Big unit - Carolina Panthers

The Panthers are a dark-horse contender in the NFC largely because of their tall, strong receiving corps--arguably the best in the league

Natrone Means was just being honest. He didn't get to see the Carolina Panthers, his new employer, play much in 1999 because he was in San Diego. Means caught only a few highlights, and his memory of the team's offense basically boiled down to one repetitive clip.

"The one thing I remember," Means says, "was the white guy catching all the deep balls."

That would be Patrick Jeffers--the most anonymous of the key figures in the Panthers' no-name, big-game offense, which featured the NFL's second-ranked passing game. Jeffers is one-third of a receiving unit that is arguably the best in the league. Tight end Wesley Walls and wide receivers Muhsin Muhammad and Jeffers make the offense go and, along with quarterback Steve Beuerlein, are the primary reasons the Panthers are a dark-horse contender in the NFC.

They'll all have to be plenty good for the Panthers to make a jump over the 8-8 finish of 1999. That's because the defense, though improved, is still shaky, and the Panthers have to find a way to slow down the Rams in the NFC West. So it's imperative that the resilient but aging Beuerlein, 35, and his special trio of receivers stay healthy and keep the points high, the mistakes low.

The Panthers will enter this season with an offense that might be second only to St. Louis in capability. Nevertheless, there is no better offense in the NFL that people know less about. If Dennis Miller is aware of anything about the team, it likely is the name of Rae Carruth--the former wide receiver now facing a first-degree murder charge.

Until last season, the Panthers never had ranked higher than 20th in total offense in the NFL. "Run, run, pass," Walls says to describe the Panthers' offensive scheme for most of the team's existence.

Now they have a new identity, forged on Beuerlein's accurate arm, coach George Seifert's pass-first philosophy and, most of all, the soft hands and bulk of Walls, Muhammad and Jeffers. Throw a jump ball to a Panthers receiver, and it's unlikely anyone else is going to get it.

At 6-5, 250, Walls is a tree-like target in the middle and in the red zone. And Jeffers (6-3, 218) and Muhammad (6-2, 217) are prototypical receivers for the modern passing game--big and physical enough to go over the middle and shield off defensive backs and quick enough to take an intermediate pass to the end zone. Even third wideout Donald Hayes, the designated speedster who led the team with a 24.5-yard-per-catch average last season, is 6-4, 208. Put it all together and you have a unit that torments defensive backs with its size and gobbles up yards and touchdowns. Walls, Muhammad and Jeffers combined for 32 touchdown receptions last season--six more than any other receiving trio in the league.

"They're all big, strong receivers who can take the ball away from defensive backs and make the competitive catch," Rams general manager Charley Armey says. "They're all good after the catch, but the ability to make the competitive catch is really what sets them apart. If you have little corners, you are going to lose out to those guys."

The most established member of the unit clearly is Walls, 34, one of the NFL's best late-bloomer stories. He didn't make the Pro Bowl until he was 30 and has gone to Hawaii four years running. Not only does Walls have great size, he has enough quickness to catch an occasional 30-yard pass.

He once despised Seifert--who drafted him and then buried him on the bench in San Francisco for five years--but he likes the West Coast offense that Seifert put in place last year. Seifert calls his number constantly--especially in the red zone.

Superstitious, egocentric and extremely talented, Walls caught 12 touchdown passes last season, tying an NFL record for tight ends. He has a great bond with Beuerlein, who loves Walls because he knows he'll always be in the right spot. Walls does a good job of working the middle of the field, and his size and veteran savvy make him a load for safeties and linebackers. "He's very athletic," Armey says. "He's a wide receiver in a tight end's body."

But the twin emergence of Muhammad and Jeffers, both 27, last season has truly pushed the Panthers' offense into the spotlight. "Our passing game has been a hesitant one for much of the time I've been here," Walls says. "Now we're far more aggressive, and we've got the weapons to be aggressive. Pat and `Moose' (Muhammad) have become one of the top receiving pairs in the NFL. I've got to stay on my toes just to keep up with the--but I sure don't mind."

Muhammad battled through injury problems his first two years before a breakthrough season in '98 and a breakout season in '99. He has an edge to his personality and is known for toughness, taking pride in hunting down defensive backs on running plays. "Moose plays wide receiver like a linebacker," Jeffers says.

Muhammad also isn't afraid to let people know how he feels. That came to the forefront last season, when he was in the final year of his contract. The subject of his contract came up quite often, and he made the Panthers aware that he wanted no part of the franchise tag and wanted to be properly rewarded.

