Fitzgerald Cecilio

Center Ryan Kalil has boldly predicted in a full-page newspaper advertisement that the Carolina Panthers will win the Super Bowl this season.

The full-page ad in the Charlotte Observer contains Kalil's 187-word essay entitled "Why the Carolina Panthers will win Super Bowl XLVII" where he declared that the team will achieve victory "because I've seen it".

Kalil then asked fans to "look closer so that they can see the daunting, unpaved path ahead, lined with detours, naysayers, and walls which seem insurmountable."

"But not for you. You'll ignore what you hear and break through ANYTHING that stands in your way. Because you see what's at the end of this… Victory," Kalil's essay added.

The essay ended with the emphatic statement CAROLINA PANTHERS -- SUPER BOWL XLVII CHAMPIONS!

"Every team says it every year, whether it's publicly or not," Kalil told the newspaper to explain his action. "They say they're going to win the Super Bowl."

"We've said it in the past in meeting rooms and behind closed doors. This year's different. There's a sense of urgency, a winning attitude that I haven't seen before. And it's in the way we prepare. It's in the way we approach each workday, and I think fans will see it in the way that we play," he added.

But the Panthers have a long way to go after finishing 6-10 last season, their first under coach Ron Rivera and outstanding quarterback Cam Newton.

Rivera said he has no problems with Kalil's action, saying he likes his boldness.

"Good because if we don't have 53 guys with that attitude in our locker room right now, then we gotta find the guys that want it. We don't know what's going to happen," Rivera said.

"But we gotta come out and play and play hard and do everything we can to win that Super Bowl, and they have the right attitude, that right mental frame of mind, and that's what Ryan's done," he added.

Panthers owner Jerry Richardson also predicted that the team will capture a Super Bowl within 10 years after he was awarded the franchise. But Carolina has no Super Bowl trophy to show entering its 18th season.

Last year, quarterback Vince Young called the Philadelphia Eagles a "Dream Team". The Eagles missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record.

Ryan Kalil Boasts Panthers to Win Super Bowl in Newspaper Ad - NFL 2012