Panthers Team Report

INSIDE SLANT

When Landon Johnson(notes) was placed on injured reserve Tuesday he became the eighth player to join that list, including the fifth that went down while working as a starter.

Several other players have missed games due to injuries, part of the reason coach John Fox’s Carolina Panthers are 4-6 heading into Sunday’s game against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands.

“That’s the story of our life this year as far as the Carolina Panthers are concerned,” said linebacker Jon Beason(notes). “A lot of injuries, but guys are still stepping up and doing fairly well.”

Johnson becomes the third player in as many weeks to go on IR, joining a pair of marquee players in Jordan Gross(notes) and Thomas Davis(notes).

“It more or less just (stinks) that we’re losing guys weekly it seems like,” said linebacker Na’il Diggs(notes). “At any position you’d like to keep your chemistry for the whole season, but injuries happen in this league. You just hope that they’re not season-ending. We’re just going to keep playing and you have to keep yourself healthy and out of the training room.”

The Panthers sounded very much like a team resigned to the fact that they’re not going to make the playoffs after a 24-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins last Thursday night.

Only seven percent of NFL teams since the league went to a 12-team playoff format have started the season 4-6 and went on to make the playoffs.

The odds are even longer considering the Panthers will close the season against the New England Patriots, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints.

Quarterback Jake Delhomme(notes) said the Panthers aren’t using injuries as an excuse.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt you can use that (as an excuse) especially if guys aren’t playing very well,” Delhomme said. “That can be a crutch to say, ‘We don’t have the same team.’ But that don’t matter. That happens. Other guys are stepping in and fighting their tail off. If you look around the league at teams that have been struggling there is a whole lot more finger-pointing than there is here, which is pretty much none.

“Guys are busting their tail, but for some reason we’re not getting it done. It’s a crutch, but not one we’ll use.”

Coach John Fox said it’s all about guys stepping up and making the most of their opportunities.

“Sherrod Martin(notes), nobody had heard of until Charles Godfrey(notes) got hurt,” Fox said. “Guys have got to step in, whether it’s a (Shonn) Greene when their (running) back got hurt or the defensive tackle that’s playing for (Kris) Jenkins or Travelle Wharton(notes) playing left tackle. Guys have got to step up and guys around them have got to step up. You fight through it. You’ve got to overcome injuries.”

Series History:   5th regular season meeting. Series tied 2-2. In the last meeting Carolina clobbered a Herm Edwards-coached team 30-3 at Bank of America Stadium prompting then cornerback Ken Lucas(notes) to say the Jets “stopped trying.”

NOTES, QUOTES

—With Landon Johnson joining Thomas Davis on injured reserve and Na’il Diggs sitting out practice on Wednesday with a rib injury, the Panthers could be forced into starting the tandem of James Anderson(notes) and Dan Connor(notes) at the outside linebacker spots against the New York Jets on Sunday.

That’s not particularly good news for the Panthers, who face the league’s second-best rushing offense this week in the New York Jets.

Diggs said the rib injury he sustained last Thursday night against the Miami Dolphins isn’t as bad as the one that kept him out of a Week 3 game against the Dallas Cowboys, so he’s not ruling himself out yet.

“We’re still going to go day-to-day and see how things go,” Diggs said. “I’m feeling optimistic about it and I’m going to stay optimistic about it and hopefully I can get out there against the Jets.”

Connor said he’s practiced at all three linebacker spots this year, and while he feels most comfortable at middle linebacker he said playing the strong side won’t be completely foreign to him.

“I’ve tried to learn as many positions as possible and tried to be a utility linebacker and work on special teams,” Connor said. “Just trying to stay up with three different positions is hard. It’s been my biggest job.”

Coach John Fox said of the team’s mounting injuries at linebacker, “We’re starting to get a little thin. It does affect our kicking game with guys you have active for special teams. But we’ll evaluate it as the week goes on and see what’s going to give us the best chance to win, and that’s who we’ll go with.”

• Turns out running back Tyrell Sutton(notes) played on the same Pee Wee football team as NBA superstar LeBron James growing up in Akron, Ohio.

James played quarterback while Sutton was a running back and linebacker for the South Rangers.

“We were unstoppable,” Sutton said. “The way he plays basketball is the way he played football. He was the conductor out there. He played quarterback when I was there, so imagine what he does on the basketball court in football. It was amazing.”

Sutton said he looked up to James—literally.

“I was eight years old and he was 10. I think I was like, what, 3-foot-9 and he was like 6-foot-1, something like that,” Sutton said with a laugh.

Sutton said he hasn’t kept in touch with James, but might try to scare up a ticket to Friday’s night Charlotte Bobcats game since James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in town.

“I’m sure if I saw him somewhere he might recognize me,” Sutton said.

