9 Teams We'd Rather See in the Playoffs Instead of the Carolina Panthers

Image via Complex Original

Regular season record: 6-10

Best offensive player: LT Jake Long

Best defensive player: RE Robert Quinn

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

The Rams might have only won six games, but there's a reason for that: They play in the league's toughest division. It's hard to rack up double-digit victories when you play the 11-5 Cardinals twice, a Niners team that played in the last two NFC Championship games twice, and the Super Bowl champion Seahawks twice. They also have one of the leagues most underrated defenses, one of the leagues most underrated pass rushers in Robert Quinn, as well as victories against Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, and a 52-0 rout of Oakland. AND they famously stood up for social justice with their "Hands up" entrance on November 30 in the wake of the events in Ferguson. 

Regular season record: 7-9

Best offensive player: RB Adrian Peterson RT Phil Loadholt

​Best defensive player: FS Harrison Smith

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

Besides the fact that they won three of their last five games—the losses only being by two points each—with their best player on the sideline nearly the entire season? Besides the fact that they have a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year (Teddy Bridgewater aka Teddy Two-Gloves) under center? Besides the fact that they actually BEAT the Panthers 31-13 a little more than a month ago?

Hard to say.

Regular season record: 7-9

Best offensive player: LT Joe Thomas

​Best defensive player: CB Joe Haden

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

Because none of us are immune to the draw of Johnny Football. He is the flame, and we are nothing but a nation of fat, dumb moths. Manziel played terribly in his starts, seriously injured his hamstring, and might actually be an awful NFL quarterback, yet this week would have infinitely more hype if Jdot Football were about to be let loose on the NFL playoffs. If you think Johnny parties hard the Friday before the last game, imagine how many bottles would get popped and bills would get rolled if he were playoff bound.

Regular season record: 8-8

Best offensive player: LT Joe Staley

​Best defensive player: MLB NaVorro Bowman

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

Sure, they're down NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis. And sure, they (probably) hated their head coach for most of the year. And sure, their head coach bolted for the University of Michigan before the season was even over. But that doesn't mean the Niners aren't still more entertaining than the Panthers. Colin "Who Needs a 4th-Quarter Touchdown?" Kaepernick continues to be a walking highlight reel, and even though the offense had been pedestrian for most of 2014, they're still a major market team with bandwagon fans all over the country. Not to mention a mediocre Kaep & Co. going up against a fantastic A-Rod Pack would actually make for incredible playoff football. Remember, in his past three games against Green Bay, Kaepernick is 3-0 and has accumulated 1,203 total yards and 8 total touchdowns. 

Regular season record: 9-7

Best offensive player: RE J.J. Watt

​Best defensive player: RE J.J. Watt

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

Because J.J. Watt is the best football player on planet earth.

Think about it: The only player in league history to rack up multiple 20+ sack seasons also returns interceptions for touchdowns, swats more passes than some teams, and catches end zone fade routes like he's goddamned Plaxico Buress. Oh, and he also says things like this: "All I know is, you mess with me, you got a problem. That's all I know."

Justin James the GAWD.

Regular season record: 9-7

Best offensive player: RB Jamaal Charles

​Best defensive player: LOLB Justin Houston

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

We'd rather see the Chiefs, because (A) Chiefs fans are more passionate than Panthers fans, (B) they've invented a style of football that involves never throwing touchdowns to wide receivers, and (C) laughing at Andy Reid as he bungles clock management at the end of games never gets old.

Regular season record: 9-7

Best offensive player: QB Philip Rivers

​Best defensive player: FS Eric Weddle

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

First of all the Chargers are probably a better team than the Panthers. But besides that, we'd be all-in for watching the Chargers if only to see Philip Rivers go full "Psycho P" on the sidelines after his team melts down in the playoffs yet again. Poor guy—he's never going to win a Super Bowl. That doesn't mean we wouldn't wanna see him flip out and make crazy faces for a few more hours while trying, though.

Regular season record: 9-7

Best offensive player: WR Sammy Watkins

​Best defensive player: LE Mario Williams

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

Because Kyle Orton is like the grizzled veteran version of Johnny Manziel. But even more than wanting to see K.O. play his last game with Jack still in his system, we'd want to see the vaunted Bills defensive line get a chance to turn it up a notch when it matters. Plus... it's Buffalo. Six feet of snow fell on this football-tortured city just last month. According to Google it's 27 degrees and snowing there RIGHT NOW. Those people, who just experienced a winning season for the first time in 10 years, deserve a playoff game.

Regular season record: 10-6

Best offensive player: LG Evan Mathis

​Best defensive player: RE Fletcher Cox

Why we'd rather see them than the Panthers:

I'm an Eagles fan, so the chances of me being objective here are pretty slim. Having said that, the Eagles are a much better team than the Panthers, and they proved that by winning 10 games and by beating Carolina earlier in the year. The Birds also have more interesting storylines than the Panthers. Even though Cam "Superman" Newton somehow walked away from a potentially fatal car accident several weeks back, his comeback story isn't nearly as entertaining as watching Chip Kelly's offense zoom up and down the field for three hours. PLUS, the Eagles' secondary is awful, so at the very least they'd be playing in high-scoring games. Nobody wants to see the Panthers' two geriatric running backs when they could watch LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles.

A team with seven wins is playing a home playoff game while a team with 10 wins goes fishing? SHAMEFUL, UNETHICAL, AND UNJUST. America deserves to see Mark Sanchez pretend to be an effective quarterback at least one more time this year.