August 11, 2023 • 15 mins
The Carolina Panthers unlikely and improbable run to Super Bowl XXXVIII began with the hiring of a certain head coach, who preached about grit and mental toughness, and a roster of talented young men that were eager to lay the foundation of a championship caliber football team. Before the highest of highs in 2003 ... there was the Abyss.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was a season of stirring comebacks, unlikely heroes, and
unwavering belief. It was a season that captured the hearts
of his city and the region. This is cardiac the
story of the two thousand and three Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Two years ago, this team lost fifteen in a row
and they were.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
The worst team in the NFL. But just two years.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Later, after John Fox was hired as head coach and
instilled his system and his belief that this team could win.
Here they are in Super Bowl thirty eight. So a
huge play here for the Carolina offense. And it's this
type of play in the fourth order with their team down.
Jack golom has been making all year long.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
We were backed up. A couple of plays, got stuff.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Foster is coming as.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
The running back, Muhammad and crawler out White near side left,
Steve Smith widewright.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Day one install It's a go ba by Mo, it's
a dig by Steve, and it's an under by Ricky.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Here's the third and tenth gall play action blown back
the throat.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
They played coverage and I get flushed a little bit
to the left and next thing you know.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
I had a go route. I said, double move Tyler,
because he's sitting on this out every time I run
the outright, ty Law is like sitting on my out routes.
Take off the line of scrimmage, and I hit the
out route. I just gave him a little dead leg
and a step to the out and he bid all
over it.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Moose never stopped running. He just keeps running.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
And he throws his hand up in the air because
he knows that they just let him go.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Nobody open now sets up well, dip down phield from
Muhammad and.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
I let it go, and knowing, oh gosh, we're gonna
catch you for first down.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I'm so far down the field at this point, he
just heaves the ball up in the air and it's
up into the rafters.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
He's got it at the thirty.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He's still at twenty and it moves the sides.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Yeah, no, we're gonna score, and he just stiff arms.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Stiff un A tuner touts down touchdown.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Carolina dalled off to the sideline. Obviously we took the
lead at that point in the game. And I'm thinking
to myself, in the clock run out any faster.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
We have the defense that we can we can hold them,
and you just felt like you were step closer to
your end goal, that goal that you have been dreaming
of since you were a little kid.
Speaker 7 (02:10):
We lived this all throughout the season. So when when
Moose scored that test that in the way he did,
we're like, yeah, this this is how it's supposed to be.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Reading anyway where Cardiac cast We're gonna win this game.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Fires for prolling the ends on take.
Speaker 8 (02:25):
God touchdown, big hole.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Down the sideline.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
He's gone and.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
The Panthers are gonna pull another one out of their head.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Thats tortiando touchdown. Fires over the medal. Is that intercepting? Yes,
it is up, it is God. Panthers have won in
it over times. Man head the forty five to the
forty and thought, that's right. The honey ten fine touchdown. Yes, Charlotte,
there is a Super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Cardiac, here's the third and ten, call along back to throw.
Nobody opened now sets all look.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Hit downfield from Muhammad. He's got it at the thirty.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
He's done.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
At twenty step guns a Tucker touchdown touchdown, Carolina, Thank goodness,
eighty five yards.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Mussin Mohammad's eighty five yard touchdown catch gave the Panthers
their first and only lead in a Super Bowl, but
Carolina's championship fire was forged two seasons earlier, from the
embers of futility. Entering a two thousand and three, the
Panthers were less than a decade into their existence. Former
(03:44):
Panthers play by play announcer Bill Razinski remembers a team
that could not sustain its initial success.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, obviously ninety five.
Speaker 9 (03:52):
They began in the beginning, they brought in, you know,
a lot of vets, you know, Sam Mills, Willie Green,
Brett Maxie. You go down the list of guys they
brought in who had a lot of experience and were competitive.
You know, lost their first five and ninety five and
then went on a four game winning streak, beat the
forty nine ers on the road.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
It was, you know, just a good start for the team.
Speaker 9 (04:13):
And that set up ninety six and you know, go
to the NFC Championship game before losing at Green Bay.
