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CHARLOTTE -- The beverage of choice Wednesday for the Carolina Panthers was still water.

Cool, clear water.

Two days after their dismantling of the Tampa Bay Bucs on Monday night, the Panthers (10-3) began preparations for their last home game of the regular season, a Sunday game against mercurial Denver. In the heady moments after Monday's win, coach John Fox reminded his players not believe everything they heard and to be careful about what they said.

Then he backtracked on something he said in the heady moments after the Monday night win.

"This is a big stage, and our guys met this challenge," he said after the game.

And then he said, "I just don't want them to drink the Kool-Aid they're about to go into."

It sounded strange Monday because Fox rarely -- no -- never attempts to be witty on record. He's a football coach who believes everything that happens outside the closed world of his football team is a potential distraction. With everything at stake in every game the Panthers will play from here on out, Fox felt the need to explain himself Wednesday.

He said he probably shouldn't have made the reference to Kool-Aid, said it wasn't politically correct, and instead went with a safer foodstuff.

"It's not our first barbecue," he said in response to a question about media scrutiny.

Fox knows his franchise is basking in the glow of its biggest win in three seasons, one of the biggest in club history. He knows there have been interviews and analysis and conclusions, all a result of the 38-23 win over Tampa Bay in a game made larger because of its divisional and playoff implications but mostly because it came on "Monday Night Football."

He reminded his team, and the assembled media, on Wednesday that the Panthers have won big games in the past.

"We've been through this before," he said. "We've made a couple of runs. So I think we've got enough guys in that room that understand that. I know as a coaching staff we understand it. It was to be expected."

The win has been discussed on every sports show imaginable in the past two days, dissected by experts and assessed by people with perfect hair. A team clearly struggling to maintain momentum only three weeks ago has now been deemed capable of winning it all.

Carolina has finally solidified its offense since the odd stretch of November games that included a 45-28 loss to the Falcons, but the defense has yet to recover. With three powerful offensive teams left on the schedule -- the Broncos, Giants and Saints -- the concern now is on the other side of the ball. With the stakes having been raised to Super Bowl levels, everything from here on out will be discussed in that context.

That's the point Fox was trying to make to his players Monday, and it might've been what he was telling team leaders in a strange post-practice meeting Wednesday. Asked if he would reveal what was said in the on-field gathering of offensive, defensive and special-teams captains, Fox didn't hesitate.

"That would be a negative," he said.

The loose locker room afterward resembled the locker rooms of past great seasons here, with loud laughter and players happy to discuss almost everything thrown their way and reverent responses to questions about the Broncos and other upcoming opponents.

"We know where we stand," linebacker Na'il Diggs said. He said he didn't need to watch television to understand what's at stake now.

Wide receiver Steve Smith said he didn't watch television anyway unless it was something his kids had on.

"I keep my television at home on Noggin and Nickelodeon and Disney," he said. "Little Bill's pretty good. Backyardigans, Hannah Montana, Dora and Diego. I've spent a lot of money on Dora and Diego."

Fox knows part of his job is keeping his team's collective psyche on a cool, clear level. On most any team, that's impossible. So, sometimes he'd like to just keep things in the locker room and away from the prying eyes of media and fans.

"Part of the battle in coaching is to keep your guys' mind right," he said. "One thing I think is true is you're never as good as they say you are, and you're never as bad as they say you are -- they being outside that room. We're probably a little more out in the open inside that room with things said and done."

But sometimes things are said that need to be undone. Just to keep the coach's mind right.

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