Keyshawn dropped

And just like this, we most likely don't have all of the facts surrounding that little scufffle. It's possible that Bright was ass and the rest of the team enjoyed watching get it handed to him. Punishment may only have been because of the publicity so soon after the Carruth and Terry fun times. We'll never know the whole truth, only the parts that they decide to let us know.

 

You have to change your percentage now. Key was one of them.

 

As a Panther, Johnson ran a selfish route by TOM SORENSEN

Carolina played Philadelphia in a Monday night game Dec. 4. The Eagles were on their way out and the Panthers were on their way up and the touchdown the Panthers were about to score would prove it.

Down 27-24 with little more than a half-minute to play, Carolina had the ball on the Philadelphia 7. Keyshawn Johnson ran one of his favorite routes, a fade to the right corner. But cornerback Lito Sheppard got in his way and Johnson cut his route short.

Jake Delhomme's pass went about where it was supposed to, but Johnson did not. Sheppard picked off the pass with 28 seconds remaining to preserve the three-point victory.

The loss was huge, dropping Carolina to 6-6. Delhomme took responsibility for the interception. A quarterback is supposed to lead, and accepting rather than deflecting blame is what leaders do. This is one reason Jake's teammates support him.

Some teammates, as well as the gentlemen who employ them, waited for Johnson to acknowledge his role. Although the season was his first with Carolina, he is 34 and a veteran of 11 seasons, a media star who owns a Super Bowl ring. His words count.

But he would not say the fault was his, not after the game or in the following days. To Johnson, the fault was not his, so why pretend? Rather than share the criticism from the media and fans, Keyshawn let Delhomme absorb all of it.

The Panthers lost their next two games, which ended any opportunity they had to make the playoffs. The interception probably ended any opportunity Johnson had to remain a Panther. The team hung onto Keyshawn through last weekend's NFL draft; they couldn't cut him if they didn't add a receiver they believed could replace him. When the Panthers drafted Dwayne Jarrett of Southern California, Keyshawn's alma mater, Johnson became expendable, and on Tuesday Carolina cut him.

I'm sorry to see him go. He's smart, never says, "We take it one game at a time," and rarely ducks controversy. He can play a little, too. He goes over the middle to make the tough catch, is among the league's best blockers at his position and -- he's Keyshawn, man. Although he's a possession receiver with a tight end's speed, he's a star.

But being a teammate means more than catching passes, knocking down cornerbacks and filling a micro-cassette tape recorder. Teammates have to be willing to give up some of who they are for the players around them.

A team stays strong through camp, practice, injuries, losing streaks and the criticism those streaks engender by going through it together. Johnson didn't, and maybe he couldn't. He came in a free agent and unofficially remained one.

It's official now. IN MY OPINION Tom Sorensen

 

If you were talking about Keyshawn alone, then yes. Very respectable #2 numbers on a team with a struggling offense.

 

no, the team as a whole. i didn't think keyshawns numbers were bad.

 

But here is the thing Smitty has change.And he went and got help for his anger problem.Also with Smitty you never here him blame anyone But himself You never here make any excuse. Smitty is the Best WR in the NFL and some could say he is the best player in the NFL.But even more importantly he is a team player

 

so is he going to philly?

They interviewed Reid during the draft and he said he wouldn't mind having keyshawn. The commentators joked that he was tampering. Reid turned red and laughed it off.

it was pretty funny.

 

During the season and up until yesterday there hadn't been any talk from anywhere that he was a problem. Now it's like it was always a known issue which is why I can't buy it. Considering his reputation and all the talk about his attitude when he was signed the media would have jumped all over any sign of a problem.

 

Personally, I don't think he's been a problem at all but, you have to consider what could have happened if they told him they were cutting his playing time back because they want to get the younger guys more involved in the new offense. Between that and the amount of money they were paying him, there was alot of potential there for controversy. I don't think this decision was made because they wanted to just get rid of him or that they weren't happy with his production, it was just something that would have come about eventually anyway, and it was better for everybody to get it out of the way now and give these young guys a chance.

That sounds mundane and doesn't make for an exciting story like speculating about what could have been going on behind closed doors, but it's probably closer to the truth.

 

It was probably a situation where a receiver fell to us in the second round that we thought was a very good player and able to play better than Keyshawn even as a rookie so we made room for him.

Think about this too. We only carry four active wide out for most games. We had Smith, Carter and Keyshawn and just drafted two more.