• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Scott Fowler Column: Panthers' New Star Says All Right Things -- Now

Posted on: Saturday, 25 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Scott Fowler, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Mar. 25--Keyshawn Johnson can drip with charm when he wants to, and he wanted to on Friday.

At his first news conference as a Carolina Panther, Johnson was gregarious and funny. He was Prince Charming in a Panthers hat -- a blinding smile, a slew of promises, a Super Bowl reference every few paragraphs.

From a football standpoint, this was an ideal move for Carolina, assuming Keyshawn understands that in Dan Henning's "Feed the Stud" offense, Steve Smith must always be fed before Keyshawn.

From a locker room standpoint, we'll see how it goes. Once upon a time, Keyshawn was the epitome of the wide receiver diva. The title of the 1997 book he wrote after his rookie year in the NFL -- "Just Give Me the Damn Ball!" -- has haunted him since. His "Me-Shawn" nickname has had a long shelf life because it contains more than a grain of truth.

But most of what Keyshawn has done in the NFL seems as harmful as toilet-papering a house compared to Terrell Owens' list of misdeeds. I think coach John Fox can handle him. Having offensive coordinator Henning around -- a coach Keyshawn credits for putting him in the Pro Bowl as a New York Jet -- will be huge.

If Johnson performs every task as well as he did Friday, the Panthers will make it to the 41st Super Bowl in Miami. He was captivating. If you knew nothing else about Johnson except those 30 minutes, you would have sworn that if the Super Bowl was the lock, here was the Key.

Carolina General Manager Marty Hurney unveiled Keyshawn's new No. 19 jersey early in the news conference. Hurney is a fine football man, but he is remarkably uncomfortable with TV cameras staring at him. The GM fumbled around with the jersey. Then Hurney kept sitting down, so the No. 19 was only half-exposed.

"You haven't done this much, huh?" Johnson whispered to Hurney at the table. Then he stood up, flashed a dazzling grin and held the jersey aloft. "I've done it a lot."

Keyshawn rescued that moment, just as he's supposed to rescue a couple of dozen third downs in 2006. Keyshawn is the power-forward target over the middle that the Panthers lacked last season. No longer will a team be able to double- or triple-cover Smith on every pass play, as Seattle did superbly in the NFC title game.

Keyshawn is 33 and has never been an NFL speedster. He never really should have been the No. 1 pick of the 1996 draft. You take a wide receiver at No. 1 only if he's going to turn into Smith.

But Keyshawn can catch the ball in traffic, take a big hit, and block. He's Muhsin Muhammad with a louder personality.

As Bill Parcells told reporters about Keyshawn a couple of years ago in Dallas: "He jerks around once in a while, but that's OK. I don't mind that. If you do the jobs that he'll do, then you can chirp a little."

Yet two teams -- Tampa Bay and Dallas -- ultimately decided to give up on him over the past three years. Keyshawn and Tampa coach Jon Gruden grew to despise each other.

So Keyshawn truly has unveiled a lot of new jerseys. Carolina is his fourth NFL team. But he can still play, which is why teams keep throwing money at him. And he can talk. He looked and sounded great Friday.

I feel like this was a wonderful move for the Panthers.

But really, we won't know for sure until the Panthers lose a couple, Keyshawn hasn't gotten the ball and a cluster of reporters approaches him, asking him what he thinks is wrong.

Scott Fowler: (704) 358-5140; sfowler@charlotteobserver.com

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

More News in this Category