September 8, 2023 • 19 mins
The Carolina Panthers opened the 2003 season with a rousing comeback win against the Jaguars. Jake Delhomme came off the bench to spark the rally… and firmly entrenched himself as the new #1 QB. But Week 2 presented its own challenge… a trip to Tampa to face defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. It was one of those games that started with Brentson Buckner's mouth.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously Uncodiac. The Panthers opened the season with a rousing
comeback win against the Jaguars.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Fires for prowling the ends, He God Dutch.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
D Jake Delane came off the bench to spark the
rally and firmly entrenched himself as the new number one QB.
But Week two presented its own challenge, a trip to
Tampa to face the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It was one of those games that started with Brinson
Buckner's mouth fires for pro and.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
The Anzau He God dutchdom big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 5 (00:39):
He's gone and.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
The Panthers are gonna pull another one out of their head.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Thats towards the enda touchdown. Fires are the medal? Is
that intercepting? Yes, it is up, it is God.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Panthers up, won in and overtimes head.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The forty five to the forty.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I thought it's right, the honey Donne touchdown.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a super Bow and we're in it.
Speaker 6 (01:02):
Cardiac.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Before the two thousand and three season even began, Panthers
defensive tackle Brentson Buckner boasted that Carolina had a better
defensive line than Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers had just won
a Super Bowl and did so with a dominating defense
anchored by future Hall of Famer Warren Sap.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Pass Yes, pecked top better, Derek bucked all the way,
pecked top dlight Smith twenty twenty pip take ten five
touchdown Tampa Bay.
Speaker 6 (01:41):
Tire's the Tagger.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
He wrote a check that all of us had to
pay for, and we knew that game was going to
be a ward.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
That's the ball game.
Speaker 7 (01:47):
Buccing has web Bucans web Bucan Air's win in San Diego,
Wait on me, the Kang's of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
The Panthers' greatest strength in two thousand and three was
its vaunted defensive line. The unit featured depth, talent, speed, power,
and experience. Defensive end Mike Rutger says, the ringleader was
ten year vet and potster Brinson Buckner.
Speaker 8 (02:16):
He was kind of our og. He was our VET,
so he was kind of the guy with all the knowledge.
I mean, he's a d line coach now in the NFL,
so that kind of tells you what kind of knowledge
that he had, and he had been around, so buck
kind of helped us kind of understand the game plan
and the scheming part of things.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Lining up next to Buckner was a six foot four,
three hundred and sixty pound colossus, Chris Jenkins.
Speaker 9 (02:39):
And I'm telling you what at that three technique and
at the one technique he held it down. It was
double team. He just was a monster down in that jinks.
Speaker 8 (02:47):
He was just this massive guy that very athletic, but
there was no stopping him, especially when he would go
straight ahead. And so when you look at that defensive
line and you know you had speed, you had power.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
He had guys that would play the run, and in
Julius Peppers, the Panthers had a cold effusion of finesse
and the fury. Peppers came to the Panthers as the
number two pick out of North Carolina in the two
thousand and two draft. A reward if there ever was
one for going one in fifteen. In two thousand and one,
as a rookie, Peppers registered a dozen sacks and route
(03:23):
to defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Speaker 8 (03:25):
Well, obviously you really get to see it when you
get one on one. You had thought that the world
stopped turning when you look at Pap and his big body,
But then he's got the speed like a wide receiver,
so you don't really know what you're gonna do against him.
And so really if when he just turns it on,
there's really no stopping him on one on ones. I
mean he'll bull rush you right back to the quarterbacks
(03:47):
that you lose, that he'll run right by on the
outside you lose. That, he'll fake you, like with the crossover,
like he's on the basketball court and he has you
looking silly. So I just remember, like it was really
like he could really do anything that he wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Rookie tackle Jordan Gross remembers facing Peppers during Gross's first
training camp.
Speaker 7 (04:06):
That was just a type of human that I didn't
really know existed. He inundated me with speed and strength
and all the stuff that gave him Defensive Rookie of
the Year and just really trial by fire right off
the bat.
Speaker 9 (04:19):
Who'll stopping Pep? Pepper is a first ballot Hall of Famer.
There's not a dude other than Reggie White laws Taylor
who's changed the defensive end that that spot, that spot
up there where you close up on that left tackle
or the right tackle. Pep changed the game. He's a
deepensive end that gets interceptions more so than linebackers due
that's the dude.
Speaker 8 (04:40):
We had happened to mix.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You couldn't block this cat.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
While Julius Peppers worked as a silent hunter, he saw
a different approach from fellow d n to Mike Rucker.
