We lost one quarterback. I don't want to lose this one.
Last year, the Panthers were a step away from the Super Bowl.
That'll do it! The Panthers have done it! The king is dead!
The Panthers are headed for the NFC Championship.
With Steve Berlis filling in for the injured Terry Collins,
Carolina is still out to prove that their title bid was no illusion.
In Washington, Gus Perot is the undisputed leader of the offense,
and the fans' expectations are higher than any time since the Joe Gibbs era.
Tonight, Washington meets Carolina.
Next on TNT.
It's on the way, don't nobody!
We come to you tonight from Erickson Stadium,
beginning its second season as home of the Carolina Panthers.
As the Carolina Panthers play before a sell-out crowd of 72,000-plus.
On the edge of the downtown area of Charlotte, North Carolina.
And they are at home tonight to the Washington Redskins in game one for both ball clubs.
And good evening everybody, I'm Vermont Quick, along with Pat Hazen and Mark May.
Welcome to the final first game of the first Sunday of the 97 season.
We think we've got a potentially terrific matchup.
The Redskins in their 65th season opener, and the Carolina Panthers in their third.
Washington, nine and seven a year ago, they slumped in the second half of the season,
just didn't miss the playoffs, but they were 3-1 in preseason,
and the level of anticipation for this club is palpable.
For the Carolina Panthers, a wonderful second year.
They won their last seven, finished 12-4, knocked off the Cowboys at home in the playoffs
before losing to Green Bay in the NFC Championship Cup.
Nevertheless, they are 0-4 in preseason, Pat.
They've discovered that they can't stop the run, and they've been giving the ball up a lot,
and they don't have their starting quarterback tonight.
Steve Berline will get the start tonight for Carolina for Kerry Collins.
And this is not an unaccustomed position for Steve Berline.
He filled in well in the past, 1991 for Troy Aikman,
and was 3-1 as a starter last year for Kerry Collins.
But no matter who plays quarterback, this team is defined by its defense,
and in particular, defined by its linebackers.
Michael Barrell takes over Kevin Green.
Now a San Francisco 49er. Sam Mills inside.
Andre Royal gets the other inside spot.
But the real guy to watch not is Lamar Latham, number 57.
Norv Turner is very concerned about the pass rush that Lamar Latham can put on,
and that is a matchup we will be watching all evening.
And Mark May, you know, Gus Farrad, deserves to be the unquestioned leader of this team this year,
of the Watson Redskins, after a very productive 1996.
Yes, and he's earned his hat. Gus Farrad's progression has gotten steady.
He's better and better each year.
His completion rate has gone up each year, and the Redskins have one more football game.
But he's not quite where Norv Turner wants him yet.
He believes the championship quarterback must complete at least 60% of his passes.
There's a new wrinkle in the Redskins offense, one that may have never been seen before.
They have installed the shotgun formation into their game plan.
Now we tried this in the 1980s under Joe Gibbs. It just didn't work.
The center would snap the ball over the quarterback's head.
It just looked like a bad suit on us.
But the biggest part of the Washington Redskins this year is their defense.
It's very critical that they must get better.
Mike Nolan is the new defensive coordinator.
He's installed a more simple game plan over Ron Lind's game plan last year,
and this team has six new faces on their defense.
His words to his defense tonight, guys, just buckle them up and go get it.
All right, Mark, and the fourth member of our team is down on the sidelines.
Let's go to Craig Seger, who's with Cary College.
Well, thank you.
Nobody would like to put a painful three-season behind them quicker than Cary College.
I saw you at practice this week.
You looked pretty good. I know you lost some pounds, but when will you return to action?
Well, hopefully back in a few weeks.
Right now everything's on course. The doctors feel good about everything.
And, you know, it's just a matter of time to give the bone enough time to heal,
and, you know, hopefully it'll be a few weeks.
The Panthers have never lost in the stadium. Will Birdline pull it out tonight?
I think so. Steve's a very, very good quarterback.
And, you know, I like to think that we don't lose a whole lot when he goes in there.
And, in fact, I don't think we lose much at all.
So, you know, I think he's going to be fine. The team's ready to go.
