beerlover
08-25-2008, 12:12 PM
CAROLINA'S DYNAMIC DUO
Such balletic balance as was displayed Saturday night extended to the top two runners themselves.
There was a clear delineation between the workloads of Williams and Stewart on Saturday night. Williams handled one possession; Stewart the next. With the exception of the a six-play series to start the second half – when Williams handled the first three plays and Stewart took the three that followed – they simply took turns by drives.
Both ran inside. Both ran outside. Both plowed into the middle in short yardage. Both ran away from defenders in the open field. Both averaged over 10 yards per carry. And both burst through the Redskins and into the open field for runs that covered more than half the field.
"We had holes, but what you saw was the explosiveness of both backs," Delhomme said.
Williams started the game, but it was Stewart who found the end zone first, with 5:33 left in the second quarter and the Panthers in first-and-10 at midfield with a 13-0 lead.
When Stewart ran around some blocks from Jeff Otah and Dwayne Jarrett and turned up the left sideline, there was only one thing on his mind:
"Run as fast as I can," he said.
That proved to be blindingly fast, almost as though he went from second to fifth gear without hitting the clutch or shifting into third and fourth. Stewart, however, begged to differ.
"This is my second gear or third gear, whatever you want to call it," he said. "I didn't stiff-arm anybody or whether it was just a reaction, I don't know. All I know was I was running."
The rookie's burst was so quick that he was in the end zone before many in attendance realized what had happened. Those who’d seen him every day, however, knew that such a burst was not only possible, but inevitable.
"I knew he had that in him," said offensive tackle Jordan Gross, "and it was good for fans to get to see that explosive step, hitting the holes and breaking out into the open field, getting past the secondary."
"We’ve been seeing it all throughout training camp and this preseason, and he was able to let it go tonight," running back Nick Goings said. "It was nice."
Even nicer was what happened two minutes and 54 seconds later, after the defense forced a second consecutive Washington three-and-out, when Williams took the handoff from Delhomme, made a slight cut to the right into the open field, veered to the left and zipped through and around potential tacklers for a 60-yard touchdown.
"DeAngelo kind of tried to one-up him on the next run where he did the same thing," Gross said, "so it was just fun to be a part of."
For both runners, the equation was simple.
"All we pretty much had to do was run," Williams said. "We didn’t have to make many cuts; it was one cut and hit it and just put it down in there."
"It’s awesome," Nick Goings said. "DeAngelo and Stew back there, it’s an excellent one-two punch. They really got it going tonight, and it’s something that will be big for us through the season."
http://www.panthers.com/Gameday/Default.aspx?id=31484#
Such balletic balance as was displayed Saturday night extended to the top two runners themselves.
There was a clear delineation between the workloads of Williams and Stewart on Saturday night. Williams handled one possession; Stewart the next. With the exception of the a six-play series to start the second half – when Williams handled the first three plays and Stewart took the three that followed – they simply took turns by drives.
Both ran inside. Both ran outside. Both plowed into the middle in short yardage. Both ran away from defenders in the open field. Both averaged over 10 yards per carry. And both burst through the Redskins and into the open field for runs that covered more than half the field.
"We had holes, but what you saw was the explosiveness of both backs," Delhomme said.
Williams started the game, but it was Stewart who found the end zone first, with 5:33 left in the second quarter and the Panthers in first-and-10 at midfield with a 13-0 lead.
When Stewart ran around some blocks from Jeff Otah and Dwayne Jarrett and turned up the left sideline, there was only one thing on his mind:
"Run as fast as I can," he said.
That proved to be blindingly fast, almost as though he went from second to fifth gear without hitting the clutch or shifting into third and fourth. Stewart, however, begged to differ.
"This is my second gear or third gear, whatever you want to call it," he said. "I didn't stiff-arm anybody or whether it was just a reaction, I don't know. All I know was I was running."
The rookie's burst was so quick that he was in the end zone before many in attendance realized what had happened. Those who’d seen him every day, however, knew that such a burst was not only possible, but inevitable.
"I knew he had that in him," said offensive tackle Jordan Gross, "and it was good for fans to get to see that explosive step, hitting the holes and breaking out into the open field, getting past the secondary."
"We’ve been seeing it all throughout training camp and this preseason, and he was able to let it go tonight," running back Nick Goings said. "It was nice."
Even nicer was what happened two minutes and 54 seconds later, after the defense forced a second consecutive Washington three-and-out, when Williams took the handoff from Delhomme, made a slight cut to the right into the open field, veered to the left and zipped through and around potential tacklers for a 60-yard touchdown.
"DeAngelo kind of tried to one-up him on the next run where he did the same thing," Gross said, "so it was just fun to be a part of."
For both runners, the equation was simple.
"All we pretty much had to do was run," Williams said. "We didn’t have to make many cuts; it was one cut and hit it and just put it down in there."
"It’s awesome," Nick Goings said. "DeAngelo and Stew back there, it’s an excellent one-two punch. They really got it going tonight, and it’s something that will be big for us through the season."
http://www.panthers.com/Gameday/Default.aspx?id=31484#