0-2 Panthers Find Smith Defensive

The Carolina Panthers find themselves staring squarely at the abyss this weekend. Well, maybe that's a little extreme, but when your team has started out 0-2 in a season that pundits are talking "Super Bowl"...0-3 would be a cataclysmic disaster. So, with that in mind it's starting to feel like people are beginning to lose it a little. Take the case of the Panthers' star wide out, Steve Smith. Smith has been on the sidelines for the first two games of the season with a hamstring problem and the Panthers offense is missing him in a big way. So the rumors have begun about Smith missing games with more than a bad hammy; like a sore contract. Smith felt strongly enough about the rumor this week that he talked to the media about it in order to refute the allegation.

"For the people who are insulting me and this organization, who think I'm going to stoop down to that level, that's not me," Smith said. "There are a lot of other things I can be doing if I'm holding out. I can go home. I can go to the lake house with my family. I can do a lot of things more important than to make a (fool) out of myself and the organization. You're foolish to think that."

Steve Smith is a lot of things; flamboyant, confident, entertaining, but is he dishonest enough to miss games over wanting a bigger contract? Deion Branch has already made news this season by refusing to play for the Patriots under what he felt was a less than fair deal. Branch wound up getting some of what he wanted, but only after a trade to Seattle. Last season, Javon Walker of the Packers refused to play and is now in the employ of the Broncos. I'm not even going to mention T.O. because you get the point. Sometimes receivers feel underpaid and they sit out. However, when a receiver or any player does something like that...they make noise about it. Smith has said absolutely nothing about his contract while he's been on the sidelines. He hasn't created a spectacle at practice nursing his hamstring while shouting out his career numbers like a carnival barker. That would be foolish and as Smith points out...he's no fool. He's also listed as questionable for this weekend's game in Tampa. The Panthers have enough defense to give them a chance to win against the Bucs without Smith, but it feels like the team needs Smith back on the field for their own mental benefit. Anything that the Panthers can do to jumpstart the season, needs to be done this week. Earlier this week, the Carolina players were telling the media that the 0-2 start wasn't the end of the world. No. But since 1990, there have only been three teams that have started the NFL season 0-3 and still made the playoffs. So, it's pretty close. The Panthers are 0-2 and the Bucs are 0-2. Someone is going to feel like it's the end of the world by late Sunday afternoon.