Mills Inspires Players

As the NFC championship game ended and the scoreboard wasn’t going to change -- it would say Carolina 14, Philadelphia 3 -- Panther linebacker coach Sam Mills looked up and pointed to the sky.

Mills, who was an original Panther and the first player inducted into the Carolina Panther Hall of Fame, has cancer of his small intestine.

Mills was diagnosed shortly before the season started and has coached as much as possible between treatments.

After the game, Mills was asked if he thought he had been an inspiration to his players. “No,” Mills said. “You say I am an inspiration to them, but they are really an inspiration to me. When I see them go out and work so hard and battle so hard, it is an inspiration for me to go out and fight to live.”

Mills and Panther linebacker Mark Fields, who has missed this season while fighting Hodgkin’s disease, another form of cancer, were honorary co-captains.

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Carolina running back Stephen Davis, who had suffered a strained left thigh in last week’s divisional playoff win over St. Louis, didn’t practice this week. But he started Sunday’s game and gained 76 yards, including 24 on the Panthers’ opening drive.

“I was hurting,” Davis said, “but it just shows how much character we have on this team. It showed up in the way DeShaun Foster played. Everybody on this team has fight.”

Foster, who had played well in relief of Davis last week, had 14 carries and 60 yards to Smith’s 19 carries. Smith had gained a career-best 1,444 yards this season after being let go by Steve Spurrier, the ex-coach of the Washington Redskins.

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In what passes for serious criticism from Donovan McNabb, the Eagle quarterback would only say “that’s not my call” when asked whether Philadelphia needs to upgrade the wide receiver position. Even before he left the game because of a rib injury, McNabb had been hurt by dropped passes from James Thrash and Todd Pinkston.

Carolina cornerback Ricky Manning Jr., who had three interceptions, said on a Charlotte radio station last week that he was confident that the Panther secondary could contain Philadelphia’s receivers.

And after the game, Manning said, “Pinkston, he’s not that strong. He’s pretty thin. And their receivers don’t really have too many moves off the line. All week long I was like, I can go get these guys.”

Manning knew what he was talking about.

The Eagles were held to 188 yards passing.

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Panther Coach John Fox, in his second season, keeps being asked to explain how he has remade the team from a 1-15 disaster to a Super Bowl team in two years.

“I haven’t had a chance to reflect, really,” Fox said. “It’s been a lot of good, good people that brought a whole lot of hard work into it. I am as proud of this bunch of guys than any I have ever been associated with.”

Strong safety Mike Minter said of Fox: “I love my coach. We all do. I knew the day he arrived, he was my guy. He looked everybody in the face and told us he didn’t think we were tough. As a man, you have to accept that challenge, go out there and show him how tough you are. Coach Fox is a true inspiration.”