Andy Dalton got a front-row seat to the NFSW, er, NFC South last season. And that has him thinking the Carolina Panthers certainly have a shot at a division crown in 2023.
During his first press conference since signing with Carolina last month, Dalton was asked if the south—which hasn’t exactly gotten considerably stronger this offseason—is there for the taking.
“I think so. I think nobody wanted to win the division last year the way it was going,” he replied with a smile. “Kinda where this division’s at, there’s not one frontrunner that everybody’s gonna talk about and say, ‘This is the team that’s probably gonna be a lock for the south.’ That puts every team, all four of the teams in a position where they think they can take this division. And now it’s just gonna come down to what you build and what you’re able to do once the season gets going.”
Not much got going for those teams in 2022, when an 8-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers team claimed the throne. Behind them were the trio of 7-10 foes in the Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.
Dalton, who started 14 games for the Saints in 2022, received a particularly raw taste to close out the season—and it came courtesy of the Panthers, no less. The Week 18 finale saw the 35-year-old veteran complete just 15 of his 25 attempts for 171 yards and a touchdown in Carolina’s 10-7 victory.
Nonetheless, he’s ready to feast in Charlotte—where he believes his new team has a shot at the playoffs.
“Well, one, yeah—I think just what we were talking about with the division. There’s not that one frontrunner,” he said of how the Panthers can clinch the NFC South. “If you can get on a roll, that gives you a chance to get into the playoffs and to, at that point, make a run at it. So I think, again, the atmosphere, the chemistry, the culture, the expectation within this building and within the organization and the way that things are being presented to everybody.”
