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CHARLOTTE - Taking a break from Spartanburg and settling into their friendly confines Saturday, the Carolina Panthers ran their first full-pad scrimmage of summer. Under the eyes of several thousand curious fans, the Panthers unveiled their defense. The offense is still a work in progress.

That could be a recurring theme for the rest of the long, hot summer.

The defending NFC South champions are right on schedule, and the annual Fan Fest at Bank of America Stadium went off as planned. The players needed to get out of Spartanburg and beat on each other for about an hour. What they wanted most however was a day off, which they get today.

"This was a glorified practice," quarterback Jake Delhomme said.

Much of this training camp will be about Delhomme and the offense, one that set records a year ago as the running machine we'd been hearing about for years. With no major changes, in fact no changes of any kind, the offense that ground out 2,437 yards rushing last year is about where it needs to be a week before a trip to New York and the beginning of the exhibition season.

"I like what I see," Delhomme said. "It's still early. We still have a long way to go, but I do like what I see."

He was cheered as he came onto the field Saturday, and he was cheered when he completed an out pattern to wide receiver Ryne Robinson on the first live play of camp. Robinson gained four before he was slammed to the ground by what will probably be the best defense Carolina will see all year.

Julius Peppers and the first-team defense ran onto the field fashionably late, then obliterated any hopes of the offense getting anything done Saturday. John Fox didn't seem all that impressed, in part because the defense had three key players out.

"There were some good ones standing over there with me," Fox said. The defense has already lost big Maake Kemoeatu for the season, forcing the Panthers to look for help on the defensive front. With no money to spend, because they had to give it all to Peppers, they were already thin when linebackers Jon Beason and Thomas Davis pulled up lame this week. Safety Nate Salley was also held out Saturday.

"I thought they played hard and tackled pretty well," Fox said after the brief workout that preceded a long autograph session. "Individually, I didn't really have anybody who stood out."

Fox only wants to see his team get better as the practices pile up. Through the first week of camp, he didn't let his players unload on each other. Saturday's was the first practice with live plays, offense against defense. No one distinguished himself, but that was to be expected. No one got into the end zone. No one got close.

"It's just kind of a taste of live football, their first little taste of tackle to the ground football," Fox said as the team left Spartanburg for a quick trip home. "A lot of these guys haven't practiced in that stadium or been in that stadium."

The atmosphere was not unlike that of Spartanburg, where the fans line the hill above the Wofford College practice fields and watch the tedious drills that teams go through each summer. Saturday was the first chance to actually see live plays run against a defense that didn't like live plays being run against it.

Runners found themselves being separated from their helmets. Receivers dropped passes after being slammed by safeties and cornerbacks. Only the red-jersey quarterbacks were off limits.

Ron Meeks, the new defensive coordinator, has begun to put in a "cover-2" defense that was all the rage when he was at Indianapolis. But in truth, it's not all that different from the cover-2 that every team in the NFL has been playing since the early 60s. The key to the Indy defense was how it used its secondary. The key to Carolina is its front seven. The theory is that between the two, the Panthers can mold a defense that can force teams away from their strengths.

If there has been one player distinguish himself in camp, it's been rookie defensive end Everette Brown. The all-ACC player from Florida State was brought in to play opposite Peppers, but also in case Peppers takes his money and runs in the offseason.

Peppers said he hopes to be back here next year. He said that last year, too, right before going public and saying he wanted out because the Panthers were holding him back. Peppers has since tried to tone that down.

He was cheered as he ran onto the field with the defense Saturday, just as Delhomme was cheered when he ran onto the field in a red jersey.

"That never gets old," Delhomme said later. "I did notice it."

The boo-birds weren't invited to Fan Fest. They never are. This day has always been about watching a spirited practice and trying to find a player or a theme for the summer. The theme this year is the same as last. The defense is really, really good. And the offense is still in Spartanburg.

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