FanHouse WillWitherspoon

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterbacks: Marc Bulger is coming off an injury-riddled, subpar at best, season. For the first time in his career he threw more picks than touchdowns, and his yards per attempt were nearly a yard lower than his previous career-low. Much of this can be attributed to the brutal offensive line play in front of him, but that may not change if Orlando Pace isn't completely healthy. Overall, though, Bulger will have a much better season and Trent Green is a fine backup. Heat Index: 6

You can't win an NFL title in March and April, but you can certainly lose one, and if you want to know how the Carolina Panthers went from the NFC title in 2003 to the dregs of the NFC South in 2007, look no further than some of the offseason moves made by Panthers general manager Marty Hurney. Here's just a sampling of some of Hurney's blunders since Super Bowl XXXVIII:

1. Letting Muhsin Muhammad go. The Panthers had a solid, proven NFL receiver to complement Steve Smith. Hurney decided Muhammad was too old and let him leave as a free agent to Chicago, thinking that Keary Colbert and Drew Carter could do Muhammad's job. That hasn't worked out so well, has it? (Hurney may have let Keyshawn Johnson go a year too soon as well.)

2. Signing David Carr. This last decade or so has shown NFL teams the importance of having a quality backup quarterback. Carolina decided to cut the ineffective Chris Weinke -- a good idea -- and ended up signing somebody much, much worse. A 44-year-old Vinny Testaverde plays rings around Carr. Joey Harrington, who was available, probably could have done better. Perhaps this wouldn't have been necessary if 4th-round pick Stefan LeFors had been any good.

And speaking of the NFL draft ...

What has to sting the most is the fact that the Rams could have beaten the Seahawks. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they deserved to win, because they did all they could (eventually successfully) to ruin a feel-good first half, but, against a division-leading team who's given them fits, the Rams did enough to be in a position to win. And then Gus Frerotte happened.

"I'd like to smash his head into the wall for him," a dejected fan behind me at the sports bar said, referring to Frerotte's penchant for self-inflicted concussions, as Frerotte lost a fourth-and-goal snap on the Seattle one with :27 left that could have won the game. All he had to do was capably turn around and hand the ball to Steven Jackson. That, apparently, was too much responsibility.

After losing Marc Bulger to a concussion in the first quarter, Frerotte found himself in relief duty (Relief Duty being the title of the 2007 Rams' team video). Between the two of them, the Rams found themselves successfully moving the ball (dopey interceptions aside). The run and pass were operating in harmony. Frerotte was spreading the ball efficiently.

First things first: yes, I have proclaimed faith in Adam Carriker's ability to play defensive tackle in the NFL. But the more I think about it, the more I have my reservations.

Carriker, 6-6 and 312, played end at Nebraska, but Haslett said that after the spring workouts and minicamps, "we've seen enough of him inside to say that he can be effective. Can he play nose tackle? I don't know; that's something we'll see when we put the pads on. But I think he can."

This is coming from Jim Haslett, the very same defensive coordinator of which my friend Kyle, a Rams fan, remarks, "I'm just hoping to get out of the Haslett era without him doing anything disastrous." The same Jim Haslett who's got a laundry list of failures sticking a player at a foreign position.

Will Witherspoon, LeCharles Bentley, Charlie Clemons, Cie Grant, Kyle Turley, and Boo Williams are just a few of the notable names who've failed or seen their production and efficiency drop because Haslett remained stubborn in sticking with a failing project. As for Carriker, he's got the frame (6'6'', 312 lbs.) to play tackle, but the guy played primarily at end in college, and even when he lined up at tackle, he was hovering over smaller, inferior talent. We'll see if history repeats itself.