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Quiet confidence Panthers QB Lewis ready to be offense's leader
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Jeff Lewis settled slowly into an overstuffed chair outside the Carolina Panthers cafeteria Thursday afternoon at Wofford College, the first full-squad practice of training camp under his belt and lunch still ahead. After a few pleasantries, Lewis sat back, bracing for the inevitable. Until he takes the field in a regular-season game and makes Panthers fans forget Steve Beuerlein, Carolina's heir apparent knows he is going to keep hearing the name of the team’s popular former starting quarterback invoked. Within minutes, he is not disappointed. "Steve was first and foremost the classiest guy I've met in the league," Lewis said of Beuerlein, released this offseason in a surprise move, despite having started Carolina's past 44 games. "I know something like this doesn't happen too often. But you've got to start somewhere. It's all about timing in this league. When the door's open, do you walk in or do you let it hit you in the face?"
If all goes as planned for Lewis, 28, this preseason, the somewhere that he'll be starting is Carolina, a team trying to make a transition to a younger, quicker look in 2001. Lewis is unexpectedly at the forefront of that movement, a lofty status for a fifth-year quarterback who has yet to start his first NFL game. In a very real sense, the specter of Beuerlein hangs over everything here at the start of Carolina's seventh training camp. With the Panthers having struck perhaps the boldest move of the NFL's offseason, they will be playing without a net in Charlotte this year. Behind Lewis are three more relative NFL neophytes: Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke, this year's fourth-round pick; third-year veteran Dameyune Craig; and second-year pro Matt Lytle. The foursome have combined for 18 career appearances with nary a start. Is Lewis up to it? It's a question that even some Carolina veterans admit they're still sizing up. "How long did it take for the eyebrows to come back down when we cut Steve?" asked wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, who went to the Pro Bowl along with Beuerlein in 1999. "I'm still in shock somewhat, because Steve was a great player for us, with great veteran leadership. This truly was his offense and he treated it that way. "I'm going to miss Steve, there's no doubt about that. But with change comes opportunity for new players. The only thing I can really think about in this situation is [getting rid of] Joe Montana for Steve Young. Sometimes it works out for the better." Third-year Panthers head coach George Seifert would settle for half the results of that successful transition. After all, he was the head coach calling the shots in San Francisco when the 49ers made the early 1990s switch from one Hall of Fame quarterback to another sure-bet. One key difference being, of course, that Young had proven NFL starting experience before Montana was jettisoned. Lewis has only potential, and years of training in Seifert's West Coast style offense. Wisely, Lewis is viewing his situation as an opportunity, not a coronation, and he finds inspiration in a quarterback of more recent vintage than either Young or Montana. "I've spent five years kind of getting ready for this," he said. "But it's just an opportunity. Who would have guessed Kurt Warner would have gotten the opportunity he did a couple years ago? "Coach Seifert never said, 'You're the guy we're going to build around.' But I'm not going to make any excuses for myself this year. I've had enough time to learn the offense. There's going to be mistakes, but I'll make it happen. I'm determined to come through for this team and this organization."
Lewis, who has thrown just 54 career passes, brings increased athleticism and mobility to the Panthers quarterback position. Then again, anything short of a statue would have. Carolina under Beuerlein hung up some huge numbers in the past two seasons, but one of them was the league-worst 69 sacks absorbed last year. Sixty-two of those were taken by Beuerlein, tying for the second most ever by any one individual. Seifert, 15-17 in his two Carolina seasons, determined that Beuerlein was capable of only taking the Panthers offense to the middle of the pack. With Lewis, and a rebuilt offensive line, he is gambling that the ceiling will be much higher. Lewis is not blessed with as big an arm as Weinke, but the Panthers love his intelligence, work ethic and handle on the West Coast offense. If there’s a blueprint for his success, it was the breakthrough season turned in last year by San Francisco's Jeff Garcia, who is stylistically very similar. Observers and Carolina insiders say it's too early to tell whether Lewis has what it takes to seize his opportunity and make the team his own. But to do so he must overcome his biggest drawback, the tendency to tense up and press in key situations. Last year, Lewis nearly fumbled away a preseason competition with Craig for the backup role because he admittedly couldn't relax long enough to let his talent shine through. "I've pressed so much in the last two years, to kind of justify myself being here," said Lewis, who was obtained from Denver in March 1999, in exchange for third and fourth-round picks. "But I'm really relaxed. I have confidence that guys are going to step up for me." Lewis still sounds at times like he’s trying to convince himself and others that he is confident and ready to take this huge final step up the depth chart. His window of opportunity is likely this year alone. With a $4 million salary cap figure in 2002, he must prove himself worthy of Seifert’s show of faith, or likely pay for it with his job. It’s now or never. "Sure that's going to motivate me to work even harder," Lewis said. "There's not a person I want to let down in this organization. If I'm in the huddle, I'm going to lead this team. I just wake up every morning saying, 'I'm the starting quarterback of this team.' Who knows what can happen in the future, but I feel very, very confident.” Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
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