Puzzling Panthers

CHARLOTTE--If you can figure out the Carolina Panthers, you're doing better than their coach, John Fox.

The Panthers were regarded as a top Super Bowl contender in the NFC when the season began. They opened with two straight losses without injured wide receiver Steve Smith, then seemed to steady themselves with four consecutive victories following Smith's return to the lineup.

Now, though, they're on another two-game losing streak, reaching the halfway point of their season as a .500 team after losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 35-14, here Sunday night.

"About as average as you can get," Fox said of his club's record and level of play.

The Panthers raced to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter Sunday and were facing a Cowboys team with a young quarterback, Tony Romo, making his first NFL start. But the Carolina offense bogged down from there and the Cowboys reeled off 35 points in a row, 25 of them in the fourth quarter. All three Cowboys' touchdowns in the fourth quarter came on the heels of Panthers' turnovers--a fumbled kickoff, an interception thrown by quarterback Jake Delhomme and a fumble lost by Delhomme.

Fox called it "probably as poor of a performance in the fourth quarter that I've been associated with," and issued a public apology to fans who had purchased tickets to the game.

But the Panthers' biggest gaffe of all came in the third quarter, when wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson dropped an on-target deep pass by Delhomme that probably would have resulted in a touchdown and a 21-10 lead. Johnson lost his chance for immediate revenge against the Cowboys, who released him in the offseason to clear space for Terrell Owens.

"We dropped balls," Fox said. "We fumbled balls. We didn't tackle.... We move the ball but we drop balls, fumble balls, give up sacks. It's hard to score points when you are doing those things. It's not like we're not in position to make plays. We're just not making them."

The Panthers enter their bye week needing to regroup.

"It might give us a chance to get healthy," Fox said, "and find some guys who can finish games."

By Mark Maske |  October 30, 2006; 10:32 AM ET  | Category:  Panthers
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