Speaker 10 (04:51):
I was a young guy with just that was just play.
I wouldn't say much. Ruck was the veteran that would
try to get under God's skin. He was a great
guy to be around. He would get fired up. Maybe
you can't tell from knowing him off the field, but
on the field he would really get fired up and
excited about playing. He was like a talker.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
But Jordan Gross found out that Rutgers trash talk had
a unique twist.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
Rutger was a young guy, up and comer, you know,
just kind of finding his group, and he really motivated
himself by talking trash. And it was always like funny
because it was super clean, like g rated trash talk,
like man, you stink you're nothing but a sucker, you know,
Like there was never a cuss word that So it's
just like it was funny because it was family friendly
(05:37):
trash talk, not the same as what Chris Jenkins would say.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
I chose, you know, coming out of college in late year,
that I would stop swearing it was bad. I listened
to a voicemail. This is back when we had answer machines,
and I called a roommate and when I heard it,
because I got home, it just wasn't appealing when I
heard that, and so from that point on, I said,
I need to this needs to change. This isn't good.
(06:01):
And so I just went cold turkey. So I haven't
had a cuss word since nineteen ninety seven, I think.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So, how did you talk trash?
Speaker 7 (06:11):
Then?
Speaker 8 (06:13):
I mean, it's corny stuff. But in the moment though,
I mean, it could be like playing like a divisional
rival like the Falcons. I mean we did a lot
of trash tack talking there or the Bucks, and it
just might be like, you know, I'm getting up in
somebody's face and it might be like, hey, this is
the same soup is just reheated, you know, just letting
them know, like hey, they've seen this before, we're just
(06:33):
reheating it and they're going to get the same flavor.
So it'd be more of that kind of stuff. It
wasn't crazy. It's probably more goofy than anything. But in
the moment, it sounded like it was all right.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Beyond the starting four, the Panthers d line also had
quality depth.
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Yeah, you had Al Wallace and Shane Burton that would
come in. We called ourselves the six pack, and you
have people that could come in off the bench. Two things. One,
they have to have the right eye attitude right, So
if they don't have the right attitude, then that's going
to mess up the chemistry. But Al and Shane had
a great attitude. They knew where what their role was.
(07:10):
They came in. They were basically starters at times, and
so when they would come in, there wasn't you wouldn't
miss a beat. And so that was something that was
special about Al and Shane is that they were selfless.
They came in, they did their job, and they got better.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
For Al Wallace, the Panthers represented his last lifeline as
an NFL player. An undrafted free agent out of Maryland,
he spent the early part of his career with the Eagles.
He signed with the Bears in two thousand and one,
but never made it to the regular season.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
While I started the fall on the roster with the
Chicago Bears, except for the knee injury, was waved injured,
found myself at home and decided I wanted to coach.
I wanted to teach. All the guys that were influential
in my life were teachers and coaches. Ended up getting
a job as an assistant principal of a high school
down in South Florida, and got a call in December
on a futures contract with the Miami Dolphins, and was
(08:04):
really struggling with that. I had a year old daughter,
had just settled in back at home in Florida, and
thought my career in the NFL was just over, and
I had had a good four or five year run,
and I was satisfied with that. Got that call, made
that decision to go with the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
In two thousand and two, a week before training camp,
Wallace got a call.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, my agent call. He said, I got some good
news and some bad news.
Speaker 8 (08:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The bad news is you got traded. I'm thinking me
traded for what like a you know, a bag of
chips or something like that. So I get traded, and
the good news is you're going to Carolina. They trade
away Jay Williams. They're gonna you know, they just drafted
a rookie Julius Peppers, and they have Mike Rutger.
Speaker 11 (08:44):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's all the guys we know got a good chance
of going in here. And the best news is that
Mike Turgovak, my coach with my best run in with
the Philadelphia Eagles, was now the defensive line coach. So
I got here and right away Jack del Rio, John Fox,
Mike Turgervak said, we we don't care when you were drafted.
We don't care what you were doing three months ago.
If you can play, you're gonna play, and you're gonna
(09:05):
be on the team. And I decided that I was
gonna give it another shot.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Wallace didn't care about any Panthers prologue, only that Carolina
could prolong his NFL career.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I didn't care. Didn't matter to me. I don't even
know if I knew the team was one and fifteen
the year before. I was laser focused on fulfilling that dream.
