DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9709010220

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Tom Robinson

DATELINE: CHARLOTTE                         LENGTH:   70 lines

REDSKINS HAD HIGHLIGHTS IN BEATING CAROLINA, BUT STILL HAVE FAR TO GO

It was as if both teams exhaled, large and loud, as they entered Ericsson Stadium on Sunday night to begin their NFL seasons. After the preseasons the Washington Redskins and Carolina Panthers stumbled through, drawing fresh breath had to have felt so good.

The discord turned both training camps ugly, which makes it a draw as to which team most appreciated the passing of the old and beginning of the new.

As they dealt with Michael Westbrook's heinous pummeling of teammate Stephen Davis to Sean Gilbert's ridiculous holdout, the Redskins struggled to find the important pieces, particularly on both lines, to complete their promising profile.

Meanwhile in Carolina, the restless Panthers won no exhibition games, bid a bitter goodbye to holdout linebacker Kevin Greene and were knocked back by quarterback Kerry Collins' broken jaw and inexplicable racial slur directed at a teammate.

Aside from all that, I guess you could say a lovely time was had by all.

The trouble was, somebody was going to lose Sunday. Which meant the static, lingering so near, was going to return, crackling through the loser's locker room another week. Or until a victory comes along to make things better.

The Redskins' 24-10 win over last season's NFC playoff finalist says Washington is the better place to be this week, though anybody who was satisfied with either team's effort needs to raise their standards.

No question Washington had the lion's share of highlights. For one, it didn't commit four turnovers like Carolina. For another, despite a juggled offensive line due to injuries, Redskins blockers sprung Terry Allen for 141 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. (That earth-mover Ed Simmons is still holding down right tackle, though, so how bad can the line be?)

Quarterback Gus Frerotte was up to his old inconsistencies - passes into the flat posed a problem Sunday - but directed scoring drives of 91 and 67 yards capped by 1-yard bull-rushes by Allen and threw one touchdown pass.

It was nice, too, that the sloth-like Shar Pourdanesh, a former Canadian Football League all-star who is supposed to be the backup left tackle, didn't let Frerotte get killed by a blind-side blitzer.

And cornerback Cris Dishman, the free-agent pickup, had an interception to top a solid debut. Dishman is the anti-Carter, a shining replacement for the oft-burned and now-departed corner Tom Carter.

But, yikes, Carolina running back Anthony Johnson and his line had no difficulty exposing the soft middle of Washington's defensive line, occupied by such immortals as Miami castoff William Gaines.

Johnson broke his team record for rushing in a game in three quarters. The old mark was 126 yards. It is now 134. How much, I wonder, was Emmitt Smith salivating over that display?

Yet, those were Panther fans flooding the exits halfway through the fourth quarter, in the place where all was pleasant last season.

The second-year Panthers went 12-4 and did not lose in nine games in their first season inside Ericsson. They lived on the love of their fans, who took them into their hearts as heroes; on the arm of Collins; on the left foot of kicker John Kasay, whose 37 field goals set an NFL single-season record; and on a defense led by undersized, overaged and irresistible linebacker Sam Mills and the flaky fan-favorite Greene.

Reality can be so rude.

The Panthers suffered their first loss at Ericsson. They did so with the rag-armed veteran Steve Beuerlein in place of Collins, who will be out a few more weeks. In his 11th season, Beuerlein is 32 but attacked with all the authority of a weak-kneed rookie.

In the end, it was the Redskins who chased more clouds away.

As for the open-ended question of Westbrook, who was fined $50,000 but should have been suspended from the opener without pay for mugging Davis, when he caught his first pass, a certain Beatles tune teasingly blared out over the sound system - ``We Can Work It Out.''

We shall see. We shall see.

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