We've got a great stadium, great fans, so I think everything's in place.
All right, thanks a lot. Good luck with the Reds.
All right, Craig John Capers in his third season as head coach.
Came here from the staff of Bill Cower and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And he is a veteran in the NFC West.
And here is Norah Turner in his fourth season as head coach of the Redskins.
In her first year, they won three. In his second year, they won six.
In his third year, they won nine.
Even I can figure that progression out.
That's good. That's the right way to go, right?
What happens this year?
And here's John Casey getting ready to kick off.
John Casey with 15 touchbacks a year ago.
The Panthers playing now in their second season in their new beautiful home.
They have never lost here.
They won all eight regular season games last year.
And then they knocked off the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs.
Here's Ryan Mitchell, and here's an oddity.
He is about to return his 273rd kickoff.
He's never returned a kickoff or a touchdown.
He's returned six punch for TD.
And he will not return this one. It will be a touchback for John Casey.
Here comes wealthy Gus Farrott.
12 touchdowns, 11 interceptions.
And in the backfield, he has Terry Allen, Larry Bowie at fullback.
Leslie Shepard and Henry Ellard open it wide out.
Michael Westbrook will play tonight. Jamie Ash at the tight end.
And a problem perhaps.
The offensive line particularly watched.
Number 67, Sean Pordonez.
He gets to go against Lamar Lathan tonight.
That's the key matchup that North Turner is very concerned about.
From the 20, first and 10.
Hand off to Allen.
Breaks the bit of a tackle and bangs up to the 27.
Chad Cota, number 37, makes the stop.
Defensively, up front it's Mike Fox, Gerald Williams, and Greg Cregan.
Two of the threes remember Washington's opening game of 32.
And near the linebackers, Michael Barrow, Lathan, Sam Mills, and Andre Royal getting his first start.
Eric Davis, Tyrone Poole on the corners.
Second down and two.
Back to the off.
Allen cuts back. Big hole.
And he's all the way out to the 41 yard line. Back to back runs for Terry Allen.
You can say what you want, Mark, about preseason, but the Panthers did not stop the run all preseason.
They gave up 140 yards. Preseason's supposed to answer questions.
I think there's some big questions about this Panther defense.
There definitely are. Not only that, their last game of the season last year against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game,
they gave up a lot of yards on the ground there, so the Redskins are going to try to exploit this tonight.
See Dom Capers making his notes. We'll catch that all night long.
First and 10 after a 14 yard run, buoy in motion.
Here comes the blip. Allen goes right by it.
Great tackles again. This time he went right over the block of Ed Simmons, number 76.
I'll tell you the thing about Terry Allen. He is a great inside runner because he has a couple of great qualities.
And the first is the initial quickness to seize the hole and the vision and the feet to take him there.
He's got enough power and strength to fight through traffic. A very good inside runner.
Not only that, Terry Allen is the type of runner that he gets a lot of his yards after the first contest.
You cannot bring him down with an arm tackle or a shoulder tackle. He will run right through.
And he doesn't crumble. End of the flat, first pass for Asher.
And that is another Redskin first down.
North Turner's game plan tonight, he said, is to keep it very conservative.
You mentioned that Terry Allen doesn't crumble and keeping it conservative is one thing.
The other thing is North was saying that most opening day games are lost. Not once.
If we could just avoid that big sack, if you have to protect our quarterback, watch out for Lathan on the thing.
Don't throw the interception. Don't fumble the ball. We're going to win it.
Only 11 of those 18 turnovers were fumbles a year ago.
At seven, I beg your pardon. There you go.
This time he is stuck at the 46. Sam Mills, number 51, who this summer participated in his 17th training camp.
And he was in the Pro Bowl a year ago.
And I'll tell you what, watch Sam Mills. This guy's got great vision. He can find the ball.
He's not a very big guy. He's not tall at all. Five foot nine.
He can hide behind some of those defensive linebackers and linemen up there and hit the hole.
Those offensive linemen have a tough time defining.
Steven Davis has come into the lineup for the Redskins. Number 48, running back.
