Tuesday, December 31, 1996

Carolina back in familiar role for Dallas game

By JOE MACENKA / AP Sports Writer (Dec. 31, 1996)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Three of the four home teams in this weekend's conference semifinals are favored. Guess which one isn't?

Forget the 19 victories in their first two seasons. Ditto the NFC West title and the seven-game winning streak. The Carolina Panthers have assumed a familiar role this week: underdog.

Carolina's 12-4 record and division title - both unprecedented for second-year NFL expansion teams - helped the Panthers earn a first-round playoff bye and a second-round home game. The Panthers haven't lost to anybody since Nov. 3, and they've never lost in eight games at Ericsson Stadium.

But the Dallas Cowboys, winners of three of the last four Super Bowls, are coming to Charlotte on Sunday, so oddsmakers installed them as a field-goal favorite to defeat Carolina.

If this scenario offends the Panthers, they're doing a good job of masking it as they prepare for the franchise's inaugural postseason contest.

"They've had more success the last four years than anyone else, so I'm not surprised," Carolina coach Dom Capers said. "To get respect in this league, you have to go out and earn it, especially when you get to this time of year. We know that and that's what we're trying to do."

Cornerback Eric Davis, one of seven Panthers selected to the Pro Bowl, shrugged his shoulders at the mention of the Cowboys.

"They are the Super Bowl champs," he said. "We haven't done anything. They deserve to be where they are. They've earned the right. We're just the new kids on the block, and for us to expect to be seen in the same light as those guys, we've got to play with those guys and win against those guys. It's that simple. If you make the plays, you win. All that stuff about who's favored and all that, it doesn't matter."

The Cowboys rested several starters in their regular-season finale, a 37-10 loss to Washington. But Dallas opened the playoffs by forcing five turnovers in a 40-15 victory over Minnesota, a contest that left several Cowboys proclaiming that they had shaken off a case of the doldrums and were once again the team to beat.

"When you play a game and defeat any playoff team as soundly as they defeated the Vikings, that's what you expect," Capers said. "The way they played, I'd have a hard time disagreeing with them."

Carolina also is on a roll, especially on defense. The Panthers finished second in the NFL with 218 points allowed, led the league with 60 sacks and wound up fourth by forcing 38 turnovers.

Since joining the league and losing their first five games, the Panthers are 19-8. In their current seven-game winning streak, they have outscored their opponents 177-87.

Carolina has allowed just 13 second-half points at home this season. That total includes just one touchdown - in the third quarter of a 23-7 victory over San Francisco on Sept. 22 - and just three points in the fourth quarter - a field goal by Baltimore in the Panthers' 27-16 victory on Dec. 15.

"All we've been doing since we came into the league is proving people wrong, proving that we belong," linebacker Carlton Bailey said. "We've done a good job of that, but we haven't done it in the playoffs yet. That's the true test for this team now."