By Mike Cranston
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE ó The defense held the NFL’s second-rated offense to one touchdown and forced the league’s hottest quarterback into numerous mistakes. The offense was balanced, and featured another spectacular touchdown catch from Steve Smith.
The Carolina Panthers sure looked like contenders in Sunday’s 30-7 rout of New Orleans. It was their third dominating performance in four weeks, with those wins coming by a combined 88-16.
But sandwiched between all the good news from the past month is that ugly 27-3 loss at Tampa Bay, which won again Sunday to stay tied with Carolina atop the NFC South.
So just how good is coach John Fox’s 5-2 club? Are the Panthers poised to end a two-year playoff drought behind the NFL’s fifth-rated defense?
“I think when you play good defense that’s part of the formula,” Fox said Monday. “We’ve done it five times pretty well and two times we could have done it a little better.”
Players enjoyed most of Monday off, a reward after dominating Drew Brees and the Saints. Brees, who led the NFL in completions and yards passing coming into the game, was held to 231 yards on Sunday ó and 54 came on a fourth-quarter reception well after the game was decided.
Brees was intercepted once by Ken Lucas, but could have had several picks. Lucas, safety Chris Harris and linebacker Jon Beason all dropped sure interceptions.
“I think being on defense, it’s better to be known as ricochet than toast,” Fox said.
Added Smith: “The honest truth is that all the secondary players are offensive rejects.”
The drops could easily be laughed off in a rout, especially with Smith making a falling-down 39-yard touchdown catch while double-teamed to put the game away. Smith had six catches for 122 yards, and an efficient Jake Delhomme threw for two scores and had a 122.3 passer rating.
“What happened in Tampa was we lost, and we came back here and played good,” Smith said. “We did what we needed to do.”
Which included a balanced offense. A week after managing 40 yards on 20 carries against the Bucs, rookie Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams each rushed for 68 yards. Stewart rushed for an 18-yard touchdown, and Williams caught a 4-yard score.
“I think both of our backs are averaging 4.0 (yards) a carry. I’d like to be better, sure, but it’s not all bad,” Fox said. “I think we’ve been hampered by some of the musical chairs on the offensive line. I don’t think that ever helps.”
The Panthers were again without starting center Ryan Kalil and right tackle Jeff Otah, who are nursing right ankle injuries. With Travelle Wharton and Jordan Gross also missing games, the Panthers have had their projected starting line for a little over two quarters all season.
But Delhomme has been sacked only once in the past four games, and it came in the first half Sunday after Delhomme held the ball too long.
“I think the ability to run the ball and the threat of the run has a lot to do with helping your protection,” Fox said.
While the secondary is getting plenty of credit for shutting down Brees and being ranked No. 2 against the pass in the NFL, defensive end Julius Peppers had his best game of the season against the Saints.
A week after being nearly invisible against the Buccaneers, Peppers was all over the field. Lining up at different spots, he had a sack, two tackles for a loss, a quarterback hurry, a pass deflection, a fourth-down tackle and forced Jeremy Shockey’s fumble that led to the game-changing touchdown run by Stewart.
“He just basically manhandled this guy, shot the gap, came all the way down the line, hit the guy who was right in front of me,” Beason said.”I’ve seen him play well, but I have not seen him take over a game like that.”
Peppers has mirrored the team. A lot of good weeks, then a stinker to create doubt. But another home win over Arizona (4-2) on Sunday and the Panthers would enter their bye week as clearly one of the teams to beat in the NFC.
“It’s huge,” fullback Brad Hoover said. “Ultimately we want to be 6-2 going into that bye and be ready to rejuvenate ourselves.”