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January 28, 2004
HOT PEPPERS: Defensive lineman and mates likely hold key to game
By Lenox Rawlings | JOURNAL REPORTER
HOUSTON - Julius Peppers broke out the new Carolina Panthers look yesterday: one jersey, one pair of pants, two earrings with diamonds the size of pinto beans, one humongous watch capable of hiding pheasant under glass, one thick bracelet and one thick ring.
Everything shimmered under the Reliant Stadium lights, like silver coated in diamond dust, and Peppers' eyes reflected the same sparkle.
The jewelry line was ostentatious bordering on tacky, so naturally an obnoxious reporter asked a question bordering on tacky: How much?
"They were gifts, man, so I don't even know what the price tag was," Peppers said, laughing. "Family, friends, coworkers, people like that."
A 6-6 defensive end making $50 million over seven seasons need not reveal materialistic details, but if he wants the missing piece of jewelry known as the Super Bowl championship ring, he'll need more help from his coworkers.
Football analysts often conclude that the Panthers' defensive line holds the greatest advantage anywhere on the field. Peppers, Mike Rucker, Kris Jenkins and Brentson Buckner possess the biggest key to unlocking New England's quick-as-a-whippet passing game. If they succeed, the touchdown underdogs could emerge as top cats and sway America's skeptical hearts.
Peppers shakes his earbobs, a dissenter.
"Even when we do win the game," he said, "I think it will still be the same. It will still be the same. I think people will think that we're a fluke. We'll have to come back and do it again, I think, for people to finally give us the respect that we deserve."
The barely respected Patriots won the Super Bowl two years ago as two-touchdown underdogs. Tampa Bay won last year, stirring a debate involving the Bucs' Warren Sapp, Buckner and other loquacious Panthers. The issue: Which defensive line rules the part of the Earth not covered by water or cow manure?
Carolina beat the Bucs twice, won the NFC South and stormed into the 38th Super Bowl only to find Sapp mingling around as a representative of the NFL Network. Mingling respectfully? Buckner didn't care.
"He's one of the football greats," Buckner said. "I have no problem with him being here. It's a free world.... Our whole thing was: I made that tournament and we're going to show you, and that's what we did. Now, we're here. I know he made a comment about: 'Don't throw rocks at the throne.' Like, right now we're sitting here and somebody's going to occupy this throne. We're one of the teams that's got to occupy it, so his eviction papers are in the mail."
Peppers finds the arguments amusing. He takes matters casually anyway. He has ever since growing up in Bailey, a farming town of about 700 folks just east of Raleigh. As an 8th-grader, Peppers surpassed the athletic virtues of all the neighborhood kids and started looking for new worlds to conquer.
After enrolling at North Carolina, he moved from tight end to defensive end and vowed to match the exploits of legendary pass rushers. He accomplished that and supplied the basketball team the power it desperately needed to reach the 2000 Final Four.
As a junior bound for the draft, Peppers originally wanted the No. 1 slot (which Houston's expansion team used on quarterback David Carr). He wound up No. 2, close to home on a team rebuilt around the defensive line, then won the award as the NFL's top defensive rookie.
"Julius is Julius," Buckner said. "Julius is a guy, he don't understand why people make such a big noise about him. Like he says to me: 'I'm just a man doing my job out there.' He just wants to be Julius Peppers, but you try to explain to him: 'Man, you're the second pick of the draft. You're a freak as an athlete, so people are just astonished by you.' But Julius is a guy that's laid back. If you're with Julius off this field, you'd never thought he was ever considered one of the best people at what he do. But the way he cares, he's just humble. All he wants to do is try to be the best."
Peppers vaulted to the top of the rookie charts with 12 sacks in 12 games. On the verge of a Pro Bowl invitation, he was suspended four games for taking a banned substance. His agent identified the substance as a dietary supplement a friend handed him while Peppers was trying to fight fatigue.
The incident raised questions about steroids and hurt Peppers. He conducted a public campaign to refute the charges. He also scratched red meat and soft drinks from the menu. He changed his preparation.
Rucker noticed immediately. "You could just see last year that it was straight speed," he said. "He was getting people around the corner. Now, this year, he has elevated his game by doing more film work, studying different formations, knowing what's coming, doing different countermoves and stuff like that. You can definitely see his game elevated. His sack numbers (seven) might not be there like the year before, but a lot of people didn't know him the year before. Now, he's fine-tuning his game."
Peppers has done all that without sacrificing his basic talent, which linebacker Dan Morgan emphasizes. "He can run like no defensive lineman you've ever seen," Morgan said.
And he doesn't run from controversy.
"I've had some highs and lows in my short career," Peppers said. ""That was the lowest point I was in, but it's been a complete 360-degree turnaround for me. That's something I don't think about that much now. Being in this game, playing in this Super Bowl, those thoughts are long gone."
Yesterday, his thoughts returned to his childhood, to those Super Sundays watching the 49ers mash the Broncos and watching the Buffalo Bills strike out, again.
"I dreamed of playing in this game and the Final Four, anything in sports," Peppers said. "This is the biggest game in sports. The Final Four is huge, but it doesn't compare to this."
Distant reporters attuned to ACC basketball and NASCAR find the Panthers a curious side dish and Carolina basketball a staple.
"Tar Heels basketball is huge in North Carolina, man, but the Panthers are huge there now, too," Peppers said. "Tar Heels basketball might have a slight, slight advantage there as far as fan following. We're gaining on them by the day."
They're gaining game by game, and diamond by diamond.
• Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com