Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 18, 1995 TAG: 9509180150
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: CLEMSON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
If the expansion club can't sell out and isn't on TV locally, a lot of fans won't know what they're missing.
What Carolina is missing is an offense. What the Panthers do have, three games into their history, is a quarterback controversy.
The club's first regular-season home game came in aptly named Death Valley, where the Panthers committed seven turnovers Sunday in an NFC West Division matchup before 54,060 spectators, many of whom were headed back north on I-85 by the end of the third quarter.
What sounds stranger than the ``St.Louis'' Rams? How about the ``3-0 St.Louis'' Rams?
After a 31-10 romp over the Panthers, the transplanted franchise, which last was 3-0 in 1989 en route to an NFC championship game date - is one of only three unbeaten teams in the NFC. The other two - Dallas and San Francisco - are supposed to be perfect.
``Unbelievable, isn't it?'' asked second-year Rams safety Keith Lyle, the former Virginia star who had one of five St.Louis interceptions.
Lyle said it didn't matter to the Rams whether Carolina played starter Frank Reich or backup Jack Trudeau at quarterback, and they proved it. St.Louis gave Reich the bum's rush, then caught three Trudeau tosses.
The Rams' offense isn't going to run up the score by itself. It's mostly Jerome Bettis' bulling through and over foes and Chris Miller taking what opposing secondaries give him through the air.
``They just keep the ball,'' Lyle said.
Have they ever. The Rams' last turnover was in Los Angeles in last year's season-ending loss to Washington. After another doughnut in the giveaway column Sunday, they are an astounding NFL-best plus-12 in that category.
The Panthers' second-half possession chart started interception, punt, fumble, interception, interception, interception. No one can say Carolina wasn't consistent.
Another difference between the winless Panthers' attack and the unbeaten Rams' offense Sunday was on the ground. Carolina has no running game.
By the end of the third quarter, the Rams led 24-3, with two of those scores coming after Panther turnovers. Carolina had 33 yards on 12 rushes, but had thrown 32 times. St.Louis' offensive balance displayed 22 rushes and 20 passes.
``It's going to be tough on them,'' Lyle said of the Panthers. ``Carolina has all these guys playing together for the first time. They're playing in South Carolina and their real [Carolinas] Stadium [opening next season] is in North Carolina.
``And then it's their first time out here, and this is the smallest crowd I've ever seen at Clemson.''
It also was the first crowd to drink beer purchased at the stadium, at $4 for a 16-ounce can, one of those NFL perks. The Carolina fans got into the boos by the second quarter, before Reich was relieved.
With an open NFL Week 4, the bubbling talk about Carolina's unsettled quarterback situation will keep fermenting. Reich has taken the Panthers nowhere.
Trudeau played like the perennial backup he has been. Only when rookie Kerry Collins entered the game - along with a 28-point deficit - did the Panthers sustain a drive. Only then did they even try a draw play.
However, the dilemma for coach Dom Capers is whether to play the former Penn State star - the Panthers' first draft pick in their history - behind an offensive front five that has only 33 career NFL starts, 19 of those by right tackle Derrick Graham.
The two left-side starters, tackle Blake Brockermeyer and guard Andrew Peterson, are rookies. The Panthers' backfield is workman-like at best, and not just because the leading rusher Sunday was Vince Workman.
Perhaps the Panthers' two best backs, Workman and Derrick Moore, have been with the club less than two weeks each. The inability to run the ball - only two gains of more than 9 yards in three games - only puts more pressure on whomever is taking snaps.
Until Collins sneaked for Carolina's first touchdown in eight quarters, with 1:57 left, the Panthers hadn't scored on the ground in their history. Yes, the Rams were playing backups, but he was cool on a sun-baked day on that 76-yard drive.
Is it time - already - for Capers to start Collins? Or is there a lesson to be learned from the Redskins' early anointing of their still-learning franchise QB, Heath Shuler, early last season?
``We've got three extra days to review'' the quarterback position, Capers said. ``We'll look at it.''
And until the Panthers play Oct.1 here against Tampa Bay, the Carolina quarterback job will be discussed on talk radio, too.
Really, when the Panthers first saw their schedule, they had to figure that considering the Rams' recent past, this was a game an expansion team could win.
It wasn't close.
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by CNB