Oh boy. Yeah, first look at the zone flip. Tyrone Poole off the corner.
Don Capers has made it famous here as he did in Pittsburgh.
It is the defensive equivalent of the West Coast offense.
And the thing is, if you get your back turn and you don't see that guy coming, it ends up in sacks.
Now, the Washington Redskins were a very little sack team a year ago.
Twenty-two sacks they gave up a year ago.
Now, to counter that, the Panthers with that zone blitz had 60 defensive sacks.
You see a first and sacks, first and third down defense, and second in scoring defense.
Time has been called. Gus Farrott chats with Norv Turner.
Time calls. Will return to Erickson Stadium in Charlotte right after this.
Westbrook and Davis, the two protagonists in that bizarre incident at the early part of last week at practice
when Westbrook tumbled Steven Davis, the club finding $50,000.
He has agreed, Westbrook that is, to seek counseling for his anger, and he is wide to the near side.
Four wide receivers. This may be a shotgun. It is, yes.
And here comes a screen pass left.
Brian Mitchell out of the backfield. That's going to be very close for the first down.
He may have been a foot short.
And I'll say what, I talked about the shotgun formation. It's a new wrinkle for the Redskins.
They probably caught Carolina off guard. They haven't seen this.
And this is what Norv Turner does. He is a great offensive coordinator.
He knows how to find wrinkles in the defense. Here's one of them.
Gus Roth sets back. This gives them better vision of the field.
He drops it off in a little screen to Mitchell, and he makes his moves downfield.
But having this in the arsenal makes the Redskins a better football team.
They do come up a yard short. So on fourth and one, Matt Turk will receive the snapback from his older brother Dan Turk.
Two of the Turk brothers, there are six of them, playing together for the first time.
Pooch kick, as they say, and it's a good one.
One of my favorite terms in the NFL, the pooch punt.
And a well-done pooch. Keep that pooch.
It was all in the center snap. Time is called. Vanders have the ball.
Now, 10.42 to go, opening quarter. Here is Steve Burline on in place of Kerry Collins.
The backs are in the eye on first and 10. And the handoff goes to Anthony Johnson.
Johnson, who had a spectacular second half of the season after Tamanga Biakabatuka was injured last year.
Jesse Campbell, number 37 with the tackle. And let's check this hander offense.
Johnson, Scott Green in the backfield.
Ernie Mills and the rookie Ray Carruth from Colorado at Whitehouse and Wesley Walls off of Pro Bowl season.
Up front is Campbell, David Garrido, Elliott, Stefanik, and Garcia.
Second down and three. And Burline to a throw.
Behind Wesley Walls, incomplete with Jesse Campbell covering.
Defensively for Washington, and they do not have Sean Gilbert. He is continuing his holdout.
Lang, the rookie, Kennard Lang from Miami. Rich Owens up front.
Marcus Patton moves to the middle. Harvey and Derek Smith, one of two rookie starters.
And in the backfield, Chris Dishman joins Darrell Green now.
Jesse Campbell and Stanley Richard complete the defensive backfield.
Rocket Ismael is in, number 81 on third down. And Winslow Oliver is also in the backfield.
Quick set up for Burline. Goes left incomplete.
I'm not sure whether that was Mills or Oliver.
Or Rocket.
Yeah, right. See, Burline said it was yesterday.
He felt like it gets the ball to Rocket Ismael in the slot formation,
but the problem is Rocket has not done a very good job of getting rid of the bump and run.
He's hit the gym at the line of scrimmage, and he can't release.
Here's the scary situation in the Carolina Panthers special teams.
Brian Mitchell, one of the great punt returners in the league.
And Ken Walter, who for five years was a ball boy for the Cleveland Browns slash Baltimore Ravens.
His first NFL punt in preseason. He had great hang time and what a start.
Mitchell will return it. Shaked one, can't shake the other.
Welcome to the NFL, Ken Walter.
This kid grew up in Cleveland. He walked on at Kent State.
He got a letter of recommendation from Greg Montgomery to a punting camp in Reno.
He walked on here and won the job.
Dip, dip, 950 to go. Second offense in set now for the Washington Redskins.