I know I was a good player. I had a
contract on the table. I break my ankle in nineteen
ninety nine. In the final preseason game, Andy reached the
new coach, Well, he has no ties to me. I'm
not one of his guys. So they ended up cutting me,
so I had something left. I felt that the journey
(09:40):
was still you had to be written. And I went
in with that laser focus that I was gonna fight
and scrap and do everything I could and if I
was cut, if that was the final straw, then that
was it. So I did not know anything about the team.
I didn't know where Spartan Bird's South Carolina was. I
just came in here to see if Al Wallace could
make an NFL roster and be one of the guys.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
For Wallace and the Panthers defensive line. The Week two
tilt against the Bucks had the build up of a
boxing fight. The Panthers were the brash challenger, the Bucks
held the title belt. Mike Rucker remembers the noise.
Speaker 8 (10:16):
I would rather have my play show than me to
go out in the papers or the media and say it.
But that's the thing I love about Buck is that
he that's his role. That was his role is to
be able to do those things, you know, and they
they they were the measure stick when you when you
win the Super Bowl, you become the standard. And when
(10:38):
you look at their defense, that was a good standard
to look at to measure yourself with. But if you've
been around, like say like a Prinson Buckner and he's
seen talent and he's like, no, I'll put Jinx up
against sap. You know. For us, you know, it was
that initially like oh okay, and they took the bait
and then it was on. So then we had to
go down there and back it up.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
On the game's open possession, the Bucks drove inside the
Panthers forty, but Carolina's d line flashed its depth and
held Tampa scoreless.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
First and ten. I gether short dropped by Johnson and
I you have to sprint out through his right, cuts
back left.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Shane Burkin cut him off.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That would be a sack for Carolina. I believe Johnson
under center and he drops back to throw, has a
lot of time and fires and it's caught at the
thirty yard line and then puddled on the play picked up. No,
they're gonna call it an incomplete pass. It wouldn't have
been a first down anyway. And now the Bucks are
gonna send Tom tupa on and he's their punter. So
Carolina's defense out there for ten plays, but they make
(11:37):
the stop.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
The Panthers led three to nothing. Midway through the second quarter.
When the Bucks looked to get even.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Romanica will try a twenty nine yard field goal from
the left. Tash Mark step kick it back that's flocked
by the Panthers.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Jenkins block kept the Bucks off the board, but Tampa
threatened again late in the first half.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
First down in ten, Tampa at the Carolina thirty nine
yard line, one of the three to go first half.
Johnson fakes the swing.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
It's a screen over the middle of dinner scept to buy.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Al wallis back for Carolina down the middle of the
field forty it's a sport.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Can he get away? Twenty He's down to the ten
yard line. Had finally caught They're running back.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Pittman finally chased him down and that Carolina defense comes
up with a huge play.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Al Wallace's first career interception led to another John Casey
field goal. Panthers took a six to nothing halftime lead.
After both teams traded field goals in the third, Tampa
tried to inch closer in the fourth.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Waiting for the snap from forty seven yards out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
A little high kick at Julius Pepper's blocked field goal
kept Tampa at bay once again, but the Panthers offense
failed to gain any traction or provide a cushion, and
the Bucks took advantage. In the waning seconds of regulation.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Second and ten, Tampa from the eighteen.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
They stunt up the middle.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Johnson pumps fires.
Speaker 10 (13:06):
On the sideline.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Caughton somebody found.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
An opening down along the Panther sideline, out of bounds
at the Carolina thirty nine yard line. It's third down
in fifteen nineteen seconds on the clock again, Johnson back
to pass, pumps fires.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Over the middle. Johnson's got it this time to the
six yard line.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Thirteen seconds eleven ten, nine eight seven. Johnson spikes the ball.
With five seconds, it'll be first down. They'll have time
for probably one play. Johnson ready to go for the Bucks.
He's back to pass, looks cluts in.
Speaker 10 (13:44):
An hand tone.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
No, you didn't stay it on a b No. They
going a.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Touchdown to Keenan McCardell.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
I don't believe it.
Speaker 10 (13:54):
The game is tied.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Brad Johnson's touchdown pass to Keenan mccardill tied the game.
There was no time left. All Tampa needed was an
extra point to effectively seal the win. Prior to the kick,
Panther's head coach John Fox called a time out.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
It was critical that they didn't get that extra point,
and we had a pretty explosive tackle and Chris Jenkins
and special teams. We talked about, you know, getting penetration.
