NFC title guarantees nothing

PHILADELPHIA — Could the NFC champs be cursed?

In 2000, the St. Louis Rams followed their Super Bowl title by reaching the playoffs, but no NFC champion since – not the New York Giants in 2001, St. Louis in 2002, or Tampa Bay in 2003 – has made the playoffs the season after it reached the Super Bowl.

The Giants, Rams and Buccaneers finished 7-9 after playing for the NFL championship.

If the Carolina Panthers, 1-2 and third in the NFC South, aren’t careful, they could be next.

Rich McKay was Tampa Bay’s general manager for the 2002 season, when first-year coach Jon Gruden led the Bucs to a 27-10 victory over the Eagles in the NFC championship game and a 48-21 triumph over Oakland in the Super Bowl.

The Bucs began their title defense of 2003 talking about being humble, working hard, staying mentally and physically disciplined, and, most of all, building a dynasty.

They won four of five preseason games, then opened Lincoln Financial Field with a shutout of the Eagles.

Things went south from there. When December was over, so were the Bucs.

“In Tampa, in my experience there, there was something to (a curse),” said McKay, now president and general manager of the 4-0 Atlanta Falcons. “I don’t know what it was… . I thought we had a very good edge. I felt we had a very good off-season. We went into Philadelphia and played them on Monday night and beat `em.

“And then we just didn’t play as well, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. People say, is it passion? Is it this, or that? Well, I don’t know, but there was something there, and that was a little disappointing.”

Although the Eagles have had little problem doing so in recent years, repeating success in the NFL is tough. Distractions and logistics – such as the salary cap, injuries and contract disputes – make building an empire next to impossible.

AFC teams have had problems, too. New England won the 2002 Super Bowl and then failed to reach the playoffs. Oakland was the AFC representative in the 2003 Super Bowl and then did the same.

Of course, the Patriots won it all again last season and are 4-0 this season.

Even though it is early, the Panthers are a different story. They lost to Atlanta last Sunday, and have road games against Denver and the Eagles up next.

Carolina is winless in two home games and struggling with injuries to two key offensive players: running back Stephen Davis and wide receiver Steve Smith.

After the loss to the Falcons, the Panthers’ coaches and players brushed off any talk of a curse, or a cause for concern, but acknowledged that things had been tough this season.

The Panthers aren’t sneaking up on teams the way they did last year. They aren’t pulling out wins, and their opponents are geared up to face the defending NFC champions.

“Everybody’s gunning for you,” Carolina safety Mike Minter said. “Everybody wants you. Everybody wants a piece of you. You cannot sneak up on anybody. I think that’s the biggest difference right there.

“But New England keeps doing it year in and year out, so it’s a deal where you’ve got to come focused every game, every down, every play, because people are going to bring that kind of intensity against you.”

“You’re definitely going to get every team’s best shot every week,” Panthers wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad said. “You have to be prepared. You have to be ready to play and bring your best every week. …

“I would just say it is too early in the season to let these couple of games define how our season is going to end up. We’re definitely not where we want to be at this point, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be there by the end of the season.”

The Panthers already had their bye week and trail Atlanta and 2-2 New Orleans in their division. After the two road games, Carolina finishes the month against San Diego at home, then Seattle on the road.

While the Panthers are a respectable 13th in the league in total offense, averaging 339.3 yards per game, their defense is 29th against the run, giving up 142 rushing yards per game.

Last season their defense finished fourth in the NFC and 11th overall, allowing an average of 107.6 yards on the ground.

“The thing about Carolina is they’re a great defensive football team, so they’ll have no trouble getting themselves back on track,” McKay said. “It’s not easy to be the defending champions. They have a tough schedule, but from my experience in Tampa, I know that whenever you play great defense, you have a chance to bring it back in a hurry.”

“As crazy as it sounds, there is an element of luck in this game,” Muhammad said. “There are some lucky bounces of the ball, lucky tips, different things that happen on the field. There is an element of luck, so you have to have that going for you, too.”