cam Newton needs right now is an unnecessary coaching change and I don’t think the change would be necessary yet. Just ask Alex Smith how much he wishes he had some consistency as a young quarterback.

Speaking of Cam Newton, he made headlines this week for something he didn’t even do as mentor Warren Moon called criticism of Newton “racial.” If I were Newton, I’d tell Moon to shut up immediately. All he’s doing is damaging his credibility. Do I think Newton is being overly criticized? Yes, he’s a young quarterback who is just having a sophomore slump and I still don’t have much doubt that he’ll be a franchise quarterback long term. I also think he was overrated after last season and has too much pressure on him.

That being said, he’s a quarterback and a high profile athlete. Quarterbacks are overly criticized in general. It’s nothing specific to him. Look at Philip Rivers, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler etc. Those guys are all above average quarterbacks who have had people question whether they should even be starting in this league at times after bad games. There’s nothing racial about the criticism of Cam Newton. In fact, he brings some of it on himself by doing all these commercials, which is why he’s so high profile, and then not backing it up on the field. That’s why he gets the criticism, while someone like Matt Stafford, having an equally disappointing year, doesn’t get it as much.

I really hope Newton isn’t listening to Moon and making excuses for himself like that. The only way he’s going to meet his potential is if he takes responsibility and blaming criticism on race is not doing that. Plus, it’s 2012. No one cares Cam Newton is black. Warren Moon is the only one bringing it up. It’s like Morgan Freeman says. The way to end racism is to stop talking about race. End rant.

Studs

ROLB James Anderson: 11 solo tackles, 1 assist, 7 stops, 1 missed tackle, 1 penalty, allowed 4 catches for 25 yards on 5 attempts

Duds

RG Byron Bell: Allowed 3 quarterback hits and 1 quarterback hurry on 43 pass block snaps

DT Dwan Edwards: Did not record a pressure on 24 pass rush snaps, 3 solo tackles, 2 stops

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