news-record.com

CHARLOTTE -- On a field shortened by their defense, the Carolina Panthers made short work of the Indianapolis Colts, winning 14-3 Saturday night in a game that ended after about nine minutes.

The first exhibition of the season for the Panthers was a seamless performance of all the phases of the Carolina way -- running offense, suffocating defense, efficient special teams and $20 parking.

The score was actually 23-20 in overtime. The Colts had a quarterback named Fred Lorenzen and not Peyton Manning and about 15 other guys who didn't play, but other than that it was perfect. The offense moved steadily, and the defense allowed no movement at all and kickoffs sailed into and through the end zones and traffic flowed easily from the highway to the parking lots.

This was what exhibitions are about. The starters played a few series then spent the rest of a nice evening on the sidelines listening to coaches on headsets and John Lee Hooker on the stadium sound system.

Fans were doing the wave in the second quarter. It felt like 1996 all over again.

That was the year everything was near-perfect as a running team and a smothering defense and a million-dollar kicker gave the Panthers a taste of success in a regular season in which they didn't lose a game at home and established the principles of the Carolina way.

Things got a little sideways after that, but it was a nice start to a short history that appears to be turning a chapter. Exhibitions sometimes have that effect.

Julius Peppers was awesome. Jake Delhomme was calm and collected. Steve Smith was fearless, and Ken Lucas was inactive. He was one of many celebrities who watched the game, including Bill Polian, the Panthers' original GM now the president of the Colts, Gerald Austin, the retired NFL referee from Greensboro now a league instructor for young officials, and Jim Caldwell, the former Wake Forest coach now the quarterbacks coach at Indy. Talk about a nice gig.

He actually had a tough game Saturday having to deal with Lorenzen, whose real first name is actually Jared, and starter Jim Sorgi, who's not really the starter for a team built around Manning, the Indy star still nursing a sore elbow. Caldwell watched from the press box. Manning watched from home.

Delhomme, in his first game since his own elbow surgery, threw only one pass. It hit Muhammad in the hand in the end zone, but the 12-year veteran couldn't get his other hand on it and the Panthers settled for a DeAngelo Williams rushing touchdown on the next play. The five-play drive was set up by a Colts fumble caused by a Peppers hit. A second touchdown -- also by Williams -- was set up by an interception, and needed only one play.

Carolina left its rebuilt offensive line in for another series or two, played its defense a little deeper and finished with 20 people you've never heard of. The fans still cheered deep into the third quarter, causing an Indy delay penalty at one point, before moving out steadily and orderly throughout the final quarter.

The most important thing about exhibition openers is that teams run them as efficiently as possible with as few injuries as possible and as many players as possible getting to play. Fans look for surprise players to emerge. Coaches look for them not to emerge, preferring a seamless performance of about nine minutes by the starters prompting no issues about playing time.

This one was believed to be some sort of test of wills for the Panthers and Smith, who lost his temper in camp two weeks ago and slugged Lucas, prompting Carolina to suspend him for the first two games of the regular season. The truth is, those things are handled on practice fields and in locker rooms and in film sessions.

Exhibition openers are all about relationships, and the most important one Saturday night was that between a team and its city. The team looked sharp and the fans came with their faces painted for a game that didn't count. This was seen as a sign that they'd forgotten about the exhibition parking prices by the time they came in and started drinking $20 beers.

They got nine minutes of real football and an extra period of free football. All in all, the exhibition opener for the Panthers was a wash.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com