We're going to be able to.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Do that, Panthers play by play announcer Bill Razinski, and.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I remember saying to Jim Zochie and Eugene Robinson. I said,
I said, we've already blocked two field goes. Can we
block an extra point?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
At the time, the Bucks Martine automatica Grammatica was considered
one of the NFL's most reliable kickers and had never
missed an extra points.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Well, they blocked two field goals. Can they block an
extra point? Because we're tied at nine? Dramatic already two
was a holder snap kick that out.
Speaker 7 (15:01):
You can't run it.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Towns is gonna ladder on the ball, and I don't know.
Oh my goodness, we're still alive and we are not
done yet, Phil, We ain't done by block two field
goals in an extra.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Point go ahead, deef, this don't die, baby, baby, don't die.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
An extra point?
Speaker 11 (15:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
What about it? Jenkins' second blocked kick sent the game
to overtime, and in ot special teams delivered again.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Good snap, busy kick five two pa angles at far side, hits.
Speaker 10 (15:34):
At the ten.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Smith will take it there at the tenth fifteen Smith
to the twenty twenty five down the sideline, thirty touts left,
he's at the forty.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Smith is still going to midfield and he's cut from
behind at the Tampa forty yard line.
Speaker 10 (15:46):
What a big play? Would you need it?
Speaker 11 (15:48):
Go?
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Hit smitty head.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Of headle it young man, No flag, dude, We're tied
at nine and overtime in a dramatic ballgame here in Tampa.
Sour Ron Ruddy, he's got it. Casey into it with
the leg. It is up. It is up, It is up.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
It is God.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Panthers have woned it over time. The Panthers have woned
it overtime. John Casey pounds a throw. What a marvelous,
incredible win.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
For the Panthers. If a road win against the defending
Super Bowl champion didn't send the shock Babes through the NFL,
it certainly did so. In the visiting locker room offensive
lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 11 (16:33):
That locker room. After just a week two win, you
would have thought we won the Super Bowl. I mean,
Marty hart Herney's hugging folks and John Fox is jumping
up and down, guys are dancing, and even guys like
John Casey's the most unemotional, steady as you go guys.
I mean, I've seen him laugh and smile and get
all the hugs for kicking that last minutefield goal it
(16:54):
gives the win. It was it was fun. I mean
that was fun, and I think that's when people started
to realize, hey, we might not be a great team.
We don't know if we'll ever get to be a
great team, but dang gum, like, don't ever count us out.
We're that team this year. That's who we are. And
you take us lightly or we're gonna smack in the face,
beat you down and go find another win.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
The next week, offensive lineman Jordan Gross.
Speaker 7 (17:16):
I thought we'd lost because all they had to do
is kick a pat to win the game. You know,
just there's a short amount of time left and Chris
Jenkins blocks a pat. I mean, like that never happens,
you know what I mean, Like so unlikely went in
the locker room and now it was like two weeks
in a row. Man we came back and won at home,
and now we beat defending Super Bowl champs, and I
just remember the belief in ourselves was through the roof
(17:39):
at that point, because we're thinking, man, we can beat
the Bucks, we can beat anybody.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Just one of those games. It was a typical, I
would say, Panther game from the few years before, where
there's you know, nothing seemed to be going right, but
somehow we were ahead.
Speaker 8 (17:53):
In the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Now if this is two years before that, we lose
the game. While the game was marred by penalty and sloppiness,
the Panthers found a way into the wind column and
for Jake Deloam, that's all that mattered.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
It was a rough game, and thank goodness for John
Casey and our defense and Steve Smith because I didn't
have anything any hand in winning that game, I can
promise you, but we.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Were able to win.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
And I'll never forget in that locker room. It's a
small old locker room in Tampa, and we were elating.
And that's the way John Fox was. He didn't care
how it was done, as long as you won. And
Dan Henning was the same way. You've got so many
coordinators that they so worried about stats and what's the
completion percentage.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And what is this and what is that?
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And I remember sitting in my locker and I was excited,
don't get me wrong. And Dan came by and I
remember looking at him and I was like, hey, I
know I need to play better.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And it was like, f that we just won. It
doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
And that was Dan's appro He didn't care. We won
the game, and so that was just kind of like, Wow,
that's a confidence builder for me.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
The Cardiac Cats were two and oh. They had beaten
the champs on the road and made good on Brentson
Buckner's preseason boast.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Buck thought he was a prophet, but we just thought
he had a big mouth and he got us all
in trouble. They're kind of spurring on Warren South, who
needed none of that. By the way, everybody had counted
us out. We had taken down the world champs and
defending champs on their field, and at that point we
felt like we weren't. Now the best defensive line, maybe
the best defense in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
A bye week awaited, but the Panthers had already bottled
up their signature cocktail, a concoction of resilience, perseverance and
belief
Previously Uncodiac. The Panthers opened the season with a rousing
comeback win against the Jaguars.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Fires for prowling the ends, He God Dutch.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
D Jake Delane came off the bench to spark the
rally and firmly entrenched himself as the new number one QB.
