ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512270054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
THE CAROLINA PANTHERS, who already have won four more games than any other NFL expansion team, could finish at .500 with a win today.
The Carolina Panthers have done all the things the Washington Redskins have not this season.
The Panthers have nursed a young quarterback to success. They have taken a hodgepodge of players and molded them into a cohesive unit, especially on defense. They've won a good share of close games - that is, they've learned ``how to win,'' as coach Dom Capers puts it.
And they've done it all in less than one year.
``Every time we've beaten somebody it's been the low point of their career, which is understandable,'' Capers said. ``I think that we've earned some respect. I don't think people take us quite as lightly as they did when we were 0-5.''
The Panthers (7-8) go into today's game at RFK Stadium with one more record to break. With a victory, they would leapfrog another Panthers team - the 1993-94 NHL Florida Panthers - to become the most successful first-year expansion team in the modern era of U.S. major professional sports.
Not bad for a team that had 12 players under contract when Capers arrived in January.
``If we can find a way to win [today], it'd be a tremendous accomplishment to win eight out of your last 11 games,'' Capers said during the week. ``I think [a .500 record] is a very admirable goal for a first year. We've come too far and we've accomplished too many things to let it slip away at all at the end.''
The view south to Carolina has left a bitter feeling for some of the Redskins, whose 5-10 season has had more of the look and feel of an expansion campaign than the Panthers' year. Players and fans have listened to coach Norv Turner preach patience for two years now, and they wonder about the rules that have turned Carolina into an overnight success.
``I'll tell you what,'' said Washington tight end Scott Galbraith. ``You give me two picks in each round of the draft. You give me the long list of players that they had privy to them in their own expansion draft, and I'll get a team turned around real quick. They had the cards stacked in their favor. It's an expansion team in name only.''
A Panthers victory would give Carolina as many victories in its inaugural season as the Redskins have in two years under Turner. Washington's coach doesn't complain about the rules, but credits Capers for coming up with a building program that could be a model for other coaches.
``What they've done is have one side of the ball that's real sound and [they can] feel good about - their defense,'' Turner said. ``They went out and got a bunch of veteran players. What they've done is bought time for their offensive team where they're playing a lot of young guys.''
Just as Turner has brought in a host of former Cowboys he coached when he was offensive coordinator in Dallas, Capers has four players - linebacker Sam Mills, defensive end Gerald Williams, cornerback Tim McKyer and safety Brett Maxie - who were familiar with his defensive schemes in New Orleans and Pittsburgh.
After an 0-5 start, things started to come together for the Panthers. They have the eighth-rated defense in the league, and their offensive line, despite two rookie starters, hasn't given up a sack in three games.
The Redskins, meanwhile, were 6-22 under Turner before a semblance of continuity appeared. Their defense stiffened and their offense cut down its turnovers to produce a 2-1 record in a just-completed string of road games.
``I wish we could have got things going earlier,'' said fullback Marc Logan. ``The chemistry's been coming together. The best thing is to end on a good note.''
The Redskins have lost so many close games this year Turner wondered whether his team - which is overflowing with Super Bowl veterans - knew how to win. Carolina, on the other hand, has a rookie quarterback who doesn't want to know what it's like to be a loser.
``To go through our first season and not have a losing record is something that we really want,'' said Kerry Collins, who is 7-5 as a starting quarterback. ``Personally, it's important to me. I don't ever want to say I had a losing record.''
Capers named Collins the starter in Week 4 and has stuck with him through all the typical rookie mistakes. Collins is now brave enough to change a play in the huddle, which he did last week to produce an 89-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Willie Green.
Washington's starter this week, Gus Frerotte, isn't sure of anything anymore. He's had an inconsistent season on the field, and this week he said there were ``rumors'' coming from within the team that were making his job uncomfortable. There hardly can be a person in Washington that doesn't hope the Frerotte-Heath Shuler quarterback controversy is settled in the off-season.
``If something was going to be said, you'd rather have it said after the season,'' Frerotte, who is starting because Shuler has a broken finger, said of the rumors. ``It's more important to win a game than to worry about this right now.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for statistics.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 linesby CNB