So those are the first two years and then we
kind of fall into the abyss.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Six straight seasons without a winning record. Followed intercepted Eric Allen.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
He's gonna take it to the half back to pass
Winkie floats. Oh, who's he throwing it to? It's picked off.
All the ball felt loose, it's picked up.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Arizona's gonna run at Vats, caught by Owen's ricks, a
tackle at the fifteenth high steps it at the five touchdown,
forty nine or fires over the metal and it's picked off.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Ricky, however, looks left and throws it. It's picked off.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's over, and the pain finally comes to an end.
And it's been just a terrible season in the win
loss column for the fan. There's a lot of close
games throughout the course of the year, but the Panthers
could never win any of them.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Rock Bottom hit in two thousand and one. Wide receiver
Steve Smith was in his rookie season.
Speaker 10 (05:08):
It wasn't the one in fifteen that was tough. It
was all the things that transpired into one and fifteen.
You talking about ninety.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Eleven, we're back with dramatic pictures.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You're looking at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan,
where just a few minutes ago we're told that a
plane crashed into the upper floors of one of the
twin Towers.
Speaker 10 (05:25):
September fifth, my daughter was born, so you're talking about
a swing of emotions.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It was.
Speaker 10 (05:31):
It was very interesting personally for me and then let
alone just professionally, as you had another bye week, you
had the towers going down, people unsure what to do.
I remember two thousand and one, a lot of the games,
no one was there.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It was nothing to come to the game too.
Speaker 10 (05:50):
It was tough.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
It was extremely tough.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Bellow wide receiver Musen Mohammedan.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
It was a Tuesday morning and we were looking at
TV and my wife says, hey, something's going on up
in New York. Some planes just ran into the Twin
Towers and we're sitting there and you know, all of
a sudden, you know, it was nine to eleven, right,
it was. It was the Twin Towers. It was you know,
destruction in New York. It was the worst terrorist attack
(06:17):
on our country. And I remember that, you know, NFL
was contemplating canceling a bunch of games and all this stuff,
and so it was totally disruptive. And so we came
back after that game. We won the first game, and
we were lost fifteen straight games. And you want to
talk about one of the most miserable seasons, you just
all the way around. It was just just a horrible
(06:37):
year and it was hard to leave your house and
felt like you were a prisoner in your own home.
It was just one of the toughest things we ever
went through. And so I went from you know, seeing
the highest of highs in ninety six and coming out
to the lowest the lows of two thousand and one.
And needless to say, you know, we endured it, and
we got through it, and we and we moved on.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
A lost season still served up some hope Panthers team
historian David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (07:05):
Two thousand and one, despite finishing one and fifteen on
that team. We had signed but ended up being the
foundation for our offensive line. During the two thousand and
one offseason, we signed left tackle Todd Stoucey an unrestricted
free agency. We signed center Jeff Mitchell and guard Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 12 (07:22):
The reason they didn't really do well the year before
was because they had all these sacks. The offensive line
wasn't very good. But they bring in myself, Jeff Mitchell
and Todd Steucy the bolster of the offensive line in
two thousand and one. They let the quarterback go, so
it's you know, you try to solve parts of it
by bringing in the offensive line to help set up
Steve Berlin in the offense that George Seffert wanted to run.
(07:42):
And then the quarterback's gone.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Quarterback Steve Berline departed after the two thousand season. Carolina
fired its head coach George Seffert after two thousand and one.
Enter the forty seven year old son of a Navy seal,
John Fox.
Speaker 8 (08:00):
Kind of tight ship around the house, and you know,
there's a lot of carryover. I'm not going to say
the stame, but you know, kind of how a football
team structured and organized, and some of the same cultural
things that are involved, you know, are involved in the military.
You know, all men created equal. You know, every guy's
(08:22):
you know, a teammate, you know, I think so a
lot of those concepts that relate to a locker room,
you know, relate to a locker room in the military
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Former Panther defensive back turned radio analyst Eugene Robinson saw
a change right away.
