Coach Fox says the P word

From the State Newspaper

Fox says playoffs are possible

Panthers coach invokes Chargers as a source of inspiration

By DAVID NEWTON

Senior Writer


KEEPING THE FAITH

The Carolina Panthers hope to do what four NFL teams have done since 1990: come back from a 1-4 record or worse to make the playoffs. Those that did it:


Team Yr. Start Finish Playoffs
San Diego 1992 0-4 11-5 Lost 2nd round
Houston Oilers 1993 1-4 12-4 Lost 2nd round
Tennessee 2002 1-4 11-5 Lost AFC champ
N.Y. Jets 2002 1-4 9-7 Lost 2nd round

CHARLOTTE — Carolina Panthers coach John Fox drew on a personal experience during Monday’s team meeting to keep players from giving up on a season that appears bleak at 1-4.

He reminded them that in 1992, when he was the secondary coach at San Diego, the Chargers became one of four NFL teams since 1990 to open 1-4 or worse and make the playoffs.

It must have worked, judging by the upbeat mood in the locker room.

“Y’all can put the Carolina Panthers on that list,” strong safety Mike Minter said.

The Chargers, who are next on Carolina’s schedule, opened the 1992 season with four consecutive losses. They won four in a row and 11 of their final 12 to capture the AFC West title and advance to the second round of the playoffs.

That season seemed almost as hopeless for the Chargers as Carolina’s seemed after Sunday’s 30-8 loss at Philadelphia. The Chargers lost their last two games before the win streak by a combined 50-6 to Houston and Pittsburgh. They won their next two games by a combined 51-20.

“They kept going,” said Minter, passing along Fox’s explanation for how things turned around. “They kept pounding. They kept being consistent and one day they started winning games.

“That’s the formula in this league. Keep going. Keep pressing.”

Defensive tackle Brentson Buckner agreed. He recalled in 1995 being on a 3-4 Pittsburgh team going into a bye week that had just been beaten 27-9 by the Cincinnati Bengals.

He recalled how the Steelers ran off eight consecutive wins and ultimately reached the Super Bowl.

“It can be done,” Buckner said. “We’ve got 11 games left. You can’t trash the season after the first five games. But you can’t say it’s automatically going to happen to you.

“You’ve got to see how that team did it. That team went out there and played each game like it was their last. They ran off some (wins) and got their confidence up and built on it.”

Buckner said the turnaround must start in practice.

“Each man is going to have to look inside himself and say, ‘What can I do? Am I really giving it my all? If I studied three hours I’ve got to study three hours and one minute,’ ” he said. “You’ve got to do something more.

“Whatever all of us is doing in here it’s not working, and we’ve got to take it a step further.”

Some of the soul searching began after Sunday’s game. Quarterback Jake Delhomme, after throwing four interceptions, refused to blame the loss of key players to injuries or his rebuilt offensive line for his mistakes.

“It seems like it’s the same old song and dance for four out of the five games,” he said. “We’re not getting it done, especially offensively, and it has to fall on the quarterback.

“We’ll come back. We’re going to work and turn it around. It’s not just me saying we’re going to get it turned around. I truly believe we will.”

Guard Doug Brzezinski shouldered the blame for the offensive line, which gave Delhomme little time to operate.

“We just kill ourselves,” he said. “We’ve just got to execute, and we’re not doing that right now. That’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s nothing tricky, nothing exotic.”

Not all the news was bad on Monday. Defensive end Mike Rucker was given a clean bill of health after being pulled with a racing heartbeat. The helmet-to-helmet hit that Delhomme took from Jevon Kearse did not result in a concussion.

The running game that was missing in three of the first four games netted 158 yards, and the run defense that has struggled held the Eagles to 81 yards.

“It is what it is,” said Fox, using his favorite expression. “We’re 1-4. We’ve got the San Diego chargers coming to town, and not looking much past that.”

Buckner said that’s only way to approach this season.

“What we’re going to see is if guys are really playing this game for the love of it, trying to win,” he said. “These are the times when the true players that this game means something to them, they’re going to stand up and be accounted for.”

Reach Newton at (803) 802-2091 or [email protected].

 

how about Puhleeze! unless Vick gets hurt, and we get on a roll ,I dont think we are really going to make the playoffs. Sure its possible but not realistic. And if they dont beat the Chargers then they can most definitly forget about it. and no I haven't jumped off any bandwagon, just being rational.

 

Who said anything about winning the division, just making the playoffs. We need to stop killing ourselves with mental errors and we can turn this around. The schedule in the first 6 weeks were/are brutal. We could have lost them even if we were healthy. As much as anything we have hurt ourselves.

 

ok, so maybe we dont have to win the division but this is assuming we just start rolling over some of these "soft " team. Seattle is one of the teams we are looking up at and they are soon. no doubt we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot but they needed to start doing that two weeks ago. we are in a big hole and saying "we gotta stop the mistakes" isn't getting it done. by the time we figure it out it may be too late.

 

At the current point in time what Fox is saying is the right thing to do. There is every possibility in the world that we can make the playoffs and the coach needs to inspire his players to do just that. It is his obligation to his team, his owners and the fans.

Sure, you can expand out all the what if's. However as time has always proved over and over to mankind, you cannot predict the future. The focus right now is to beat the Chargers, which can be done if this team D improves and if the offense at least does not make many mistakes. Than you can worry about the next team.

If WWII naval captains scuttled ships as fast as fans around here want to abandon the season we would all be eating Sushi and wearing leather boots right about now....

 

One game at a time. I for one as a PSL owner want to see a home game win. That would make me happy. If we can't beat the Chargers at home, who will we beat? Key on stopping LT and get Jake some protection and we should win this one. But we need to keep filling up the stadium win or lose. If you're going to jump off the bandwagon give your tickets to someone who will go.

 

Originally Posted by QC REPRESENT
how about Puhleeze! unless Vick gets hurt, and we get on a roll ,I dont think we are really going to make the playoffs. Sure its possible but not realistic. And if they dont beat the Chargers then they can most definitly forget about it. and no I haven't jumped off any bandwagon, just being rational

not gonna be in town for this weekend but I will be at the Raiders game. and the SD tickets are in good hands :xyzthumbs

 

Wasn't really talking about you. I just know tickets will probably be easy to get for this game, which is good in some ways but at the same time pisses me off. I would like the fans to show support for the team win or lose. I go to every game I can and if not somebody uses my tickets.

 

tickets should be abundant.That does suck for the image of our fan base. Im sure all of the posers who bought hats and shirts the week the playoffs started wont be there. the only good news is you will probably only see 5 Chargers fans in the whole place.

 

The Chargers nearly beat Atlanta