All right, football fans, here's a pop quiz to see if you're prepared for
the start of the NFL regular season.
Which NFC team had an offense ranked in the top six and a defense ranked in
the bottom six of the league last year, a thirty-something quarterback who
had career highs in attempts, completions, yards, touchdown passes and passer
rating, and a massive infusion of high-priced veteran talent on defense
during the offseason?
|  | | Reggie White (92) and linebacker Lee Woodall (54) are part of Carolina's "grand experiment." |
If you said the Redskins, you'd be correct.
But if you said the Panthers, you'd be correct, too.
Since improving from 4-12 to 8-8 in coach George Seifert's first season,
Carolina has paralleled Washington's "the future is now" approach in trying
to make the jump to bona fide Super Bowl contender this season. Only the
Panthers have done it with a lot less money and considerably less fanfare.
The basic game plan was the same, however. Keep last year's prolific
offense relatively intact and overhaul the beleaguered defense with proven,
though aging, talent. If the Redskins have become Grumpy Old Men, the
Panthers are now Grumpier Old Men.
In what Seifert called "a grand experiment," Carolina added seven free
agents -- ends Reggie White, Chuck Smith and Jay Williams, tackle Eric Swann,
linebacker Lee Woodall, safety Eugene Robinson and cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock -- to a defense that ranked 26th in the NFL last season and was equally
ineffective against the run and the pass.
Except for Williams, all will be at least 30 by the end of the season. And
White and Robinson, who started in two Super Bowls for the Packers, are 38
and 37, respectively. Both were thought to be retired until Seifert convinced
them otherwise.
The Redskins, as everyone knows, added end Bruce Smith, cornerback Deion
Sanders and safety Mark Carrier -- average age, 34 -- to their defense, which
finished 30th in the NFL last year.
So which team did the better job?
We'll be able to tell Sunday, when the Panthers and Redskins meet in the
regular-season opener at FedEx Field. If the game resembles last year's 38-36
track meet, won by the Redskins, the answer will be that no one won.
But if the preseason is any indication, the answer will be the Redskins.
That's because the Panthers, unlike Washington, have seen their development
retarded by a long list of injuries this summer.
In August, the Panthers lost five expected impact players -- kicker John
Kasay, wide receivers Patrick Jeffers and Jim Turner and safeties Deon Grant and Tony Booth -- to season-ending injuries. Because no NFL team is tighter against the salary cap than Carolina, the losses have been hard to overcome.
"Putting this club together, that part's brutal right now," Seifert said. "It's all part of the big picture of the tumultuous time that we're going
through right now. We have seven guys who went on IR that would have made our
club. It affects everything. It affects everything that you might not have
dreamt about. The great master plan that we had put together was a work of
art, and now we've got to change some lines in this thing and still make this
a masterpiece."
During the preseason, the Panthers looked more like a velvet Elvis than a
Picasso. Seifert played his aging starters sparingly and the result was an
0-4 exhibition record and a team that was outscored by a larger margin than
any other team in the league.
The troublesome preseason showed how thin the Panthers are and, according
to critics in Charlotte, demonstrated that Seifert has built a house of
cards. With the team's advanced age and a lack of depth everywhere but the
defensive line, the Panthers will live a fragile existence all season.
"Of course, I'm concerned," Seifert said. "But I also have a certain sense
of confidence in some of the players that we have on this club who have
demonstrated to be pretty good football players in the past. We're going to
have to go into the season relying on them."
Most of them are on offense. Quarterback Steve Beuerlein, wide receivers
Jeffers and Muhsin Muhammad, tight end Wesley Walls and halfback Tim Biakabutuka all had career years in 1999.
Beuerlein threw 36 touchdown passes and his 94.6 passer rating was second
only to league MVP Kurt Warner. Muhammad led the NFC with 96 catches, eight
for touchdowns, and Walls and Jeffers each had 12 touchdowns among their 63
receptions. Biakabutuka had 717 yards on only 132 carries despite missing a
third of the season due to injury.