Speaker 13 (08:42):
The difference between coach Fox and coach Seffert. It was
night and day when I played here in two thousand,
a little bit more superstitious, very pensive, and you never
knew what he was thinking. You never got an idea
of what was going on.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
You know, you didn't know.
Speaker 13 (08:58):
Where you stood.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Tackle Jordan Gross entered the league as a rookie in
two thousand and three. John Fox was his first NFL
head coach.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Foxy real approachable guy, not a maybe not a player's coach,
but like not a you know, he didn't have a
wall up. He was always want to engage with the guys.
Always had a cup of coffee almost all the time
whenever we were at practice and a chew in. I
was like, I just remember thinking, like, that's a lot
of stimulants at once, right there, Bud.
Speaker 8 (09:29):
You know, basically I explained, nobody's that bad. Nobody's one
and fifteen in the NFL either. You know, you stop
trying word, quit whatever you want to say. We're not
that bad, and we're not going to be that bad
moving forward. And I think they kind of understood and
(09:49):
kind of believe me to be honest with you.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
He said, anybody who lose fifteen games in a row
don't have nothing to see. They'll just shut up and
just listen, and I'll if you do what I tell
you to do and you stay here, You'll be a champion.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Man. That's all I needed to hear.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
The message resonated not only would veteran dB Mike Minter,
but also third year defensive end Mike Rucker.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
I remember vividly him saying, I want guys that are
smart and tough. Smart and tough. The bell went off.
Was like, man, that's me. You know, I'm gonna be
where you asked me to be and I'm gonna be tough.
That group of guys that was held over, I felt
like that was kind of the beginning as they started
to bring in their pieces.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
The culture change was evident to Guard to Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 12 (10:38):
From that moment on, everything's evaluated how you walk around
the building, how you interact with people, how you work
in the weight room, how you do on the field, attitude,
the energy you bring, every single little thing. And he
was going to keep the guys that really did well.
You know, when you have a one in fifteen season,
there probably means too. It's the culture. I think he
used the words. He's like, you know, there's gonna be
some guys on the team that are just a holes.
(11:00):
We got to get rid of guys that are turns.
That just don't need to be here. And it worked
that first year, a whole lot of roster changes, great.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
Bunch of guys didn't give up, didn't quit.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They took it and Spartanburg.
Speaker 8 (11:14):
South Carolina's not an easy place to go through too
padded practices a day and survive. But I will say this,
I thought, you know, we were much tougher football team
leaving that camp than.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
We were going in.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
A remarkable turn around.
Speaker 12 (11:27):
One to fifteen to seven and nine was a huge jump.
In two thousand and two, you.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
Know, I could see we were making progress. We weren't
there yet, you know, but we had the right mindset
and the right grittiness to go and win in the
National Football League.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
John Fox had been the defensive coordinator for the Giants.
His philosophy was firmly rooted in ball control and to
defense it meant star wide out Musu Muhammad would have
to adjust.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
I'm going from a West Coast offense where we're throwing
the ball. I mean, I'm catching a bunch of balls.
And I remember, if Foxy comes in and we sit
down and he goes he said, man, you know, Moosa
is a big difference between blue chip players and blue
chip playing. And I said, what do you mean. He said, well,
this team's got a lot of blue chip players on it,
but you guys aren't playing like blue chip players. You
(12:18):
got to have blue chip play. And I said, well,
you know what's the significance of that. But I mean,
why are you telling me all it is? Fox? And
he goes, well, here's one thing you can respect me for.
He said, I will always tell you the truth. You
might not like what you're gonna hear, but at least
you know how to deal with it. And I said, well, okay,
so tell me the truth. What's gonna happen here? He said, well,
we're going to run the football here. We're gonna play
(12:39):
a great defense. We're gonna run the football. He said,
you're not gonna catch one hundred balls a year, but
you might catch seventy or eighty. But we're gonna win
football games. And I said, Foxy, let me just tell
you something. Man, I came here to help the team win.
You might not believe this, right, but I could care
less about how many balls I catch if we're gonna
win football games. He said, well, we're gonna have a
(13:00):
good marriage here. I said, well, I do.