But he also backed up his talk. In 1999, his first season basically free from injury, Muhammad led the NFC with 96 catches and produced 1,253 receiving yards. Muhammad will admit he has burned for years to be known as what he is now--"the go-to guy"--and he may be the key to the passing game with his do-it-all ability. He makes tough catches in traffic, is sound in the short and intermediate games and can pop open long occasionally. Perhaps his best attribute, though, is his ability to make yards after the catch.

But now that Muhammad got what he wanted --he signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract during Super Bowl week--the expectations will be higher. "We're going to look for him to even grow and become better," Seifert says.

Muhammad is embracing that challenge. During his first Pro Bowl appearance last February, Muhammad took a serious, studious approach to the week. He had several inside-the-game discussions with Vikings venerable wideout Cris Carter and tried to soak up whatever he could. "Once you raise your game to a certain level, you have to maintain your game at that level or take it to another level," Muhammad says. "That's what I plan on doing."

Jeffers is a Boy Scout in pads. Polite, sincere and humble, he says matter of factly, "I'm just an average Joe." Jeffers looks athletic, but in a pickup-basketball-at-the-Y sort of way. You would have a difficult time reconciling the way he looks with his gaudy statistics in the final five games last season. In that stretch, he caught 35 passes for 717 yards and eight touchdowns, all of which were for more than 30 yards. He was the epitome of an ordinary guy having an extraordinary month.

That was in great contrast to how he started the season. Playing for his third team in four years, Jeffers was an afterthought early in 1999 and caught only one pass in the first three games. But then Carruth got hurt in October. Jeffers took over and became a revelation.

Benefiting from the attention given to Muhammad and Walls, Jeffers posted startling numbers in the second half. They were even more remarkable considering jeffers is not a burner. But he is smart, never stops working and was able to slip past coverage schemes that may have taken him lightly. He also has mastered the ability to use his size to seal off small defensive backs, leading to several of the big plays.

Rewarded with a four-year, $10 million contract, Jeffers isn't going to catch teams by surprise this season. So don't expect to see him score 12 touchdowns as he did in '99.

As for Natrone Means and his "white guy" comment, Jeffers says he wasn't offended. "I got a kick out of that," he says. "The funniest thing is that everyone is always trying to compare me to (Broncos wide receiver) Ed McCaffrey. It seems like every white wide receiver in the NFL is compared to Ed McCaffrey--5-foot-3 guys are compared to Ed McCaffrey. It just cracks me up."

Jeffers will enter training camp as a starter for the first time in his five-year career. Suddenly, he has a few people actually worrying that he may become overconfident.

"We're all human, and players like Pat or Steve Beuerlein can't fall into that little human trap where they suspect they've arrived," Seifert says.

For Jeffers, a guy who still can go to any restaurant in Charlotte with his wife and not get a single autograph request, that shouldn't be a problem.

THE receiving LINE

The Jaguars (with Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell) and the Vikings (with Randy Moss and Cris Carter) have outstanding receiving duos. But they don't have the overall depth and tight end production to rate at the very top of the league's receiving units. Here are the best three receiving groups (wideouts and tight ends) as rated by The War Room:

1. DETROIT. There isn't a trio of wide receivers that offers as much diversity as Herman Moore, Johnnie Morton and Germane Crowell. Moore suffered through an injury-plagued 1999, but he's still a top red-zone threat. The unassuming Morton has quietly posted three straight 1,000-yard seasons. In his second year, Crowell stepped in for Moore and became one of the NFL's top deep threats. Tight end David Sloan showed what he could do last year when he stays relatively healthy, catching 47 passes and making his first Pro Bowl.

2. CAROLINA. The key to the Panthers' passing success is tight end Wesley Walls, who forces defenses to pinch the middle of the field, opening things up for Muhsin Muhammad and Patrick Jeffers. Muhammad led the NFC in receptions in '99, and Jeffers would have received serious consideration for second-half MVP This group could be lethal if wide receiver Donald Hayes continues to develop.

3. ST. LOUIS. The matchup problems this group poses are unsolvable. Isaac Bruce is an established All-Pro. Torry Holt was even better than Bruce in last season's playoffs, and Az-Zahir Hakim might be the best in the NFL at making plays after the catch. Tight ends Roland Williams and Ernie Conwell, who are more rundown specialists than receivers, prevent this unit from being even better.

Scott Fowler is a sports columnist for The Charlotte Observer.

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