news-record.com

CHARLOTTE — The 0-3 Carolina Panthers went back to work Wednesday, going through the motions all 0-3 teams take to make sure they don’t become 0-4. A large contingent of media creeps were on hand to take the team’s pulse and to report the findings to a city wondering how close the Panthers are to assuming room temperature.

If it comes out of Sunday’s game 1-3, Carolina will have staved off a disaster for at least a week. If they are indeed 0-4, stop me if you’ve heard this before, the Panthers are toast.

John Fox had the bemused look of the coach of a winless football team after practice Wednesday, and he stopped short of blaming the players.

“As a coach, and as a player in the National Football League, you’re going to get beat physically sometimes,” he said. “That team practices and gets paid, too. It’s when you don’t execute that drives you crazy, and we’ve got to get that fixed.”

Is this team going crazy? Maybe, maybe not. But the Panthers don’t seem to know what they need to get fixed.

A year ago, Carolina had a mid-year bye that it used to tune its running game. What followed was an impressive second-half playoff run that resulted in a 12-4 season built around a ground attack that freed up the passing game and allowed Steve Smith and Jake Delhomme to loosen opposing defenses. Everything flowed from the adjustments. Carolina’s defense keyed off the offense, and the Panthers ate up a schedule of weaker teams on the way to a division title.

Asked if such a thing were possible this year, they sounded skeptical at best.

DeAngelo Williams, who emerged after last year’s bye to become one of the most productive runners in the league, said he isn’t sure what happened and he doesn’t know what’s getting ready to happen now.

“I can’t call the plays, man,” he said, inadvertently echoing Terrell Owens’ strange press briefing with the evil Buffalo writers last week. “What a lot of people, media and fans, don’t understand is every play we draw up is designed to score a touchdown.”

Aside from the fact that isn’t true, no one stopped Williams. He was on a roll.

“Whether we’re running the ball or passing the ball, we have to make our plays,” he said, continuing the disjointed theme of the day. “It’s not whether we run the ball more or less or whether we pass the ball more or less. It’s just that we’re not making plays on a consistent basis.”

Asked why that is, he answered truthfully.

“I don’t know,” Williams said.

Smith was asked the same thing, and his answer suggested something darker.

“I think the running game’s going to help the running game, and the passing game’s going to help the passing game and whatever we’re doing we have to do it efficiently and minimize the mistakes,” he said.

In other words, well, let’s don’t put words in his mouth. The truth is, the team is completely dysfunctional right now. For some reason, nothing works anymore. There are some truths that are self-evident, however.

The truth is, Smith is getting double coverage on every play. He can’t get open because Muhsin Muhammad has lost a step. Maybe two. There are no other receivers. That means defenses are stacking the box against the run, and there’s no Jonathan Stewart this year to give Williams a rest. Delhomme is being forced to throw into coverage against defenses no longer afraid of Muhammad or Williams.

This team has no depth either. Brad Hoover missed the Dallas game, and his replacement looked like he’d never played fullback before. Chris Harris missed the Dallas game, and the defense had no leader. Don’t think for a second that Julius Peppers is the leader of the defense. It’s not apparent he’s even on the field right now.

Carolina is a team in turmoil, and it needed a week off more than ever. Delhomme said the bye gave the team a chance to reflect on 0-3 and start thinking about Washington.

“It’s time to reset and get ready to go,” he said. “We’ve got one this week and another the following and they don’t stop.”

Now is not the time to look ahead, he said. That made no sense at all, yet it made as much sense as anything else we heard Wednesday. Carolina is facing another must-win game, one that will likely decide the future of the entire organization. How’s that for looking ahead?

A team trying not to go crazy is about to play its fourth game with no idea what happened in the first three. Fans in Charlotte are angry, which is better than what comes next. That would be apathetic, which is what gets the attention of ownership, which is what gets everybody fired.

The 0-3 Panthers desperately need to be 1-3 Sunday night, or nothing they say will matter anymore. Right now, there’s an uneasy feeling about the situation here. It’s probably time to put up or shut up, whatever that means. Besides, this team might not be capable of either.

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