Speaker 8 (13:02):
Well, he just want a shortened game and do that
got to be able to run the ball and play defense.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Well, he used to tell us, He's like, you know, hey,
punt's a good thing. I'm like, in what book? I mean,
were trying to smite And I used to give him
such a hard time about you know, run run past punt.
Is that the game plan this week? Foxy would just
run run past punt? And but you know, you know,
I think it just it spoke to like, you know,
how much we wanted to win, and like, you know,
(13:27):
guys that caught balls and you know, play receiver, we
want to win. We want to make big plays. We
want to win. And so we always would rag Foxy
and tell him like, man, you know, Foxy, we got
through the ball. More, man, we just got through the ball.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
More For the past component, John Fox turned into veteran
NFL quarterback Rodney Pete in two thousand and two. Pete
authored the best season of his fifteen year career. Team
historian David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (13:54):
Rodney had the best season of his career in two
thousand and two. He was a good fit and dan
offense second to.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Eight Carolina from the New Orleans fifteen yard line.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Pete back to throw, of which the rush steps up,
fires in the end zone.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Hoomer touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
While Pete capped his career year in the regular season
finale at the Superdome, the Panthers brass scouted his future backup.
Speaker 11 (14:18):
Generally, for your final regular season game, your pro scouts
are not on the road anymore scouting an upcoming opponent. There,
our pro scouts went to New Orleans to scout a
particular player who wasn't even going to play in the game.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Jim Zokie has been covering the Panthers for almost three decades.
Speaker 14 (14:35):
They scouted him so much that they watched how he
interacted with his teammates not playing while being on the sidelines,
of being on the bench, and how active he was
and how involved he was, and they really valued the
leadership abilities of what they scouted in him before they
brought him in here.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
The Panthers were scouting a former undrafted free agent quarterback
from Louisiana with a thick Cajun accent. His name Jake Alone.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
When I tell you, I'd never laced up my shoes
so tight for a warm up in my life.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I mean it was.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
This was game time for me. No one knew it
at the time, but from the abyss of one and
fifteen daylight come
It was a season of stirring comebacks, unlikely heroes, and
unwavering belief. It was a season that captured the hearts
of his city and the region. This is cardiac the
story of the two thousand and three Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Two years ago, this team lost fifteen in a row
and they were.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
The worst team in the NFL. But just two years.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Later, after John Fox was hired as head coach and
instilled his system and his belief that this team could win.
Here they are in Super Bowl thirty eight. So a
huge play here for the Carolina offense. And it's this
type of play in the fourth order with their team down.
Jack golom has been making all year long.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
We were backed up. A couple of plays, got stuff.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Foster is coming as.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
The running back, Muhammad and crawler out White near side left,
Steve Smith widewright.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Day one install It's a go ba by Mo, it's
a dig by Steve, and it's an under by Ricky.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Here's the third and tenth gall play action blown back
the throat.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
They played coverage and I get flushed a little bit
to the left and next thing you know.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
I had a go route. I said, double move Tyler,
because he's sitting on this out every time I run
the outright, ty Law is like sitting on my out routes.
Take off the line of scrimmage, and I hit the
out route. I just gave him a little dead leg
and a step to the out and he bid all
over it.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Moose never stopped running. He just keeps running.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
And he throws his hand up in the air because
he knows that they just let him go.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Nobody open now sets up well, dip down phield from
Muhammad and.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
I let it go, and knowing, oh gosh, we're gonna
catch you for first down.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I'm so far down the field at this point, he
just heaves the ball up in the air and it's
up into the rafters.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
He's got it at the thirty.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He's still at twenty and it moves the sides.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Yeah, no, we're gonna score, and he just stiff arms.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Stiff un A tuner touts down touchdown.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Carolina dalled off to the sideline. Obviously we took the
lead at that point in the game. And I'm thinking
to myself, in the clock run out any faster.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
We have the defense that we can we can hold them,
and you just felt like you were step closer to
your end goal, that goal that you have been dreaming
of since you were a little kid.
