News-Record.com

CHARLOTTE — The buzz is back.

This time it doesn't come with a Sports Illustrated cover or the overblown expectations of so-called experts or even the hubris of the organization. This time, the Panthers have kept their mouths shut and let the noise bellow elsewhere.

Around town, there's a lot of talk, though. In the long lines leading into Bank of America Stadium, the talk is of this year, not next, not last. The talk is muted and even hedged, the fans having seen 13 years of football now, having listened to 13 years of NFL noise.

The excitement's in the air because the Panthers are good. And those closest to the team know it. The excitement's in the air because not many people outside the close-knit franchise have any idea.

John Fox smiled a lot during preseason, but he had little to say. That's his style, of course, but also his experience of 20 years in the league. He believes his team's going to be good every year, but that's what all coaches believe in September. Well, most anyway. Back at the team's third training camp in the summer of 1997, owner Jerry Richardson held a cookout at his place in Spartanburg and invited everyone.

Even the writers.

Everyone was shocked when he passed around slips of paper at one point and asked each person to write down a prediction for the upcoming season's win-loss record. It was all in good fun. The team was coming off the magical second season, and everything looked rosy.

Including the face of coach Dom Capers, who was embarrassed and more than a bit surprised by the gesture. He grudgingly wrote down some numbers, put the paper in the box and gritted his teeth in a forced smile.

Asked later if he predicted 16-0, Capers didn't smile at all. "No," he said.

The seed of the team's destruction and his own demise had already been planted. The insistence of Richardson to flaunt the team's confidence was more than Capers could take. Of course, the season was a disaster. And it would only get worse in the years to come as Carolina spiraled into a darkness no NFL team could imagine.

Though its short history is packed with more tragedy and success than most young franchises in the long history of the league, Carolina's includes more starts and false starts and re-starts than almost any organization.

Welcome to Year 14 and still another start to still another run at the title. Here's what's happened already: The Panthers opened camp with Jake Delhomme returning from elbow surgery and looking sharp with several new receivers, including Muhsin Muhammad, and a returning star in Steve Smith. Within days, a fight between Smith and cornerback Ken Lucas erupted on the sideline, ending with Lucas out with a broken nose and Smith suspended for the first two games of the season.

Carolina's first team then went out and played flawlessly through three preseason games, establishing the offense with Delhomme and runners Jonathan Stewart, a rookie, and scatback DeAngelo Williams, and the defense with Julius Peppers and a cast of young, fast defenders.

The first-team defense allowed a field goal in three exhibition games.

Smith apologized to Lucas in a blog and wished his teammates well as they left for San Diego to take on the Chargers today. Smith will not play until Week 3.

A nation of football experts have focused on the fight -- Lucas said it brought the team closer -- and the two-game suspension. The team focused on itself, making almost no comment about the incident and carefully staying on message.

The message is this: We're good, we know it, but we're not about to say it.

A rebuilt offensive line and receiving corps will need three weeks to get ready anyway. Delhomme will use Muhammad for security early as the Panthers finally become the running team we've been hearing about since Fox arrived. The defense will be tested immediately by San Diego's explosive style today and Chicago's bruising style next week. Carolina will try to get through the two games without any disasters, hoping to steal a win and get ready for the season with Smith joining the team for the trip to Minnesota on Sept. 21.

NFC South purists know the real season won't start until the Panthers play the Saints and the Bucs in October. That's a long-view, something Carolina has never really taken before. From the beginning, there's been an urgency about the franchise, a hurried quality influenced by Richardson's prediction of a Super Bowl win in 10 years and his box of predictions in 1997.

He's learned, too. The old man's long view will end just as soon as this season's win-loss record plays out. Anything less than the playoffs will end it. Next year's team will start without a first-round draft pick, a tough way to start over.

This year will lead logically to the next. A franchise that has never had two straight winning seasons anyway will worry about that then. For now, there's a quiet buzz. And not a lot of talk coming out of the stadium.

That's a subtle shift in this team's history, and maybe the best sign that the Panthers have finally come of age. No one's talking about the playoffs. No one's predicting Super Bowls. No one's talking about win-loss records of the future or the past. And no one's writing anything down.

The quiet is ominous.

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