Of course, there are no assurances that those players will repeat those
seasons, especially without Jeffers, who was the catalyst for the second-half
surge that saw the Panthers score 31 or more points in six of their final
nine games.
Beuerlein, 35, was sacked 51 times last year and it took five offseason
surgeries for doctors to put him back together. Biakabutuka had touchdown
runs of 67, 62, 60 and 45 yards but is injury-prone and has never played more
than 11 games in a season. With Jeffers out, Muhammad will face constant
double-teams and Walls, Beuerlein's safety valve, is 34 and nicked up.
|
“ |
I'm
concerned. But I also have a certain sense of
confidence in some of the players that we have on
this club who have demonstrated to be pretty
good football players in the past. We're going to
have to go into the season relying on
them. ” |
|
|
— George Seifert, Panthers coach |
"I really believe that (Jeffers) was the key to our offense and the way we
got it going the second half of the season," Beuerlein said. "Everybody knew
what we had in (Muhammad) and in Wesley. But when you get a third threat out
there, that takes it to a whole new level. That's what Pat was for us. He
became every bit as much a threat as either one of those two guys. Defenses
were scratching their heads. They didn't know what to do."
Now, the Panthers don't know what to do. They need a wide receiver who can
give them what Jeffers did.
The likely candidate is third-year man Donald Hayes, who, like Jeffers, is
rangy and physical. Until the Panthers signed Titans castoff Isaac Byrd this
week, Hayes was the only wide receiver besides Muhammad on the roster who had
ever caught an NFL pass. And he's only caught 14.
However, two of Hayes' 11 catches went for touchdowns last season and he
averaged 24.5 yards per catch. The coaches have always liked Hayes, but he
only caught one pass during the preseason.
"I trust that Donald Hayes will be a guy that can step up for this team,"
Muhammad said.
What the Panthers really need is for a few people to step up on defense. Only six teams had fewer than their 35 sacks, which is why Seifert
spent $21 million on Smith and added White and Swann in the 11th hour. White
is the NFL's all-time sack leader with 192½. Together, White, Swann and
Smith have totaled 296½ sacks.
White made his presence felt immediately, calling the first of his many
team meetings on only his fourth day in camp. Whether he can re-create his
16-sack 1998 season after a year in retirement remains to be seen.
Seifert said White and Swann are likely to play only 15 to 20 plays a game,
mostly on passing downs. The dream foursome of White, Swann, Smith and Sean
Gilbert played only once together during the preseason, but they looked
strong in a brief stint against the Ravens.
However, there is an element of risk to the pairing. White didn't play last
season, Swann has had seven knee operations in nine years and Smith missed
much of the preseason with chronic knee problems.
"There's no guarantee through this whole deal," Seifert said. "It's fun to
get excited about it and to fantasize about the possibilities what might take
place, but in fact they've got to get the job done."
The Panthers began training camp as the team voted most likely to rise from
the depths of the NFC West and go to the Super Bowl, something the Falcons
did in 1998 and the Rams last year. The injuries and winless preseason have
dampened the outside expectations considerably, however, and it's beginning
to look like the NFC will be without a Cindarella team this year.
Cowboys, Vikings corner market
The last-minute scramble for talent yielded two important cornerback
catches for NFC contenders.
| |  | |
| Sparks |
Less than a week before the start of the season, Dallas and Minnesota had
potentially devastating holes on the last line of defense, so the Cowboys
signed nine-year veteran Phillippi Sparks and the Vikings landed 13-year
veteran Cris Dishman. There is a good chance both will start in their teams'
openers Sunday.
Both teams should consider themselves lucky to fill the hole with such
quality. Dishman has turned into a journeyman, but the former Pro Bowler had
five interceptions for the Chiefs last year. He was released just this week.
