saintz08

Plenty of desire to fire opposing defenses up that is :

Receiver's words provoke Panthers
Minter, secondary eager to face Saints' Horn
PAT YASINSKAS
Staff Writer




Joe Horn


On most days, safety Mike Minter is the most diplomatic of the Carolina Panthers. Thursday wasn't one of those days.

He was stung by comments made by Joe Horn after New Orleans defeated Carolina 34-24 in November. Horn said he saw fear in the eyes of Carolina's secondary during the Saints' game-winning drive.

Minter has a promise for Horn as the Panthers prepare for Sunday's rematch at the Superdome in New Orleans.

"I guarantee you at the end of the game he won't see fear in our eyes," Minter said. "We haven't forgotten about that. We'll take that up come Sunday."

Minter isn't the only one looking forward to Sunday. For cornerbacks Terry Cousin and Reggie Howard, the rematch could help avenge one of the few bad outings for a secondary considered a weakness entering the season.

New Orleans drove 95 yards to take the lead with one minute, 18 seconds left. Carolina led 24-20 with 3:31 left, and Howard made what appeared to be a game-clinching interception on the first play of the Saints' drive. But he was called for illegal contact.

"I had made the play to win," Howard said. "But, unfortunately, there was a call made that I had no control over to lose the game. It took me a little bit to get over it. It's over now, but it's extra motivation going into this game."

Howard isn't the only one looking at the November loss as motivation. Cousin also was involved in a crucial play on the drive. On a second-and-13 from the New Orleans 42, quarterback Aaron Brooks was sacked for an 8-yard loss. But the play was wiped out by a defensive holding call on Cousin.

It gave New Orleans a fresh set of downs and Brooks eventually hit rookie Donte Stallworth with the game-winning touchdown.

But extra motivation is nothing new for Cousin and Howard, who won full-time starting jobs for the first times in their careers in training camp. Preseason magazines ripped on Carolina's cornerback situation and even coach John Fox admitted he had early doubts.

"I'd say probably our biggest question mark on defense was our secondary, particularly our corners," Fox said. "I've been pleased with both Reggie and Terry Cousin's performance this year. That's been a bright spot for us as far as why we've been able to play consistently well on defense."

Aside from the New Orleans game, there haven't been many negative plays involving the cornerbacks. Carolina's defense ranks fourth overall in the NFL and sixth against the pass.

"Look where we are," Cousin said. "Look at the stats and where we rank. We don't look at what people say. We just, at the end of the day, look at the stats, how much the yardage is and what plays they made and measure ourselves there."

The Panthers haven't allowed an opposing team to throw for 300 yards. In hindsight, Cousin said the early skepticism might have been good.

"It always motivates a guy when they don't really expect anything out of you," he said. "It does light a fire under you."

There is another fire burning and the Panthers hope to extinguish it Sunday.

"Joe Horn was talking crazy, talking about the corners and how he saw the fear in their eyes on the last drive," Minter said. "That's crazy. These corners don't have fear. We're going to see about that on Sunday."

DATMAN

What amazes me is how easily other teams can take the smallest things to motivate them to play hard.

Our beloved Saints on the other hand can\'t see home field advantage, playoffs, etc as reasons to stay motivated.

So what if the team you\'re playing is \"sorry\". Whatever happened to simply going out and takin\' a team behind the woodshed? Sad!




[Edited on 28/12/2002 by DATMAN]

Covsaint

Horn has repeatedly expressed himself and repeatedly performed. The guy brings it every game.

I love him.

Covsaint

Horn has repeatedly expressed himself and repeatedly performed. The guy brings it every game.