Long Way To Go

Selling Beer on Sunday, considered a heinous sin in certain precincts of the Carolinas, has been forced upon the town of Clemson by the South Carolina Supreme Court. In addition some of Clemson's 10 churches now start Sunday services earlier so that their congregations can scurry home ahead of the heathen hordes pouring across the border from North Carolina. Both are temporary arrangements, mind you, deemed necessary after the Carolina Panthers decided to play their inaugural season at Clemson University's Memorial Stadium, in this town of 11,900.

Yes, the NFL has come to the Carolinas with the winningest expansion franchise in league history, but the Panthers have not exactly won over their home region. Before the season, the town of Clemson had feared "80,000 drunks loose in the streets," says Jimmy Howard, Clemson's favorite barkeep and the owner of the Sloan Street Tap Room. But the Panthers have had trouble filling the 74,300-seat stadium. Before Sunday's capacity crowd for a game against the San Francisco 49ers, Carolina hadn't come within 18,000 of a sellout. True, the home schedule hasn't been a blockbuster, what with the St. Louis Rams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New York Jets, the New Orleans Saints, the Arizona Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts and the Atlanta Falcons joining the Niners on the card in Memorial Stadium, but some Panther officials nonetheless had far higher expectations.

"I overestimated the enthusiasm," says Carolina president Mike McCormack, who had hoped for enough sellouts to break the NFL record for average home attendance in a season (79,486, set by the Buffalo Bills in 1991). The Panthers are averaging 55,399, fifth from last in the NFL and 14,431 fewer per game than the coexpansionist Jacksonville Jaguars, who have had seven sellouts and have sold out their 73,000-seat stadium for the next two years. Even the Clemson Tigers outdrew the Panthers, averaging 72,000 per game.

This is not to say that the NFL's venture into the Carolinas is a bust. On the field the 6-8 Panthers have more than fulfilled their end of the bargain. They are the first expansion team to win more than three games in their inaugural season, the first expansion franchise to win four games in a row and the first expansion franchise to defeat the Super Bowl champs of the previous season, which the Panthers did by beating the 49ers 13-7 on Nov. 5. "We have a lot of respect for what they're doing," said San Francisco quarterback Steve Young after the Niners won Sunday's rematch 31-10. "And as for an 'expansion' team, that's not a word we use anymore for them."

In building a team that Carolinians could be proud of, the Panthers' top priority was defense, and that has been the key to their competitiveness. After Sunday's games Carolina ranked sixth in the NFL on defense (306.5 yards allowed per game), playing the 3-4 alignment that has fallen from favor around the league but that coach Dom Capers had used to great success during his three-year stint, 1992 to '94, as defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Because active linebackers are crucial to the scheme, the Panthers signed four veterans, three of them unrestricted free agents: 27-year-old down lineman-turned-outside backer Lamar Lathon, late of the Houston Oilers, who is Carolina's best pass rusher; 36-year-old inside man Sam Mills (Saints), who has fulfilled projections as the leader of the defense—he recovered a fumble and had an interception against San Francisco on Sunday; and outside linebacker Darion Conner (also Saints), 29. Inside linebacker Carlton Bailey, 31, came to Carolina from the New York Giants as a free agent.

Defensive ends Mike Fox (Giants), 28, and Gerald Williams (Steelers), 32, also were unrestricted free agents, as was safety Brett Maxie (Falcons), 33, who is tied for second in the league in interceptions, with six. The corners are 32-year-old Tim McKyer, acquired in the expansion draft, and rookie Tyrone Poole, Carolina's second college draft choice, out of Fort Valley State.

Says general manager Bill Polian, who came to Carolina after building the AFC championship dynasty of the early 1990s in Buffalo, "We felt that if we could play good defense and take care of the football, we'd be in a lot of games and might have a chance to win at the end with a field goal."

Toward that end the Panthers signed unrestricted free agent placekicker John Kasay, who had been with the Seattle Seahawks, to a five-year, $4.3 million contract. Kasay booted game-winning field goals against the New England Patriots on Oct. 29 and the Colts on Dec. 3. Those kicks made the difference between Carolina's merely breaking the league record for wins by an expansion franchise and doubling it.

"What we have become, quickly," says Polian, "is a professional football team, meaning that we can go out and acquit ourselves well in every game and not be an embarrassment to the league, or to the organization, or our fans."

"Because of the way this team is put together, with the experienced players we've got, we expect to win," says Mills. "Each time we take the field, we expect to do a really good job."