Glass half-empty: The offense is a real concern. Smith does not look comfortable, there's no creativity and little ability to stretch plays downfield, and the pass protection is worse than it should be. I don't think they've had a long TD drive since 1H vs Green Bay; all of their points are coming from turnovers or long drives that stall and result in a FG. There's no identity other than to hope that a wounded Peterson carries them down the field. We won on Sunday because Carolina didn't get off the team bus until the 2nd half. Planning on Dallas doing the same is not a recipe for success.
Glass half-full: That said, once again, they have a huge opportunity in front of them. Home vs Dallas and away against a plummeting Giants debacle in the next weeks. They were missing two of their top playmakers on offense on Sunday and still beat a good Panthers team. The defense is showing signs of improvement and made the plays necessary to win the game. They got their asses handed to them on MNF, got home very early Tuesday morning, and still turned around on a short week to beat a good football team that has owned them in recent years.
Bottom line: A very real opportunity go to 5-2 and put themselves in the driver's seat for the 2nd half of the season, but logic says they'll be 4-3 or even 3-4 and left answering questions about not playing with a sense of urgency or not having the right practice habits or whatever else is out there that is a product of being a mediocre organization. They were 1-5 against NFCE opponents last year and still have every game in the division left to play so they'll need to start proving they can beat division rivals or seats are going to be scorching hot.