By Mike Cranston
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE ó Seconds before he was to begin his news conference Monday, John Fox walked off the podium to ask a team official a question.
Fitting, really, that 24 hours after the Carolina Panthers’ ugly, mistake-filled performance, the coach would have a false start.
“One of many,” Fox acknowledged.
Sunday’s 20-10 loss at Minnesota wasn’t what the Panthers (2-1) expected in top playmaker Steve Smith return following his two-game suspension. Instead of giving the new-look offense a boost, the receiver was part of a unit that did an impersonation of the anemic 2007 edition.
Jake Delhomme had little time to find Smith (4 catches, 70 yards) because he was on his back much of the day. After engineering comebacks wins in the first two games, Delhomme was sacked five times and lost two fumbles, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
Handing it off didn’t work either. The Panthers had only 47 yards rushing, with DeAngelo Williams (10 carries, 27 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (7 carries, 15 yards) looking nothing like the potent 1-2 punch in the first two weeks.
But the Panthers had trouble just getting plays off. Hampered by the crowd noise and the Vikings’ aggressive blitz package, the Panthers were called for 12 penalties, six of them false starts.
In the past two games, Carolina has jumped the snap 11 times.
“Those are penalties that we have to get fixed,” Fox said. “That has been a problem the last two games. I think it’s something definitely that we will address.”
Carolina could get some help on the offensive line for Sunday’s home game against surprising Atlanta (2-1). Left guard Travelle Wharton, who has sat out the last two games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, is expected to practice Wednesday.
“I’ll give it a go and see what happens,” Wharton said.
Wharton’s return would mean Geoff Hangartner could go back to the bench. But Hangartner wasn’t the only culprit Sunday.
High-priced left tackle Jordan Gross was dominated most of the day by Minnesota’s Jared Allen. Gross also had two false start penalties and was flagged for holding. Rookie right tackle Jeff Otah had two false starts, too.
The Panthers knew their overhaul of the offensive line, which sees different players in all five positions, wouldn’t be completely smooth. But the mistakes, which include a heavy dose of penalties from tight ends Jeff King and Dante Rosario, are alarming ó especially with longtime Panthers nemesis John Abraham and his NFL-high six sacks visiting Bank of America Stadium Sunday.
“If I knew the answer to that we would have zero,” Gross said when asked about the number of false starts. “That’s the one thing I can say is maybe just new people. It’s funny, because you start at the end of July and you’re working on basic football 101 ó cadence and huddle and lining up right.”
The mistakes muted the return of Smith from his unpaid ban for punching teammate Ken Lucas at training camp, Smith caught a 16-yard pass on Carolina’s first play from scrimmage. But he did little after that, and caught only one pass in the second half.
“I think if you go back and look at five sacks, he was about ready to get involved. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way,” said Fox, who indicated Smith was wide open when Delhomme was sacked, fumbled and watched Antoine Winfield return it for a touchdown late in the first half. “I think he ended up with four catches. I thought he made some good plays and I thought he helped us. We just didn’t have quite enough, but it wasn’t due to Steve Smith.”
Carolina ranks 27th in the league total offense and 30th in third-down conversions, but the schedule should help change that. The Panthers play five of their next seven at home, a stretch that includes struggling Kansas City, Detroit and Oakland.
But the mistakes must stop if the Panthers are to build a cushion before the schedule turns brutal in December.
“I don’t think there are too many coaches in the league ready to say they’ve arrived,” Fox said. “I’m definitely not one of them.”
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NOTES: Fox attached the “day to day” designator on DE Charles Johnson, who suffered a hamstring injury Sunday. … While much was made of Fox calling a timeout that wiped out Chris Harris’ blocked a field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter, Fox said it appeared on film like the Vikings had slowed down as the whistle blew just before the block. “I’m not sure we would have blocked it,” Fox said. “They might have paused. On tape it looks like they could have.”