Injured Panthers fullbacks Hoover, Fiammetta MIA at practice

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- If you came to the Carolina Panthers practice Wednesday looking for fullbacks, you were out of luck — there weren't any.

Both starter Brad Hoover (high ankle sprain) and backup Tony Fiammetta (concussion) were held out of Wednesday's work, and there aren't any more around. Hoover's going to be out at least a few weeks, and the team's going to take head injuries seriously, so Fiammetta may not be back this week either.

That's going to leave the Panthers scrambling to fill in the position with the backs and tight ends they have on hand, because they don't even have one on the practice squad at the moment.

“It wouldn't change what you do,” coach John Fox said. “You don't re-tool your whole offense at this stage of the game. You just ask people to take on new roles. It will probably be more in that direction. Obviously, I'm not going to go into detail on who those people are or what we're doing for obvious reasons.”

Fox isn't going to tip his hand, but it isn't like they've got many options.

Their tight ends are blockers first, and Jeff King actually got his first action with the Panthers as an on-the-move blocker, sometimes coming out of the backfield, so it's not a foreign language to him.

“Hopefully, it doesn't change much at all; you'd like to think that,” King said of the offense without Hoover. “He's very valuable to what we do, and we're going to have to pick it up and learn from him and what he does. We've been around Hoover a long time. Hopefully, we can assimilate a little bit of what he does for us.

“He's got our respect and has had it. It's a big task for any of us who are called upon to take on that role.”

Granted, the Panthers are short on tight ends as well, as receiving threat Dante Rosario's still out with a knee problem, leaving just King, Gary Barnidge and practice squader Jason Pociask.

“It's a hard position to field right now — tight ends are very valuable these days,” King said, his chest puffing up with pride.

The reality for the Panthers is they don't have too many other options. They've got four halfbacks on the roster, but none are really fullback-sized. It's not an ideal situation for a team that wants to run as often as possible, but it's what they have to deal with.

“I don't want to say that's fun, but hey, that's what we've got,” quarterback Jake Delhomme said. “Nobody's coming to rescue us. Nobody's coming to save us. Other guys got to step up. Other guys have to do some different things.

“Let's go. That's the mentality you have to have. It's an opportunity. That's what guys want in this league, and some guys are going to get them. Let's see if we can make the most of it.”

INJURY UPDATE — It wasn't just the fullbacks and tight ends that were running short.

In addition to Hoover, Fiammetta and Rosario, four other Panthers were held out of practice. Wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad (knee), running back Jonathan Stewart (his regular Wednesday Achilles soreness), safety Charles Godfrey (ankle) and linebacker Landon Johnson (shoulder) also were out of action.

That left parts of practice a little sparse, as running backs coach Jim Skipper only had three guys to work with in individual drills ( DeAngelo Williams, Mike Goodson and Tyrell Sutton).

“It's a few,” Fox said of the injuries, “But it's the NFL.”

Delhomme (chest) practiced fully Wednesday, after taking a hard shot and visiting a hospital Sunday in Arizona.

HONORS FOR PEPPERS — Defensive end Julius Peppers got a round of applause at the end of practice, after being named NFC defensive player of the week. Peppers had a sack, a forced fumble, and a 13-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Panthers 34-21 win at Arizona.

Peppers has six sacks and two forced fumbles in his last four games.

This was his third player of the week award, previously picking them up in 2006 and 2008. He's the first player in franchise history to win it three times. He's also just the second Panther to win weekly honors this year, after punter Jason Baker won the special teams award in Week 5.

EXTRA POINTS — Backup linebacker Dan Connor was awarded the team's Ed Block Courage Award on Wednesday.

Connor has come back from a knee injury as a rookie and has become one of the team's top special teams players. He actually tore his left ACL running down a kickoff last year against Minnesota but stayed in the game for some more special teams work before collapsing and realizing he was already hurt.

Players on each team vote for a winner, and a league-wide award will be presented in February. ...

The Panthers did take a look at a couple of fullback prospects in workouts late Tuesday afternoon but didn't sign either.

They worked out former Nevada prospect Jerome Johnson, and Jehuu Caulcrick from Michigan State. Johnson was a linebacker in college who actually had a decent camp with St. Louis as a lead-blocker, while Caulcrick spent most of last year on the New York Jets' practice squad.