But Week two presented its own challenge, a trip to
Tampa to face the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It was one of those games that started with Brinson
Buckner's mouth fires for pro and.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
The Anzau He God dutchdom big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 5 (00:39):
He's gone and.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
The Panthers are gonna pull another one out of their head.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Thats towards the enda touchdown. Fires are the medal? Is
that intercepting? Yes, it is up, it is God.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Panthers up, won in and overtimes head.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The forty five to the forty.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I thought it's right, the honey Donne touchdown.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a super Bow and we're in it.
Speaker 6 (01:02):
Cardiac.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Before the two thousand and three season even began, Panthers
defensive tackle Brentson Buckner boasted that Carolina had a better
defensive line than Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers had just won
a Super Bowl and did so with a dominating defense
anchored by future Hall of Famer Warren Sap.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Pass Yes, pecked top better, Derek bucked all the way,
pecked top dlight Smith twenty twenty pip take ten five
touchdown Tampa Bay.
Speaker 6 (01:41):
Tire's the Tagger.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
He wrote a check that all of us had to
pay for, and we knew that game was going to
be a ward.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
That's the ball game.
Speaker 7 (01:47):
Buccing has web Bucans web Bucan Air's win in San Diego,
Wait on me, the Kang's of the world.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
The Panthers' greatest strength in two thousand and three was
its vaunted defensive line. The unit featured depth, talent, speed, power,
and experience. Defensive end Mike Rutger says, the ringleader was
ten year vet and potster Brinson Buckner.
Speaker 8 (02:16):
He was kind of our og. He was our VET,
so he was kind of the guy with all the knowledge.
I mean, he's a d line coach now in the NFL,
so that kind of tells you what kind of knowledge
that he had, and he had been around, so buck
kind of helped us kind of understand the game plan
and the scheming part of things.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Lining up next to Buckner was a six foot four,
three hundred and sixty pound colossus, Chris Jenkins.
Speaker 9 (02:39):
And I'm telling you what at that three technique and
at the one technique he held it down. It was
double team. He just was a monster down in that jinks.
Speaker 8 (02:47):
He was just this massive guy that very athletic, but
there was no stopping him, especially when he would go
straight ahead. And so when you look at that defensive
line and you know you had speed, you had power.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
He had guys that would play the run, and in
Julius Peppers, the Panthers had a cold effusion of finesse
and the fury. Peppers came to the Panthers as the
number two pick out of North Carolina in the two
thousand and two draft. A reward if there ever was
one for going one in fifteen. In two thousand and one,
as a rookie, Peppers registered a dozen sacks and route
(03:23):
to defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Speaker 8 (03:25):
Well, obviously you really get to see it when you
get one on one. You had thought that the world
stopped turning when you look at Pap and his big body,
But then he's got the speed like a wide receiver,
so you don't really know what you're gonna do against him.
And so really if when he just turns it on,
there's really no stopping him on one on ones. I
mean he'll bull rush you right back to the quarterbacks
(03:47):
that you lose, that he'll run right by on the
outside you lose. That, he'll fake you, like with the crossover,
like he's on the basketball court and he has you
looking silly. So I just remember, like it was really
like he could really do anything that he wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Rookie tackle Jordan Gross remembers facing Peppers during Gross's first
training camp.
Speaker 7 (04:06):
That was just a type of human that I didn't
really know existed. He inundated me with speed and strength
and all the stuff that gave him Defensive Rookie of
the Year and just really trial by fire right off
the bat.
Speaker 9 (04:19):
Who'll stopping Pep? Pepper is a first ballot Hall of Famer.
There's not a dude other than Reggie White laws Taylor
who's changed the defensive end that that spot, that spot
up there where you close up on that left tackle
or the right tackle. Pep changed the game. He's a
deepensive end that gets interceptions more so than linebackers due
that's the dude.
Speaker 8 (04:40):
We had happened to mix.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You couldn't block this cat.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
While Julius Peppers worked as a silent hunter, he saw
a different approach from fellow d n to Mike Rucker.
Speaker 10 (04:51):
I was a young guy with just that was just play.