Speaker 7 (02:10):
We lived this all throughout the season. So when when
Moose scored that test that in the way he did,
we're like, yeah, this this is how it's supposed to be.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Reading anyway where Cardiac cast We're gonna win this game.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Fires for prolling the ends on take.
Speaker 8 (02:25):
God touchdown, big hole.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Down the sideline.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
He's gone and.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
The Panthers are gonna pull another one out of their head.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Thats tortiando touchdown. Fires over the medal. Is that intercepting? Yes,
it is up, it is God. Panthers have won in
it over times. Man head the forty five to the
forty and thought, that's right. The honey ten fine touchdown. Yes, Charlotte,
there is a Super Bowl and we're in it.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Cardiac, here's the third and ten, call along back to throw.
Nobody opened now sets all look.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Hit downfield from Muhammad. He's got it at the thirty.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
He's done.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
At twenty step guns a Tucker touchdown touchdown, Carolina, Thank goodness,
eighty five yards.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Mussin Mohammad's eighty five yard touchdown catch gave the Panthers
their first and only lead in a Super Bowl, but
Carolina's championship fire was forged two seasons earlier, from the
embers of futility. Entering a two thousand and three, the
Panthers were less than a decade into their existence. Former
(03:44):
Panthers play by play announcer Bill Razinski remembers a team
that could not sustain its initial success.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Well, obviously ninety five.
Speaker 9 (03:52):
They began in the beginning, they brought in, you know,
a lot of vets, you know, Sam Mills, Willie Green,
Brett Maxie. You go down the list of guys they
brought in who had a lot of experience and were competitive.
You know, lost their first five and ninety five and
then went on a four game winning streak, beat the
forty nine ers on the road.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
It was, you know, just a good start for the team.
Speaker 9 (04:13):
And that set up ninety six and you know, go
to the NFC Championship game before losing at Green Bay.
So those are the first two years and then we
kind of fall into the abyss.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Six straight seasons without a winning record. Followed intercepted Eric Allen.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
He's gonna take it to the half back to pass
Winkie floats. Oh, who's he throwing it to? It's picked off.
All the ball felt loose, it's picked up.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Arizona's gonna run at Vats, caught by Owen's ricks, a
tackle at the fifteenth high steps it at the five touchdown,
forty nine or fires over the metal and it's picked off.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Ricky, however, looks left and throws it. It's picked off.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's over, and the pain finally comes to an end.
And it's been just a terrible season in the win
loss column for the fan. There's a lot of close
games throughout the course of the year, but the Panthers
could never win any of them.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Rock Bottom hit in two thousand and one. Wide receiver
Steve Smith was in his rookie season.
Speaker 10 (05:08):
It wasn't the one in fifteen that was tough. It
was all the things that transpired into one and fifteen.
You talking about ninety.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Eleven, we're back with dramatic pictures.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You're looking at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan,
where just a few minutes ago we're told that a
plane crashed into the upper floors of one of the
twin Towers.
Speaker 10 (05:25):
September fifth, my daughter was born, so you're talking about
a swing of emotions.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It was.
Speaker 10 (05:31):
It was very interesting personally for me and then let
alone just professionally, as you had another bye week, you
had the towers going down, people unsure what to do.
I remember two thousand and one, a lot of the games,
no one was there.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It was nothing to come to the game too.
Speaker 10 (05:50):
It was tough.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
It was extremely tough.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Bellow wide receiver Musen Mohammedan.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
It was a Tuesday morning and we were looking at
TV and my wife says, hey, something's going on up
in New York. Some planes just ran into the Twin
Towers and we're sitting there and you know, all of
a sudden, you know, it was nine to eleven, right,
it was. It was the Twin Towers. It was you know,
destruction in New York. It was the worst terrorist attack
(06:17):
on our country. And I remember that, you know, NFL
was contemplating canceling a bunch of games and all this stuff,
and so it was totally disruptive. And so we came
back after that game. We won the first game, and
we were lost fifteen straight games. And you want to
talk about one of the most miserable seasons, you just
all the way around. It was just just a horrible
(06:37):
year and it was hard to leave your house and
felt like you were a prisoner in your own home.
