Wrong time, place for Panthers

The Carolina Panthers, a year after everything went right, are now stuck squarely in the rest of the time.

On their way to the Super Bowl not quite 9 months ago, the Panthers won four overtime games and six in regulation that were decided by six points, three points or one point. They owned the final seconds.

Yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field, the Panthers had more than twice as many first downs as the Eagles. They controlled the ball for 17 more minutes. They ran off 75 plays to just 47 for the Eagles. They took the ball into Eagles' territory eight times. And got crushed, 30-8. They are now 1-4.

Yes, they have injuries. Who doesn't?

"Our secondary's still there," safety Mike Minter said. "Ain't nobody hurt in the secondary. You just got to play with it. I don't feel like any injuries had anything to do with that ballgame today. "

The Eagles had five big plays - a J.R. Reed return of the opening kickoff, two Terrell Owens catches, a Lito Sheppard interception return for a touchdown and a Brian Westbrook TD run long after the game had been decided. Those plays were more than enough for the Eagles to dominate the game on the field, if not on the stat sheet.

Cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. owned the Eagles in that forgettable NFC Championship Game with his three interceptions. Last week, Owens explained that would not be happening again. He caught a deep ball, for 53 yards, on Manning early when he was single-covered. Manning figures he was where he was supposed to be.

"No, he didn't have a step," Manning said. "I was right there. The ball was underthrown. As soon as I turned around and looked for the ball, it was underthrown behind my other shoulder. It's tough. That's the world of a DB, but you've got to get up and keep going. "

According to Manning, there was no talking between him and Owens during the game, even after Owens sort of called out Manning during the week.

"We did not say one word to each other," Manning said. "I said something and he just didn't respond to it. So, it was like, 'OK, it's not going to be a trash-talking game. ' ''

All Manning told Owens was to "be ready. " He was.

"He didn't say nothing this game," Manning said. "I'm pretty sure he talks other games . . . He just went out there and played. "

And when the ball came his way, he caught it.

"He just made a great adjustment on the ball, and I couldn't knock it out," Manning said of the early bomb.

Manning agreed Owens was as good as his numbers.

"They wouldn't have him here and wouldn't have paid him as much money as they did if he wasn't." he said.

Manning got an interception, but by then it was 23-0. Still, he noted that in his last two games against the Eagles, he has more interceptions than balls caught on him. He also knew full well the Eagles fans remembered him from last January. And they were talking about him.

Jake Delhomme did not have to do much in the championship game. He threw just 14 times, completing nine. He threw 42 this time, completing 24 to his guys and four to the Eagles. That is generally not a winning ratio.

"I felt the best going into this game that I did all year," Delhomme said. "I just felt extremely good about what we were going to do out here. It's just not happening. We're not carrying it over. I'm one that's not carrying it over so it's hard for me to look around and see who else might not be when certainly I'm not holding up close to my end of the bargain."

The Panthers' offense never could sustain anything. They drove to the Eagles' 40-yard line, false-started and punted. They drove to the 39 and did the exact same thing. They got to the 47, were called for an illegal shift and punted again. They got to the 49, and Delhomme promptly threw the ball to Sheppard for an Eagles TD. They got to the 38 and lost 4 yards on the next two plays before punting. They got to the 22, got sacked twice and, you guessed it, punted.

"I thought we ran the ball well at times," Panthers coach John Fox said. "Then there would be a procedure penalty or some kind of penalty would knock us out of scoring opportunities . . . We played better than we have lately, but it wasn't enough. This is a game of points, and the final score was 30-8. "

In seven previous games against the Eagles and McNabb, five with the Giants as defensive coordinator and two as Panthers head coach, Fox's teams had held the Eagles to just 13.8 points.

"If you look at everything, these guys had 10 points," Minter said. "They earned 10 points. It was two big catches by Terrell to get them in that area. Other than that, we did what we had to do. "