 Steve Smith played with a heavy heart on Sunday. (Photo by John Clark) CHARLOTTE -- Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith broke down in tears at a post-game press conference Sunday while talking about the death of Santa Monica Junior College football coach Robert Taylor, who passed away Thursday at 64 of cancer.
“Me personally, I had a rough week,” said Smith, who caught six passes for a season-high 99 yards. "I lost a father figure in my life. I wanted to win really bad this week. I lost a great man in my life; it was really hard for me. I think the rest of the year is going to be really difficult.”
Smith credited Taylor with giving him a chance and believing in him.
“He was really influential to me, he was a father figure to me and I say that with no disrespect to my father, he is here tonight. He was a guy who put a lot of quality love into this game,” said Smith, who went on to play at Utah prior to be drafted by the Panthers in the third round of the 2001 NFL draft. DEFENSE PLAYING WELL: Despite playing without OLB Thomas Davis, who sat out with a hamstring injury, the Panthers defense limited Buffalo to a season-low 167 yards on Sunday and nine first downs.
However, the Panthers were again given short fields to work with.
Of the last five touchdowns Carolina’s defense has allowed, four of them have started inside the 30-yard line following turnovers. On Sunday, the Bills started their touchdown drives at the Carolina 27 and 7.
“We probably experienced that two weeks ago,” coach John Fox said. “We experienced it again a week ago. There are times we experienced it again today. They will keep working and we just have to get better as a football team.”
When asked if it’s frustrating to continue to have to work with short fields, safety Chris Harris said, “Our job is to defend. If we hold them to three, then I can live with that. I can’t live with the seven. If they get a short field, then so be it. We still have to play defense and hold them to three points instead of seven. A couple of times they got seven instead of three. I thought we played pretty decent on defense. We had some plays that we could have held them to field goals on some of those sudden changes. Other than that, I felt we did a decent job.” NO FINGER POINTING: Harris said it’s important for the Panthers to remain as a team and not become splintered.
“We stay together. No finger pointing,” Harris said. “When things go bad, a lot of people tend to point fingers. When things go bad, that is when you need to point them at yourself. When they are good, that is when you can point them at everyone else. We have to live, learn, watch the tape and improve. We need to get better and not go out and make the same mistakes.” BURNING TIMEOUTS: The Panthers had a few miscues on defense and were forced to burn timeouts. That was due in part to Davis being out of the lineup.
“They were moving fast changing personnel,” Harris said. “We weren’t quite getting the calls in fast enough and the personnel changes on defense fast enough. We were having to waste timeouts, which you always hate to do on things of that nature. It was frustrating. We just have to get better…everybody.” INJURIES: Fullback Brad Hoover did not play because of a back injury.
Among the other injuries, tight end Dante Rosario left the game with an injured knee and safety Charles Godfrey hurt his ankle. Gary Barnidge filled in admirably for Rosario. Barnidge came into the game without an NFL catch, but had three for 77 yards including a 52-yard reception from Jake Delhomme. THEY SAID IT: "That was unheard of. When it happened, I was like, ‘Wow.’ Everyone is entitled. I made some mistakes today too. He’s usually a guy who is perfect." -- LB Jon Beason on Kasay missing two field goals.
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