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CHARLOTTE -- Training camp was only three days old when Carolina Panthers left offensive tackle Jordan Gross proclaimed that teammate Julius Peppers would have the best year of his career to date, adding, "There's no reason he won't go out and set records."

Other teammates marveled at Peppers' quickness and strength. The defensive end dominated in brief stretches during preseason games and seemed poised to quickly erase memories of a dismal 2½-sack season in 2007 that snapped a streak of three Pro Bowl appearances.

Through six games of the regular season, Peppers has surpassed last year's sacks total with three. But the former North Carolina standout is nowhere near on pace to break records in the final year of his contract.

"It's going OK," Peppers said this week when asked to evaluate his play. "As far as me playing within the scheme of the defense and handling what I'm supposed to do, it's going good so far, I think."

Charting Peppers' plays has become a cottage industry, with claims he faces fewer double-teams and sometimes quits before the play is over.

Reviewing Sunday's 27-3 loss to Tampa Bay showed that Peppers was mostly single-blocked by left tackle Donald Penn. Peppers even faced tight end John Gilmore as the sole blocker on several occasions. He was double-teamed only a handful of times.

Yet Peppers didn't record a sack. Four of his five tackles came in the final 12 minutes, after the Panthers had fallen behind by 24. He was credited with two hurries, but the second didn't stop Jeff Garcia from throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to Alex Smith to make it 13-0.

"Our body of work is not done yet," coach John Fox said when asked if Peppers was playing better than last year. "Right now we're the third-ranked defense in the league, and I think he's been a big part of that."

Teammates strongly defended Peppers' effort. Yet the television review of Sunday's loss revealed some odd sights. With the Buccaneers driving for a score, Peppers was stood up by Penn as Warrick Dunn ran up the middle. But Dunn didn't go down, carrying tacklers before landing almost at the feet of Peppers, who had stopped on the play.

Two plays later, Earnest Graham made it 26-3 with a 1-yard run to Peppers' side.

"In our business, any time you lose, the first thing people look at is the star players," said New Orleans right tackle Jonathan Stinchcomb, whose team faces the Panthers today (1, WGHP-8). "From the plays I watched, he seems to be on top of his game and moving well."

While Peppers had one sack in each of the previous three games, rushing the passer is not all the Panthers ask him to do. Peppers did drop into pass coverage several times Sunday.

"Being a defensive end, of course that's what I'd like to do every play," Pepper said of pass rushing. "But that's not the defense we play. ... I can't say what other teams do as far as letting their ends rush the quarterback. But as far as our D, we have our chances. We also have times when we've got to do other things, too, and play other responsibilities."

Peppers remains the Panthers' career leader with 59 sacks. His 10 quarterback hurries this year lead the team.

But with the eye-popping plays of the past missing so far, it doesn't make the Panthers' impending decision on his contract any easier. He could become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

But there's been little movement in contract talks as of this week.