It was just one of the toughest things we ever
went through. And so I went from you know, seeing
the highest of highs in ninety six and coming out
to the lowest the lows of two thousand and one.
And needless to say, you know, we endured it, and
we got through it, and we and we moved on.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
A lost season still served up some hope Panthers team
historian David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (07:05):
Two thousand and one, despite finishing one and fifteen on
that team. We had signed but ended up being the
foundation for our offensive line. During the two thousand and
one offseason, we signed left tackle Todd Stoucey an unrestricted
free agency. We signed center Jeff Mitchell and guard Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 12 (07:22):
The reason they didn't really do well the year before
was because they had all these sacks. The offensive line
wasn't very good. But they bring in myself, Jeff Mitchell
and Todd Steucy the bolster of the offensive line in
two thousand and one. They let the quarterback go, so
it's you know, you try to solve parts of it
by bringing in the offensive line to help set up
Steve Berlin in the offense that George Seffert wanted to run.
(07:42):
And then the quarterback's gone.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Quarterback Steve Berline departed after the two thousand season. Carolina
fired its head coach George Seffert after two thousand and one.
Enter the forty seven year old son of a Navy seal,
John Fox.
Speaker 8 (08:00):
Kind of tight ship around the house, and you know,
there's a lot of carryover. I'm not going to say
the stame, but you know, kind of how a football
team structured and organized, and some of the same cultural
things that are involved, you know, are involved in the military.
You know, all men created equal. You know, every guy's
(08:22):
you know, a teammate, you know, I think so a
lot of those concepts that relate to a locker room,
you know, relate to a locker room in the military
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Former Panther defensive back turned radio analyst Eugene Robinson saw
a change right away.
Speaker 13 (08:42):
The difference between coach Fox and coach Seffert. It was
night and day when I played here in two thousand,
a little bit more superstitious, very pensive, and you never
knew what he was thinking. You never got an idea
of what was going on.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
You know, you didn't know.
Speaker 13 (08:58):
Where you stood.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Tackle Jordan Gross entered the league as a rookie in
two thousand and three. John Fox was his first NFL
head coach.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Foxy real approachable guy, not a maybe not a player's coach,
but like not a you know, he didn't have a
wall up. He was always want to engage with the guys.
Always had a cup of coffee almost all the time
whenever we were at practice and a chew in. I
was like, I just remember thinking, like, that's a lot
of stimulants at once, right there, Bud.
Speaker 8 (09:29):
You know, basically I explained, nobody's that bad. Nobody's one
and fifteen in the NFL either. You know, you stop
trying word, quit whatever you want to say. We're not
that bad, and we're not going to be that bad
moving forward. And I think they kind of understood and
(09:49):
kind of believe me to be honest with you.
Speaker 7 (09:52):
He said, anybody who lose fifteen games in a row
don't have nothing to see. They'll just shut up and
just listen, and I'll if you do what I tell
you to do and you stay here, You'll be a champion.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Man. That's all I needed to hear.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
The message resonated not only would veteran dB Mike Minter,
but also third year defensive end Mike Rucker.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
I remember vividly him saying, I want guys that are
smart and tough. Smart and tough. The bell went off.
Was like, man, that's me. You know, I'm gonna be
where you asked me to be and I'm gonna be tough.
That group of guys that was held over, I felt
like that was kind of the beginning as they started
to bring in their pieces.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
The culture change was evident to Guard to Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 12 (10:38):
From that moment on, everything's evaluated how you walk around
the building, how you interact with people, how you work
in the weight room, how you do on the field, attitude,
the energy you bring, every single little thing. And he
was going to keep the guys that really did well.
You know, when you have a one in fifteen season,
there probably means too. It's the culture. I think he
used the words. He's like, you know, there's gonna be
some guys on the team that are just a holes.
(11:00):
We got to get rid of guys that are turns.
That just don't need to be here. And it worked
that first year, a whole lot of roster changes, great.