Sparks has 22 career interceptions with the Giants and will team with Ryan
McNeil to give the Cowboys veteran corners in the wake of Deion Sanders'
departure.
Dallas signed McNeil as Sanders' replacement and, fearing that Kevin Smith
was nearing the end of the line, drafted three cornerbacks in April. When
Smith did indeed retire, fourth-round pick Kareem Larrimore won the starting
position almost by default when second-rounder Dwayne Goodrich and
sixth-rounder Mario Edwards were injured. Then Larrimore was toasted by the
Broncos in an exhibition game. Without Smith and Charlie Williams, who has
been slow to recover from knee surgery, the Cowboys got very worried.
"I don't want to be a savior," Sparks said, "but I know I can help."
Actually, he could be the savior. It's much the same in Minnesota, where
the corners will be under heavy pressure due to a suspect defensive line.
Converted wide receiver Robert Tate replaced free-agent loss Jimmy
Hitchcock at one corner, but the Vikings weren't pleased with the development
of second-year man Kenny Wright, a 12-game starter last year, at the other
corner. The signing of Dishman bumped Wright to the slot in the nickel
defense and no doubt allowed coach Dennis Green to sleep a little sounder.
No Desert Swarm for Dayne
So far in his brief NFL career, Heisman Trophy-winning halfback Ron Dayne
has been more lucky than good.
| |  | |
| Rice |
After an up-and-down preseason performance, the Giants' first-round draft
pick will get to make his regular-season debut against the Cardinals. If things had gone according to plan, that would have been no treat. But as
it stands, Dayne will be catching a break.
Two years ago, the Cardinals thought they had assembled their dream
defensive line: ends Simeon Rice and Andre Wadsworth, tackles Eric Swann and Mark Smith. For a variety of reasons, however, the foursome played together in only seven games.
Swann never recovered from multiple knee surgeries and was released.
Wadsworth is out for at least another month after arthroscopic knee surgery
and Rice has yet to report because of a contract dispute. Only Smith will be in the starting lineup Sunday against the Giants.
In addition to Smith, tackle Tony McCoy and ends Corey Sears and Brad Ottis will be the first line of defense against the 253-pound Dayne. Sears, a
one-time waiver claim, is starting because end Tom Burke, Dayne's former
teammate at Wisconsin, suffered torn cartilege in his knee in practice Monday
and will be out a couple of weeks.
"He's the Heisman Trophy winner and rushed for more yards than anybody's
ever rushed for (in college), so I'm sure that they'll give it to him a few
times," Cardinals coach Vince Tobin said. "If we don't slow him, they'll
continue to give it to him."
Arizona halfback Thomas Jones, drafted four spots ahead of Dayne, won't be
so lucky. He'll start behind an injury-weakened offensive line after an
unimpressive preseason.
Niners strike gold with Peterson
After one preseason game, 49ers linebacker Julian Peterson looked like a
lock for defensive rookie of the year.
| |  | |
| Posey |
Peterson had three sacks and two forced fumbles in the exhibition opener
against the Chargers, then strained his right shoulder and played little
after that. Now, converted end Jeff Posey has been named to start ahead of
him in the opener.
Coach Steve Mariucci said Peterson was beaten out by Posey in part because
he had arrived at camp late due to a contract dispute and then missed further
practice time after being hurt. The 49ers remain very high on Peterson's
potential and he will play as an end in pass-rushing situations Sunday.
"With his speed and athleticism, he can get into coverage," defensive
coordinator Jim Mora said. "He can cover most tight ends in the league, easy.
Plus, he can go out and play the wide receiver because he has enough
quickness to reroute a receiver out in space and do things like that. You see
him pass-rushing, coming off the ball, and if he doesn't get there, boom,
he's chasing the ball. On third down, he can put his hand down and pass-rush
or drop back into coverage. There are so many possibilities."
Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes a weekly NFC column for ESPN.com.
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