Scouting Report
3 - Carolina Panthers
While rolling out the welcome mat for a host of
new players—and one key returnee—Carolina hopes to prove far less hospitable to opponents
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Once strong against the run, Barrow and the Panthers'
defense aim to regain the knack of knocking rivals back on
their
heels.
(Jed Jacobsohn/ALLSPORT)
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alarm is the name of the Aliquippa, Pa.,
ministry to which Sean
Gilbert,
the Panthers' newly acquired
defensive end, devoted his energies last season while
taking what he describes as a divinely inspired sabbatical
from football following a contract dispute with the
Redskins. It could also have served as last year's motto
for the Panthers' defensive linemen—who had good reason
to call for help as they watched opposing backs run past
them.
Notwithstanding the well-publicized self-inflicted wounds
suffered by quarterback Kerry Collins, who reportedly was
punched by a teammate for using a racial slur during
training camp last year and whose 21 interceptions—a
dozen more than he threw as a
second-year man in '96—turned out to be the least of his
problems, Carolina's most glaring weakness last season was
its inability to stop the run.
Only eight teams did a
worse job of it. The consequences were severe. When
Carolina can't put opposing offenses in passing situations,
the vaunted and widely imitated zone-blitz scheme of coach
Dom Capers
becomes little more than a hundred or so irrelevant pages
in a
playbook. "When we don't win first down," says cornerback
Eric Davis, "we can't run our
defense."
What happened? A unit that had excelled in '96 became,
overnight, awful. Nosetackle Greg Kragen, who
would
retire after the season, suddenly looked every one of his
35 years. Ends Gerald Williams and Israel Raybon were
waived during the year; Ray Seals, who would also retire
after the season, played so poorly he
deserved a similar fate. End Shawn King
missed the first six games while serving a league-imposed
suspension after a second positive test for
marijuana. The linebacking corps was discombobulated when
outside backer Kevin Greene, a sack artist and underrated
run-stuffer, was released in the
preseason (he signed with the 49ers) following a contract
dispute.
Say this for Carolina's front office: These guys don't
screw around when it's time to address a need. In addition
to spending four draft picks on defensive linemen,
Capers & Co. made the 28-year-old free agent Gilbert
the highest-paid defensive player
in NFL history—he will rake in $46.5 million over seven
years—even though the
6'5", 315-pound dynamo sat out all of '97 and has been
erratic during his five seasons in the
league.
Gilbert, who was known to enjoy the social ramble earlier
in his career, has matured and found a strong religious
faith. After visiting six teams in the off-season and
soliciting the input of the Almighty, he chose to sign with
Carolina. Capers, who is
nothing if not meticulous, did his homework, calculated the
risk and found it worth taking. "Sean has grown up
since his college days, and I like his work ethic," he
says. "And he has looked good in
practice."
That would be an understatement. There were times during
training camp that Gilbert looked downright unblockable.
"I'm focused and hungry," he says. "I just
want to see the quarterback's
back."
| Schedule |
| Sept. | 6 | ATLANTA |
| 13 | at New Orleans |
| 20 | OPEN DATE |
| 27 | GREEN BAY |
| Oct. | 4 | at Atlanta |
| 11 | at Dallas |
| 18 | at Tampa Bay |
| 25 | BUFFALO |
| Nov. | 1 | NEW ORLEANS |
| 8 | at San Francisco |
| 15 | MIAMI |
| 22 | at St. Louis |
| 29 | at N.Y. Jets |
| Dec. | 6 | SAN FRANCISCO |
| 13 | WASHINGTON |
| 20 | ST. LOUIS |
| 27 | at Indianapolis |
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More surprising than the excellence of Gilbert at right end
has been the superb play of his bookend, King, who appears
to have been scared straight by last season's suspension.
"In the past," he says, "all I thought about
was what I was going to be
doing after work—going to parties, chasing girls, smoking
blunts. Now I'm clean as a whistle." King's play
diminished the urgency of signing Nebraska defensive end
Jason Peter, whom the Panthers chose in the first round,
and who remained, at this writing, a
holdout.
With the off-season departure of general manager Bill
Polian, who took the same job with the Colts, Capers
assumed his duties and soon corrected one of his
predecessor's mistakes by bringing Greene back into the
fold. "I'm 36, I've lost a step or two,
but I'm still a nutcase," says Greene, whose attempts
at modesty are as rare as they are ineffective. While not
the player he was a decade ago, he is a workaholic and a
dedicated student of the game. Says Davis, "Kevin
plays so hard he makes the guys
around him raise their game to another level." The return
of the prodigal sackmeister frees
Micheal Barrow to return to inside linebacker, his natural
position.
The finishing touch on a superb reclamation project was
Capers's free-agent signing of fine Packers cornerback Doug
Evans. The Panthers are at once lowly regarded and highly
improved. "No one expects much from us," says
team president Mark Richardson,
"and that's
good."
To Carolina's divisional rivals, it should also be slightly
alarming.
—Austin Murphy
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