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Published: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009 08:12 AM

Panthers turn over a new leaf

Team hopes focus on takeaways will spark return to form

CHARLOTTE -- 

After every Carolina Panthers loss early in the season, there was a temptation to find a villain. Julius Peppers had his turn, John Fox got a few, Jake Delhomme had several. Different elements of the game stepped up weekly to cause losses.

But the difference in Sunday's 34-21 win at Arizona was that the Panthers finally stood together to fix the one thing that was killing them most.

After entering the game with the worst turnover margin in the league (minus-14), the Panthers managed to keep the ball when they had it, and take it away from Arizona when they didn't.

The result was a six-turnover swing in that number, the single biggest reason the Panthers improved to 3-4.

They still are tied for 28th in ratio (minus-8), but at least the trend is pointing the right direction.

So for all the talk about exorcising demons or individual players, the emphasis on turnovers will be the thing that helps them save a season if it's going to happen.

“The biggest thing is just getting those turnovers flipped around,” Fox said Monday. “Maybe sometimes a little bit too much is put on '08. We're in '09 now. Last year is last year. For this season at this point, I think that should do something to boost our confidence.

“To get that huge statistic, not that I'm into statistics, but that one is a big one to get flipped around. I think that's helpful, especially as we prepare to play a really, really good New Orleans team at their place.”

For the first time since their last trip to New Orleans (the 2008 regular-season finale), quarterback Jake Delhomme got through a game without giving the ball away, ending a 21-turnover skid over seven games including last year's playoff loss to the Cardinals.

He didn't do too much with the ball while he was in (7 of 14 passing for 90 yards), but did throw a touchdown and refused to throw it to the other team. Coupled with a running game that put 270 yards up against the league's previously top-ranked run defense, it was nearly the perfect offensive recipe.

“We run the ball, that's what we do,” running back DeAngelo Williams said. “That's coach Fox ball.”

On their first drive, a 15-play march that chewed up half of the first quarter, Delhomme was 4 of 6 for 35 yards, but that included two third-down completions to Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith, lending the kind of early balance the Panthers had to have.

“That's huge,” Fox said of the opening drive. “This game's about momentum and confidence. If you're not getting positive results, it's hard to gain confidence. You keep stepping out in the ring and getting floored, it doesn't do much for your confidence. To have success does the world for your confidence.”

That allowed the Panthers to slide easily into their preferred mode of running it down someone's throat. It was absent in the previous week's disaster against Buffalo (44 pass attempts, 25 rushes against Buffalo's league-worst run D), but something they knew they had to fix.

“Hopefully we can do better; you never play a perfect game,” left tackle Jordan Gross said. “We played our style of football. We didn't turn the ball over. We kept the clock and possession in our favor. We kind of wore them out.

“Hopefully this is a formula we can keep doing.”

Of course, having their teammates on the other side doing their part is significant as well.

The six turnovers created nearly matched their seven in the first six games. That figure was last in the league a week ago, but the Panthers are tied for ninth in the league in takeaways now. Five interceptions got them from last in the league with three to a tie for fifth in the league with eight.

“Well, it's huge,” Fox said if the defensive swing. “We've been talking about (it). The fact of the matter is that when you turn the ball over at the rate we'd turned it over, we were fortunate to be 2-4 prior to Sunday's game.

“We definitely had to get that fixed, and the way it looks when you're on the other side of that is how it looked Sunday.”

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt called the reversal from last year's playoff game “a cruel twist of fate,” but the result was part of an offseason-long process for Carolina.

Through the entire preseason, the Panthers talked about creating turnovers, which would be a cumulative effort by the entire defense. They had to have pass rush, they had to be sound tackling, and then they had to get the ball out. It took a few weeks to get those boxes checked off, but the defense is beginning to show the potential that was hinted at this summer.