Humble Panthers Get Piece of the Pie

The Philadelphia Eagles are preparing for their third consecutive conference title game. The New England Patriots are two seasons removed from winning the Super Bowl. The Indianapolis Colts have averaged more than 10 victories a season over the last five.

And the Carolina Panthers?

Only two years ago, they set an NFL record by losing 15 consecutive games. When it comes to football’s version of the final four, the Panthers are the party crashers.

And that’s just how they like it.

“It’s nice because people don’t know anything about you, so it’s hard to prepare,” said defensive end Mike Rucker, whose team will play at Philadelphia on Sunday in the NFC championship game. “That’s what happened. People have overlooked us, taken us for granted. And we’re humble.”

The Panthers have had plenty of time to work on their humility. They had gone seven seasons without making the playoffs, last doing so in 1996, their second season of existence, when they came within a victory of reaching the 1997 Super Bowl.

“We have a lot of high-character guys on our football team,” said second-year Coach John Fox, who took over a team that had finished 1-15 in 2001. “We have found our formula, and it’s worked out so far. We’ve won more close games than I can remember, this one [Saturday’s double-overtime victory at St. Louis] included. But our guys believed we could do it.”

To understand how far the Panthers have come, it’s important to know where they’ve been. The franchise has weathered some horrible personnel decisions in the 1990s, a racial mess that nearly ripped apart the team, and a murder trial that concluded with the conviction of receiver Rae Carruth.

Carruth’s trial made the most national headlines. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to almost 19 years in prison for his role in the 1999 ambush killing of his pregnant girlfriend.

Then there was the behavior of quarterback Kerry Collins, the franchise’s first draft pick, who fell out of favor with teammates after using a racial epithet during a drunken binge. Collins ultimately quit the team, telling then-coach Dom Capers, “My heart’s not in it,” then resurfaced and helped lead the New York Giants to the Super Bowl.

“The thing that compounded it was the way we performed on the field was way below average,” said kicker John Kasay, the only original Panther left on the roster. “Those things kind of steamroll and perpetuate a bad environment. They test your character.”

Meanwhile, the Panthers made several personnel blunders, such as overpaying for defensive linemen Sean Gilbert, Reggie White, Chuck Smith and Eric Swann, a group that was almost never injury-free enough to play together; and using first-round picks on Tim Biakabutuka, Jason Peter and Rashard Anderson, all of whom proved to be either injury-prone or complete busts.

The seeds of change were sewn in the abysmal 2001 season, even before then-coach George Seifert was fired. The Panthers used their first three draft picks that spring on linebacker Dan Morgan, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and receiver Steve Smith -- all pivotal players now -- and proved to themselves that they were good enough to stay in games, even though they weren’t good enough to win.

Eight of Carolina’s last 12 losses in 2001 were by six points or fewer, and four of their first five losses last season were by three points or fewer. The Panthers finally learned to slam the door on opponents this season, going 10-3 in regular-season and postseason games decided by a touchdown or less.

“We know how to win now because we’ve been through that the last two seasons,” Rucker said. “We’ve learned from our mistakes. That’s how you teach your kids; when you do something wrong, you’ve got to learn from your mistake. We’ve done that, and now it’s paying off for us.”

The Panthers have several outstanding players, but none has achieved the star status of Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb, New England’s Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison of Indianapolis. Just as the Patriots did two years ago, the Panthers have succeeded with a cast of lesser-known players.

When running back Stephen Davis went down with a quadriceps injury Saturday at St. Louis, former UCLA standout DeShaun Foster stepped in and picked up the slack. It was his former Bruin teammate, cornerback Ricky Manning Jr., who made a critical one-handed interception in the clutch. And the quarterback-receiver combination of Jake Delhomme and Smith is only starting to make a dent in the national consciousness.

With Rucker, Jenkins, Julius Peppers and Brentson Buckner, the Panthers have achieved what they were aiming for in acquiring White, Smith, Swann and Gilbert: The team has assembled the best defensive line in football.

“They’ve really focused on one side of the ball and tried to become a top team in their front seven,” said newly hired Atlanta General Manager Rich McKay, who had the same role with Tampa Bay this season when the Buccaneers lost twice to the Panthers. “They try to dominate teams that way. And on the other side of the ball, it’s all about eating the clock, ball control, wear you down.... To me it’s a pretty simple formula. They’re going to try to dominate you on defense and just wear you down on offense.”

Simplicity sounds good to Delhomme. He’s trying to take a very straightforward, low-key approach to Sunday’s game.

“I’m not looking at this as if there’s only four teams left,” he said. “In my book, things haven’t changed since the first week, so I’m still thinking there’s a full slate of games this weekend. The stakes are a little bigger, but you’ve got to be the same guy.”

Even when you’re crashing a party.