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Opponents for '09: Brutally tough

One of the "perks" for having a winning season in the NFL is being rewarded with a schedule the next season that allows your team to measure itself against its peers.

Dates for the schedule won't be released until the summer, but the non-division home games are against Buffalo, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington and Minnesota. The Panthers will play at Dallas, Arizona, the Jets, the Giants and New England.

The Panthers, by virtue of their NFC South championship last season, will play a first-place schedule in 2009, as well as games based on the NFL's rotating division-vs.-division concept against each team from the NFC East and AFC East.

In short, especially compared to 2008, Panthers face a brutal schedule in '09.

The combined winning percentage of their 2009 opponents is 59 percent. The average '08 record of their '09 opponents is (rounding up) 10-6.

A few thoughts:

-- In 2008, The Panthers played a second-place schedule and against the AFC West and NFC North. Those opponents had a combined winning percentage of 48 percent entering the season. They ended up dipping to 46 percent -- thanks largely to the Detroit Lions' 0-16 record. But both those divisions were among the league's worst.

-- Just one 2009 opponent, the Buffalo Bills (7-9), had a losing record.

-- In 2009, not only do the Panthers play divisional champs Minnesota (10-6), Arizona (9-7) and the New York Giants (12-4), but they go into two of the NFL's tougher divisions -- the NFC and AFC Easts. The NFC East, like the Panthers' South, didn't have a team with a losing record. The AFC East only sent one team to the playoffs, but runner-up New England had an 11-5 record and the New York Jets were 9-7 and also missed out on making the postseason on the last day of the regular-season.

-- Then there is the NFC South, where each team was at least .500 last season. Atlanta's on the rise, New Orleans figures to have Reggie Bush healthy again and Tampa Bay is really the only question mark.

-- Miscellany: There are just two teams left in the league the Panthers have never beaten (Houston and Miami). They'll get a shot next season against the Dolphins...The Panthers will play twice at the Meadowlands, against the Jets and Giants...Carolina will play in the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium. -- David Scott

LINK >> Inside the Panthers: Opponents for '09: Brutally tough

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