I wouldn't say much. Ruck was the veteran that would
try to get under God's skin. He was a great
guy to be around. He would get fired up. Maybe
you can't tell from knowing him off the field, but
on the field he would really get fired up and
excited about playing. He was like a talker.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
But Jordan Gross found out that Rutgers trash talk had
a unique twist.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
Rutger was a young guy, up and comer, you know,
just kind of finding his group, and he really motivated
himself by talking trash. And it was always like funny
because it was super clean, like g rated trash talk,
like man, you stink you're nothing but a sucker, you know,
Like there was never a cuss word that So it's
just like it was funny because it was family friendly
(05:37):
trash talk, not the same as what Chris Jenkins would say.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
I chose, you know, coming out of college in late year,
that I would stop swearing it was bad. I listened
to a voicemail. This is back when we had answer machines,
and I called a roommate and when I heard it,
because I got home, it just wasn't appealing when I
heard that, and so from that point on, I said,
I need to this needs to change. This isn't good.
(06:01):
And so I just went cold turkey. So I haven't
had a cuss word since nineteen ninety seven, I think.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So, how did you talk trash?
Speaker 7 (06:11):
Then?
Speaker 8 (06:13):
I mean, it's corny stuff. But in the moment though,
I mean, it could be like playing like a divisional
rival like the Falcons. I mean we did a lot
of trash tack talking there or the Bucks, and it
just might be like, you know, I'm getting up in
somebody's face and it might be like, hey, this is
the same soup is just reheated, you know, just letting
them know, like hey, they've seen this before, we're just
(06:33):
reheating it and they're going to get the same flavor.
So it'd be more of that kind of stuff. It
wasn't crazy. It's probably more goofy than anything. But in
the moment, it sounded like it was all right.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Beyond the starting four, the Panthers d line also had
quality depth.
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Yeah, you had Al Wallace and Shane Burton that would
come in. We called ourselves the six pack, and you
have people that could come in off the bench. Two things. One,
they have to have the right eye attitude right, So
if they don't have the right attitude, then that's going
to mess up the chemistry. But Al and Shane had
a great attitude. They knew where what their role was.
(07:10):
They came in. They were basically starters at times, and
so when they would come in, there wasn't you wouldn't
miss a beat. And so that was something that was
special about Al and Shane is that they were selfless.
They came in, they did their job, and they got better.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
For Al Wallace, the Panthers represented his last lifeline as
an NFL player. An undrafted free agent out of Maryland,
he spent the early part of his career with the Eagles.
He signed with the Bears in two thousand and one,
but never made it to the regular season.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
While I started the fall on the roster with the
Chicago Bears, except for the knee injury, was waved injured,
found myself at home and decided I wanted to coach.
I wanted to teach. All the guys that were influential
in my life were teachers and coaches. Ended up getting
a job as an assistant principal of a high school
down in South Florida, and got a call in December
on a futures contract with the Miami Dolphins, and was
(08:04):
really struggling with that. I had a year old daughter,
had just settled in back at home in Florida, and
thought my career in the NFL was just over, and
I had had a good four or five year run,
and I was satisfied with that. Got that call, made
that decision to go with the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
In two thousand and two, a week before training camp,
Wallace got a call.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, my agent call. He said, I got some good
news and some bad news.
Speaker 8 (08:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The bad news is you got traded. I'm thinking me
traded for what like a you know, a bag of
chips or something like that. So I get traded, and
the good news is you're going to Carolina. They trade
away Jay Williams. They're gonna you know, they just drafted
a rookie Julius Peppers, and they have Mike Rutger.
Speaker 11 (08:44):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's all the guys we know got a good chance
of going in here. And the best news is that
Mike Turgovak, my coach with my best run in with
the Philadelphia Eagles, was now the defensive line coach. So
I got here and right away Jack del Rio, John Fox,
Mike Turgervak said, we we don't care when you were drafted.
We don't care what you were doing three months ago.
If you can play, you're gonna play, and you're gonna
(09:05):
be on the team. And I decided that I was
gonna give it another shot.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Wallace didn't care about any Panthers prologue, only that Carolina
could prolong his NFL career.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I didn't care. Didn't matter to me. I don't even
know if I knew the team was one and fifteen
the year before. I was laser focused on fulfilling that dream.
I know I was a good player. I had a
contract on the table. I break my ankle in nineteen
ninety nine. In the final preseason game, Andy reached the
new coach, Well, he has no ties to me. I'm
not one of his guys. So they ended up cutting me,
so I had something left. I felt that the journey
(09:40):
was still you had to be written. And I went
in with that laser focus that I was gonna fight
and scrap and do everything I could and if I
was cut, if that was the final straw, then that
was it. So I did not know anything about the team.
