Associated Press
CHARLOTTE ó His teammates say Julius Peppers is more vocal this season, a year after Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson challenged the defensive end to become a leader.
Peppers said Wednesday it’s no accident it took so long. He couldn’t accept that role until Mike Rucker retired.
“Last year we talked about Mr. Richardson calling me out and asking me to be a leader on this team,” Peppers said. “You talked about that, but you don’t really realize, I’m here and Mike Rucker, the guy who when I first came here I hung onto and tried to learn from him. I respected him as much as you can respect anybody.”
Rucker and Peppers were the starting defensive ends for six years. Rucker returned from major knee surgery to regain his starting job last year.
“I can’t really be myself around him and try to take over, if you want to call it the big dog role of the defense with him still in it,” Peppers said.
Rucker announced his retirement in the offseason, ending a nine-year career with Carolina, and Peppers has helped fill the void. He’s been seen firing up players on the sidelines and has been more emotional on the field.
“Last year, I kind of fell back a little bit and let Rucker do his thing,” Peppers said. “Now, I feel like I’ve been here the longest, and I feel like I can do that a little more.”
Peppers is coming off his most impressive performance of the season. A week after doing little in a 27-3 loss to Tampa Bay, Peppers had a sack, two tackles for a loss, a quarterback hurry, a pass deflection, a fourth-down tackle and forced a fumble that led to the game-changing touchdown run by Jonathan Stewart.
Peppers has four sacks, a year after he was held to a career-low 21/2 .
“He’s just an all-around, vocal person this year,” defensive end Charles Johnson said.