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Something Going On: This Panthers team bears watching
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Published: September 7, 2008
It is all right to buy in.
It is OK to jump on the Carolina Panthers' bandwagon.
The Panthers will open the NFL regular season this afternoon at San Diego, and there is legitimacy to all the optimism that came out of the preseason.
There is validity to the notion that the Panthers are a far better team than the one that struggled to finish 7-9 last season, validity to the notion that the Panthers are not merely a playoff contender but a team that should win the NFC South and could go deep into the playoffs.
That's not to guarantee a victory this afternoon, because opening against the Chargers on the road is one of the toughest tasks in the NFL. And the Panthers will have to do it without one of their best players, wide receiver Steve Smith. In fact, Las Vegas oddsmakers have the Panthers as 9½-point underdogs.
But the NFL season is a 16-game marathon, and this team is better equipped for a marathon than any other Panthers team since the Super Bowl XXXVIII team in the 2003-04 season.
It is better equipped in terms of personnel and talent. It is better equipped to play the style that Coach John Fox has won with in the past. It is far better equipped in terms of togetherness and purpose.
The team that fell apart at the seams after quarterback Jake Delhomme went out in the third game last season was a dysfunctional one, one that lacked leadership or unity.
This team, from all indications in training camp and in the preseason, is unified and on a mission.
Delhomme has been one of the team's most respected players since he arrived in 2002, the heart and soul of the offense and the locker room. There is excitement in his voice when he talks about this team's cohesion. Even Josh McCown, a journeyman backup quarterback acquired last weekend, has felt the distinct positive vibe.
"You know what, I just think we have the right attitude," Delhomme said before the team flew to San Diego. "You just see a difference in guys and the way guys are working. Guys are talking, communicating on the practice field, going at it hard. Josh and I talked about it, he says it's a good feel. If you make a mistake, it's ‘My bad.' Guys are upset, like ‘We've got to get it right.'
"You just, when you're around it every day you see it. You feel it. You hear it. You kind of know. I've been saying this since early on. You just kind of know. I like this team. I think this team can do something."
The roster was upgraded to the point that the Panthers are better, position by position, almost across the board.
Delhomme's return from career-threatening "Tommy John" elbow surgery has stabilized the offense. This is the biggest and best offensive line in years, with rookie Jeff Otah and newcomer Keydrick Vincent joining Jordan Gross, Travelle Wharton and Ryan Kalil.
The running game was explosive in the preseason with rookie Jonathan Stewart and maturing DeAngelo Williams providing a 1-2 punch.
The Panthers will take a hit with Smith missing today, serving a two-game suspension for punching cornerback Ken Lucas in training camp, but in the big picture, the receiving corps has been upgraded with the additions of Muhsin Muhammad and D.J. Hackett and the emergence of Dwayne Jarrett.
The same things can be said for the defense. The line concerns some, with Kris Jenkins gone and Mike Rucker retired, but some inside the organization say that the absence of Jenkins is addition by subtraction. Julius Peppers, who had a sub-par 2007 season, has been dominant in the preseason, and the rest of the line has fed off that. The linebacker corps is deeper than ever, with Jon Beason on the brink of stardom in his second year.
The secondary is solid with three good cornerbacks in Ken Lucas, Chris Gamble and Richard Marshall, and safety isn't the concern it was last season after Mike Minter abruptly retired.
The special-teams units appear to be better, too.
Peppers, usually a man of few words, gushed about the way the defensive line and the first-team defense overall jelled during the preseason games.
"I'm excited about this team," Peppers said. "I like this team. I like this defense. I like the offense, too, but I'm a part of the defense, and I like what we've got going as a group. In the past, we might have had one or two guys that wanted to do their own thing, and cause a little ruckus.
"But that's not what we have here right now. I like the chemistry we've got with the young guys. They're listening and following. Everybody's working together."
That might sound crazy, in light of the training camp incident in which Smith punched Lucas and drew his two-game suspension. That's the kind of thing one would have expected last season, not now. But the Panthers seem to have come out of that incident more unified, more determined.
"Everybody has moved forward and nobody talks about the situation," Lucas said. "It happened, but it didn't happen. That is the attitude. It showed the character of this team for us to have the ability to move on. People could still be dwelling on it, but we haven't. If anything, it has brought this team much closer than we were at first. We realize how much we care for each other once the incident happened. That is a great feeling. That is why you see more team chemistry than we've had in the past. That was true adversity, and I think everyone handled it in the right manner."
Get the picture?
It is all right to buy in.
It is OK to jump on the bandwagon.
■ John Delong can be reached at jdelong@wsjournal.com.
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