• The Jets decided to throw rookie Mark Sanchez(notes) into the lineup right away this season realizing there were going to be some growing pains.

And there have been.

Like the Panthers, the Jets are 4-6, although they’ve lost six out of their last seven games.

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme, who spent several years as a reserve before getting his shot, said he never would have been able to do what has been asked of Sanchez.

“I wasn’t ready (coming out of Louisiana-Lafayette), there’s no doubt,” Delhomme said. “I didn’t play at the level he played at. He played with NFL guys at every position at USC. I didn’t have that. I wasn’t nearly ready to play. I think everybody is different. From Peyton Manning(notes) to Carson Palmer(notes), the way they did it, totally different and obviously it worked.”

• Delhomme said being placed on injured reserve is a weird feeling for a player, so he knows what his buddy Jordan Gross is going through.

“Jordan and I had a long talk about that. I think Steve (Smith) felt the same way when he went on IR: you feel like you’re not a part of it,” Delhomme said. “You’re embarrassed. I think that’s a biggest thing, guys get embarrassed because they get hurt. They feel like they’re letting guys down. You don’t look at guys that way. But when I was on IR, I don’t know. You’re not working. You’re not out there trying to help. Mentally, it’s difficult.”

Delhomme said he got a text from Gross the day after the Miami game that read: “If you guys had won by 30 I would have felt so much better.”

“It’s crushing because you feel like you let guys down,” Delhomme said. “If you care about it, I think that’s how you feel. If it’s something where it’s not that important to you, then you don’t feel that way.”

By The Numbers:   30—Number of interceptions between Mark Sanchez and Jake Delhomme this season.

Quote To Note:   “There is no mystery offensively—they want to run the ball much like us. They are second in the league in rushing and we’re third in the league in rushing. They lean on those guys pretty good. Both (Shonn) Greene and (Thomas) Jones have done an outstanding job. Their blocking element is key. They’ve got offensive linemen that are good, have been around and have been together all season. They know what they’re doing in the run game and they execute it very well, so it will be a big challenge.”—Panthers coach John Fox on the Jets.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

The Panthers placed weak-side linebacker Landon Johnson on injured reserve and signed linebacker Jordan Senn(notes). Johnson injured his knee in last week’s game against the Miami Dolphins after moving into the starting lineup for Thomas Davis, who was placed on injured reserve last week.

Senn spent his rookie year with Colts last season after signing as a free agent out of Portland State.

He appeared in 15 games and recorded 16 special teams tackles. Senn was released at the end of the preseason, but re-signed with the Colts for two games, playing against Arizona and Seattle before being released.

It’s expected the Panthers will start either James Anderson or Dan Connor at weak side linebacker.

Johnson became the eighth player—and the third in three weeks—to land on IR for the Panthers, joining Davis and left tackle Jordan Gross.

This was going to be Johnson’s chance to shine with Carolina. The Panthers signed him to a three-year, $10 million contract in 2008, but he took a pay cut this past off-season to stay.

Player Notes  

• FS Charles Godfrey returned to the practice field Wednesday after missing four weeks with a high ankle sprain. It’s unclear if he’ll return to the starting lineup this week.

• LT Travelle Wharton will remain at left tackle as he gives the Panthers the best option without Jordan Gross even after giving up two sacks last week.

• FB Brad Hoover(notes) will return to the lineup this week.

• RB Tyrell Sutton is expected to continue as the team’s kickoff returner and could see action in the hurry-up offense.

• RB DeAngelo Williams(notes) has at least one run of 25 yards in four straight games and a run of 50 or more in three of their last four games. He has 521 yards rushing in his last four games.

Game Plan:   This game will come down to which team runs the football better.

Both should have success as the Jets are second in the league in rushing and the Panthers are third.

Stopping the run will be tough for the Panthers given the injuries at linebacker. If Na’il Diggs doesn’t play, they’re basically starting a third-string weak side linebacker in James Anderson and a second-stringer strong side linebacker in Dan Connor.

Matchups To Watch:   Jets RB Thomas Jones(notes) vs. Panthers front seven. Jones and the Jets are averaging 163.5 yards per game on the ground and will be a big test for Carolina’s wounded linebackers.

Panthers WR Steve Smith vs. Jets CB Darrelle Revis(notes). Revis has done a good job against some of the better receivers in the league including Randy Moss(notes), but he will have his hands full with the speedy Smith.

Injury Impact:   The good news for the Panthers is fullback Brad Hoover and free safety Charles Godfrey returned to practice Wednesday. Godfrey has missed four games and Hoover three with high ankle sprains.

Defensive end Charles Johnson(notes) will not play in this game and linebacker Na’il Diggs will be questionable with bruised ribs.