I didn't know where Spartan Bird's South Carolina was. I
just came in here to see if Al Wallace could
make an NFL roster and be one of the guys.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
For Wallace and the Panthers defensive line. The Week two
tilt against the Bucks had the build up of a
boxing fight. The Panthers were the brash challenger, the Bucks
held the title belt. Mike Rucker remembers the noise.
Speaker 8 (10:16):
I would rather have my play show than me to
go out in the papers or the media and say it.
But that's the thing I love about Buck is that
he that's his role. That was his role is to
be able to do those things, you know, and they
they they were the measure stick when you when you
win the Super Bowl, you become the standard. And when
(10:38):
you look at their defense, that was a good standard
to look at to measure yourself with. But if you've
been around, like say like a Prinson Buckner and he's
seen talent and he's like, no, I'll put Jinx up
against sap. You know. For us, you know, it was
that initially like oh okay, and they took the bait
and then it was on. So then we had to
go down there and back it up.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
On the game's open possession, the Bucks drove inside the
Panthers forty, but Carolina's d line flashed its depth and
held Tampa scoreless.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
First and ten. I gether short dropped by Johnson and
I you have to sprint out through his right, cuts
back left.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Shane Burkin cut him off.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
That would be a sack for Carolina. I believe Johnson
under center and he drops back to throw, has a
lot of time and fires and it's caught at the
thirty yard line and then puddled on the play picked up. No,
they're gonna call it an incomplete pass. It wouldn't have
been a first down anyway. And now the Bucks are
gonna send Tom tupa on and he's their punter. So
Carolina's defense out there for ten plays, but they make
(11:37):
the stop.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
The Panthers led three to nothing. Midway through the second quarter.
When the Bucks looked to get even.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Romanica will try a twenty nine yard field goal from
the left. Tash Mark step kick it back that's flocked
by the Panthers.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Jenkins block kept the Bucks off the board, but Tampa
threatened again late in the first half.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
First down in ten, Tampa at the Carolina thirty nine
yard line, one of the three to go first half.
Johnson fakes the swing.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
It's a screen over the middle of dinner scept to buy.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Al wallis back for Carolina down the middle of the
field forty it's a sport.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Can he get away? Twenty He's down to the ten
yard line. Had finally caught They're running back.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Pittman finally chased him down and that Carolina defense comes
up with a huge play.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Al Wallace's first career interception led to another John Casey
field goal. Panthers took a six to nothing halftime lead.
After both teams traded field goals in the third, Tampa
tried to inch closer in the fourth.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Waiting for the snap from forty seven yards out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
A little high kick at Julius Pepper's blocked field goal
kept Tampa at bay once again, but the Panthers offense
failed to gain any traction or provide a cushion, and
the Bucks took advantage. In the waning seconds of regulation.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Second and ten, Tampa from the eighteen.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
They stunt up the middle.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Johnson pumps fires.
Speaker 10 (13:06):
On the sideline.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Caughton somebody found.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
An opening down along the Panther sideline, out of bounds
at the Carolina thirty nine yard line. It's third down
in fifteen nineteen seconds on the clock again, Johnson back
to pass, pumps fires.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Over the middle. Johnson's got it this time to the
six yard line.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Thirteen seconds eleven ten, nine eight seven. Johnson spikes the ball.
With five seconds, it'll be first down. They'll have time
for probably one play. Johnson ready to go for the Bucks.
He's back to pass, looks cluts in.
Speaker 10 (13:44):
An hand tone.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
No, you didn't stay it on a b No. They
going a.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Touchdown to Keenan McCardell.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
I don't believe it.
Speaker 10 (13:54):
The game is tied.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Brad Johnson's touchdown pass to Keenan mccardill tied the game.
There was no time left. All Tampa needed was an
extra point to effectively seal the win. Prior to the kick,
Panther's head coach John Fox called a time out.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
It was critical that they didn't get that extra point,
and we had a pretty explosive tackle and Chris Jenkins
and special teams. We talked about, you know, getting penetration.
We're going to be able to.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Do that, Panthers play by play announcer Bill Razinski, and.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I remember saying to Jim Zochie and Eugene Robinson. I said,
I said, we've already blocked two field goes. Can we
block an extra point?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
At the time, the Bucks Martine automatica Grammatica was considered
one of the NFL's most reliable kickers and had never
missed an extra points.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Well, they blocked two field goals. Can they block an
extra point? Because we're tied at nine? Dramatic already two
was a holder snap kick that out.
