Reeling Panthers fall short in everything but ineptness

Monday, December 18, 2006

By Pat Sutherland, The Charlotte Observer


Don't even think about ripping Carolina fans for ceding the bleachers at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers also ceded the field. Consistency is good, right?

Pittsburgh dominated the grass and the cheap seats and the good seats and probably the luxury boxes. If Carolina had an edge anywhere, it was at the concession stand. This loss was so lopsided -- the Steelers won, 37-3 -- it felt like a concession.

When you think of Pittsburgh, you think of steel and Steelers and ketchup and Heinz Field and Hines Ward and Terrible Towels. The Panthers were worse than those towels ever were.

Carolina has devolved from promising to decent to average to abysmal to, perhaps, the worst team in the NFL.

And they still can make the playoffs.

You don't think they are the league's worst team? Who would you pick them to beat?

Film might indicate that a Panther or two played well, but the naked eye did not pick up those performances, and neither did my $19.95 binoculars, binoculars so cheap they make players look smaller.

Or maybe it was the Steelers that made the Panthers look small.

"It's frustrating," fullback Brad Hoover said. "I feel like we're not a bad football team, but we're playing like it. We're just playing bad, and it's showing through. And all the hard work and dedication you put into it, it should hurt a little more."

Added Hoover: "There has to be a sense of pride and urgency that come into it, and players have to put their foot down because it hurts so bad. We have guys like that. But not enough are stepping up."

The locker room was so quiet you could hear voices behind the thick walls in the shower, and the voices weren't loud. In this room, the muffled sound of a helmet or pads falling to the carpet was jarring.

What's there to say?

Mike Minter -- Media Mike -- can explain everything. I asked him if he can explain this loss in a few sentences.

"No," he said.

Carolina has lost four consecutive games, the past two at home, where they are a mediocre 4-4. Pittsburgh has won only one other road game all season.

As if to add injury to insult, defensive end Mike Rucker, who has played all eight of his NFL seasons with the Panthers, hurt his knee badly. At 31, who knows if he'll play again?

Rucker is as honorable and unpretentious as any man who has stepped onto the field. He's also the biggest Ric Flair fan in the house. His absence on the line and in the locker room will be enormous. He is one of those athletes who has been good not only for the team, but for our town.

Attendance Sunday was 68,947. Most came to cheer the Panthers. But they had no reason to stay, and, by the third quarter, even the adults who paint their faces were leaving.

Pittsburgh fans still might not have left. Even the ushers wore black and gold. Black and gold was so pervasive I figured some of the fans wore the colors of Appalachian State. But they all came for Pittsburgh.

So impressive were the Steelers fans that, as a reward, beer vendors should have replaced the local brew with Iron City. It felt like Pittsburgh South out there.

You would think the scene would be a bizarre end to the home season.

You'd be wrong. It was perfect.