Panthers 2003 expectations, HP Enterprise

Here's a view of the Panthers fro outside the usual Charlotte cirlces. Any agreements or disagreements with Tom Berry's thoughts?

Panthers carry great expectations for 2003 NFL season
By Tom Berry, High Point Enterprise Staff Writer

The Carolina Panthers entered December like a lamb.

They went out like a lion.

Guess which animal the Panthers prefer?

Carolina squeezed five games into December this season and finished with a 4-1 record. The magnificent month allowed the Panthers to recover from eight straight losses and produce the NFL's most-improved record from 2001 to 2002, storming from 1-15 to 7-9.

It was a month to remember for Carolina, capped by a 10-6 victory over New Orleans that knocked the Saints out of the playoffs.

"Now we've got something to build on," defensive tackle Brentson Buckner said. "People only remember the last thing you did. They only thing they talked about last offseason was, 'Oh, you all lost to New England, the eventual Super Bowl winner.' Now, what they'll say is, 'You all kept a team from going to the playoffs.'

"It was a playoff atmosphere, and we showed as a team that we can play playoff-style football."

There's still a long way from playoff-style football to the actual playoffs, which the Panthers failed to reach for the seventh time in the franchise's eight seasons.

For most teams, failing to make the playoffs would qualify as a failing season. First-year head coach John Fox certainly isn't satisfied.

"Unless you are in the playoffs, it is really not acceptable," Fox said. "But by no means am I saying that we didn't accomplish anything this season. I think we did improve. I think we took strides toward becoming a playoff team, but we are just not there yet."

Remember the words: The Panthers are not there yet. All the giddy feelings about Carolina's finish has led to boastful comments about next season, something that also happened after N.C. State swamped Notre Dame in Wednesday's Gator Bowl.

"It's going to be hard to play the Panthers in 2003," claimed safety Mike Minter. "We're right there to do something special and we're going to do it next year."

"Buy your tickets for next year early, guys!" exclaimed defensive end Mike Rucker. "Something special is about to happen!"

It all sounds good, but a lot must happen between now and Carolina's first game early in September. The Panthers won't make the playoffs on optimism.

First, Carolina must make the right decisions concerning its current players. Fox and general manager Marty Hurney would be foolish to make many personnel changes to the Panthers' young and aggressive defense, which finished the season ranked No. 2 overall and No. 2 in sacks.

Buckner, Rucker, tackle Kris Jenkins and end Julius Peppers are on the verge of becoming the NFL's best defensive line. Peppers led all NFL rookies with 12 sacks despite missing the last four games following his suspension, Rucker set a career-high with 10 sacks, and Buckner and Jenkins are massive run-stoppers with the added ability to harass quarterbacks.

They almost certainly will remain intact, along with linebackers Dan Morgan and Mark Fields. The fact that Morgan was named a third alternate to the Pro Bowl while missing almost half the season says something about his reputation and ability. Fields had a career year with 122 tackles, 7.5 sacks and a franchise-record seven forced fumbles.

The Panthers' other linebacker could change. Hannibal Navies battled injuries and inconsistency.

In the secondary, cornerbacks Reggie Howard and Terry Cousin were viewed as the team's weakest links entering the season. They became a strong point, helping Carolina rank near the top of the NFL in pass defense all season. Cousin completed a special season by roaming for two interceptions, a fumble recovery, a sack and four passes defensed against the Saints.

At strong safety, Minter is undersized but effective. Few players combine his intensity and intelligence. The same cannot be said for free safety Deon Grant, a physically gifted player who made too many glaring mistakes last season.

The Panthers would do well to bring in someone to challenge Grant. It could be Rashard Anderson, a former Carolina first-round draft pick who missed all this season because of a drug suspension.

The Panthers need more depth in the secondary, and Terry Fair - who spent most of the year on injured reserve - could help.

The return of Michael Bates and Jarrod Cooper from injured reserve should boost the Panthers' special teams, which were pretty good most of the season. Shayne Graham, who kicked a 50-yard field goal against New Orleans, deserves a chance to return. That means John Kasay - the last original Panther - should be waived.

Carolina must do whatever necessary to keep punter Todd Sauerbrun, even if it means designating him as the franchise player and forking over more than $1 million per season. Sauerbrun, the NFL's No. 1 punter for two straight years, was worth several first downs per game in field position.

Now to the offense, which ranked 31st among the NFL's 32 teams. This is where the Panthers must use most of their draft picks and much of their $10 million cushion under the salary cap.

Considering the offense's problems on and off the field, it's amazing the Panthers came so close to finishing .500. Remember that running back Lamar Smith was benched after his Thanksgiving Day arrest for drunken driving, offensive tackle Chris Terry was waived after his various legal troubles and wide receiver Steve Smith served a suspension for slugging a teammate.

Also, three of the Panthers' four worst offensive games in franchise history came this season.

That said, 36-year-old quarterback Rodney Peete should return as the starter. He's a great leader, a capable player and the type of veteran who can help groom the young quarterback the Panthers almost certainly will draft.
Fox wants Peete to stay.

"We will do everything in our power to make him a part," Fox said.

Forget about quarterbacks Chris Weinke and Randy Fasani. They have no future with the Panthers. Carolina, which will select No. 10 in the first round of April's NFL Draft, must hope that Marshall's Byron Leftwich is available.

Southern Cal quarterback Carson Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winner, almost certainly will be gone by the first couple of picks.

The Panthers also need a featured running back. Lamar Smith has burned too many bridges to return, Dee Brown is not an every-down player and DeShaun Foster is a big question mark following microfracture knee surgery.

Foster, a rookie who showed such potential last preseason, will not return until training camp in July, at the earliest.

The Panthers also need another offensive tackle to replace Terry and another tight end to replace Wesley Walls, who has become too old and injury prone. The team must decide whether the considerable salary-cap figures of left tackle Todd Steussie and wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad are worth their staying around.

Center Jeff Mitchell and guard Kevin Donnalley have much smaller figures and almost certainly will return. The same goes for Smith at receiver and kick returner and former Ledford star Brad Hoover at fullback.

It will be a long offseason and scouting and evaluating for the Fox, Hurney and the Panthers. But they will working with the knowledge that the franchise is moving in the proper direction.

"We truly believe that we have the right pieces in place," Hurney said. "I see us doing nothing but improving next year."

Next year, the Panthers hope a strong December will actually lead to the playoffs.

 

there's nothing to agree or disagree with. To anyone here, that's all basically just known. He did an allright overview writing for someone who's gonna read this and then wait for draft Sunday to read who we got in the first round.

 

Not that I don't like to set goals for a team. But from this article and Tom Sorensons article in the Disturber on Sunday it seems that anything short of the playoffs is unacceptable. We still play a fourth place schedule but don't you think people will look at the falcons game tapes and pick us apart a little.

 

>> you think people will look at the falcons game tapes and pick us apart a little

s/b irrelevant. new OC and several new faces on the offense. not too many teams have a Vick to attack us with.

don't agree with him about Grant and Peete. nor do I think it absolutely necessary to resign Todd. it'd be nice. he's fun to watch. but i won't lose sleep if we don't.

 

Vick aside, Their defence tore us up. You'd think that the Panthers had never seen a 3-4 defense.

 

now that you mention it, we did get eaten up by the steelers, and the ravens limited us to 10 points and we won because their offense was just as shitty as ours back then.

 

I thought we had the ninth pick. humpf Ah, we'll still figure out a way to get Palmer.


I can't see us looking at Moose as if he were on another team, and saying yea, he can help our team win, let's pay him that much money.