Speaker 7 (15:01):
You can't run it.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Towns is gonna ladder on the ball, and I don't know.
Oh my goodness, we're still alive and we are not
done yet, Phil, We ain't done by block two field
goals in an extra.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Point go ahead, deef, this don't die, baby, baby, don't die.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
An extra point?
Speaker 11 (15:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
What about it? Jenkins' second blocked kick sent the game
to overtime, and in ot special teams delivered again.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Good snap, busy kick five two pa angles at far side, hits.
Speaker 10 (15:34):
At the ten.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Smith will take it there at the tenth fifteen Smith
to the twenty twenty five down the sideline, thirty touts left,
he's at the forty.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Smith is still going to midfield and he's cut from
behind at the Tampa forty yard line.
Speaker 10 (15:46):
What a big play? Would you need it?
Speaker 11 (15:48):
Go?
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Hit smitty head.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Of headle it young man, No flag, dude, We're tied
at nine and overtime in a dramatic ballgame here in Tampa.
Sour Ron Ruddy, he's got it. Casey into it with
the leg. It is up. It is up, It is up.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
It is God.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Panthers have woned it over time. The Panthers have woned
it overtime. John Casey pounds a throw. What a marvelous,
incredible win.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
For the Panthers. If a road win against the defending
Super Bowl champion didn't send the shock Babes through the NFL,
it certainly did so. In the visiting locker room offensive
lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 11 (16:33):
That locker room. After just a week two win, you
would have thought we won the Super Bowl. I mean,
Marty hart Herney's hugging folks and John Fox is jumping
up and down, guys are dancing, and even guys like
John Casey's the most unemotional, steady as you go guys.
I mean, I've seen him laugh and smile and get
all the hugs for kicking that last minutefield goal it
(16:54):
gives the win. It was it was fun. I mean
that was fun, and I think that's when people started
to realize, hey, we might not be a great team.
We don't know if we'll ever get to be a
great team, but dang gum, like, don't ever count us out.
We're that team this year. That's who we are. And
you take us lightly or we're gonna smack in the face,
beat you down and go find another win.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
The next week, offensive lineman Jordan Gross.
Speaker 7 (17:16):
I thought we'd lost because all they had to do
is kick a pat to win the game. You know,
just there's a short amount of time left and Chris
Jenkins blocks a pat. I mean, like that never happens,
you know what I mean, Like so unlikely went in
the locker room and now it was like two weeks
in a row. Man we came back and won at home,
and now we beat defending Super Bowl champs, and I
just remember the belief in ourselves was through the roof
(17:39):
at that point, because we're thinking, man, we can beat
the Bucks, we can beat anybody.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Just one of those games. It was a typical, I
would say, Panther game from the few years before, where
there's you know, nothing seemed to be going right, but
somehow we were ahead.
Speaker 8 (17:53):
In the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Now if this is two years before that, we lose
the game. While the game was marred by penalty and sloppiness,
the Panthers found a way into the wind column and
for Jake Deloam, that's all that mattered.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
It was a rough game, and thank goodness for John
Casey and our defense and Steve Smith because I didn't
have anything any hand in winning that game, I can
promise you, but we.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Were able to win.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
And I'll never forget in that locker room. It's a
small old locker room in Tampa, and we were elating.
And that's the way John Fox was. He didn't care
how it was done, as long as you won. And
Dan Henning was the same way. You've got so many
coordinators that they so worried about stats and what's the
completion percentage.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And what is this and what is that?
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And I remember sitting in my locker and I was excited,
don't get me wrong. And Dan came by and I
remember looking at him and I was like, hey, I
know I need to play better.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And it was like, f that we just won. It
doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
And that was Dan's appro He didn't care. We won
the game, and so that was just kind of like, Wow,
that's a confidence builder for me.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
The Cardiac Cats were two and oh. They had beaten
the champs on the road and made good on Brentson
Buckner's preseason boast.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Buck thought he was a prophet, but we just thought
he had a big mouth and he got us all
in trouble. They're kind of spurring on Warren South, who
needed none of that. By the way, everybody had counted
us out. We had taken down the world champs and
defending champs on their field, and at that point we
felt like we weren't. Now the best defensive line, maybe
the best defense in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
A bye week awaited, but the Panthers had already bottled
up their signature cocktail, a concoction of resilience, perseverance and
belief
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