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January 29, 2004
Panthers Notebook
Team does full workout, returns to old routine
COMPILED BY JOHN DELONG
• The Panthers were back on the practice field yesterday for their first full-scale workout of the week in preparation for Sunday's Super Bowl XXXVIII showdown against the New England Patriots.
They flew to Houston on Sunday, had a light workout on Monday, then were off Tuesday because of Media Day activities at Reliant Stadium.
Fullback Brad Hoover welcomed the opportunity to get back into the routine the Panthers have followed throughout the season. They have always taken Tuesdays off, then gone through hard workouts on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before tapering back down on Saturday.
"We're finally back to our normal schedule, doing the things we normally do during the week," Hoover said. "That's a plus. It was nice to have some free time and relax a little bit, but we're ready to get working again now. I'm fired up. Just seeing the stadium (Tuesday) excited me. I was ready to go out and play right then. But we've still got a lot of work to do."
Hoover said the hype and hoopla so far has been about what he envisioned.
"It's a little crazier than I expected, as far as the media and things we're obligated to do," he said. "But we're taking it all in on an even keel. We're taking it all in, but we know we've got a job to do."
• Panthers players are being besieged with all sorts of perks for making it to the Super Bowl.
Among the freebies given to the players are gift bags, T-shirts, hats, shoes and other apparel from Reebok, the NFL's official merchandiser. And players return to their hotel rooms each afternoon to find loads of goodies, from candy to fruit to soft drinks.
But according to center Jeff Mitchell, the number of goodies the players receive is down drastically from when he played in the Super Bowl four years ago while with the Baltimore Ravens.
"They've cut way back," Mitchell said. "I think there was some kind of problem with the league over all the things they were giving us. The last time, every time we came back from practice there'd be a nice electronic goody there on the bed.
"We got all kinds of things. I mean, digital cameras, still and videos. MP3 players. CDs. Every kind of electronic thing that's ever come out, we got it. I think there's some problem with the salary cap if you take that many gifts."
• Defensive tackle Shane Burton says that the most under-rated unit on the team is the offensive line. And he says that the offensive line's improvement this season has been a boost to the whole team.
"They've improved tremendously," Burton said yesterday. "I mean, I practiced against them last year and we pretty much dominated them in training camp. This year, it was pretty much back and forth. We knew right then that they were improved.
"I can't tell you what a boost that was to the whole defense. Last year, we had a bunch of games won and all we needed was one more first down at the end of the game, and we couldn't get it. This year, how many times did we get that first down and then be able to kneel down for the victory? And it just changes your whole outlook. I've been on teams where the defenses had to do the whole thing, and when the offense is struggling it's like, 'Man, here we go again, we're going to be on the field the whole day.'
"It's not like that with this team. We've won games with all three phases."
• The Panthers have six rookies on their 53-man active roster -- tackle Jordan Gross, center Bruce Nelson, safety Ricky Manning Jr., defensive tackle Kindal Moorehead, safety Colin Branch and linebacker Vinny Ciurciu.
They're fully aware of how fortunate they are to be playing in the Super Bowl, because some players go through their entire careers without ever making it here.
But Moorehead, the Panthers' fifth-round pick from Alabama, said he started thinking about the possibility as much as a year ago, when he was watching Tampa Bay beat Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVII.
"We had this little saying last year at Alabama, 'Next year, some rookies are going to be playing in the Super Bowl.' I figured if somebody has to, why not me? It's amazing now that it's come true. But I always felt I had the chance."
Moorehead is the guy who missed the first preseason game after being bitten by a spider. The bite became infected, and Moorehead wound up in the hospital for four days.
"If that spider bite would have gotten any worse, who knows what would have happened," Moorehead said. "But it all worked out. It's been a great year."