Speaker 8 (11:09):
Bunch of guys didn't give up, didn't quit.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They took it and Spartanburg.
Speaker 8 (11:14):
South Carolina's not an easy place to go through too
padded practices a day and survive. But I will say this,
I thought, you know, we were much tougher football team
leaving that camp than.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
We were going in.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
A remarkable turn around.
Speaker 12 (11:27):
One to fifteen to seven and nine was a huge jump.
In two thousand and two, you.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
Know, I could see we were making progress. We weren't
there yet, you know, but we had the right mindset
and the right grittiness to go and win in the
National Football League.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
John Fox had been the defensive coordinator for the Giants.
His philosophy was firmly rooted in ball control and to
defense it meant star wide out Musu Muhammad would have
to adjust.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
I'm going from a West Coast offense where we're throwing
the ball. I mean, I'm catching a bunch of balls.
And I remember, if Foxy comes in and we sit
down and he goes he said, man, you know, Moosa
is a big difference between blue chip players and blue
chip playing. And I said, what do you mean. He said, well,
this team's got a lot of blue chip players on it,
but you guys aren't playing like blue chip players. You
(12:18):
got to have blue chip play. And I said, well,
you know what's the significance of that. But I mean,
why are you telling me all it is? Fox? And
he goes, well, here's one thing you can respect me for.
He said, I will always tell you the truth. You
might not like what you're gonna hear, but at least
you know how to deal with it. And I said, well, okay,
so tell me the truth. What's gonna happen here? He said, well,
we're going to run the football here. We're gonna play
(12:39):
a great defense. We're gonna run the football. He said,
you're not gonna catch one hundred balls a year, but
you might catch seventy or eighty. But we're gonna win
football games. And I said, Foxy, let me just tell
you something. Man, I came here to help the team win.
You might not believe this, right, but I could care
less about how many balls I catch if we're gonna
win football games. He said, well, we're gonna have a
(13:00):
good marriage here. I said, well, I do.
Speaker 8 (13:02):
Well, he just want a shortened game and do that
got to be able to run the ball and play defense.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Well, he used to tell us, He's like, you know, hey,
punt's a good thing. I'm like, in what book? I mean,
were trying to smite And I used to give him
such a hard time about you know, run run past punt.
Is that the game plan this week? Foxy would just
run run past punt? And but you know, you know,
I think it just it spoke to like, you know,
how much we wanted to win, and like, you know,
(13:27):
guys that caught balls and you know, play receiver, we
want to win. We want to make big plays. We
want to win. And so we always would rag Foxy
and tell him like, man, you know, Foxy, we got
through the ball. More, man, we just got through the ball.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
More For the past component, John Fox turned into veteran
NFL quarterback Rodney Pete in two thousand and two. Pete
authored the best season of his fifteen year career. Team
historian David Monroe.
Speaker 11 (13:54):
Rodney had the best season of his career in two
thousand and two. He was a good fit and dan
offense second to.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Eight Carolina from the New Orleans fifteen yard line.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Pete back to throw, of which the rush steps up,
fires in the end zone.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Hoomer touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
While Pete capped his career year in the regular season
finale at the Superdome, the Panthers brass scouted his future backup.
Speaker 11 (14:18):
Generally, for your final regular season game, your pro scouts
are not on the road anymore scouting an upcoming opponent. There,
our pro scouts went to New Orleans to scout a
particular player who wasn't even going to play in the game.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Jim Zokie has been covering the Panthers for almost three decades.
Speaker 14 (14:35):
They scouted him so much that they watched how he
interacted with his teammates not playing while being on the sidelines,
of being on the bench, and how active he was
and how involved he was, and they really valued the
leadership abilities of what they scouted in him before they
brought him in here.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
The Panthers were scouting a former undrafted free agent quarterback
from Louisiana with a thick Cajun accent. His name Jake Alone.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
When I tell you, I'd never laced up my shoes
so tight for a warm up in my life.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I mean it was.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
This was game time for me. No one knew it
at the time, but from the abyss of one and
fifteen daylight come
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