Published: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 07:21 AM

Another blow: Panthers' Davis out for rest of the season

CHARLOTTE -- Coming home from New Orleans with a 3-5 record instead of a signature win and somewhat of a shot at the playoffs was painful enough for the Carolina Panthers.

The news they got Monday was even worse.

The Panthers will be without star outside linebacker Thomas Davis for the rest of the season after an MRI revealed he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during Sunday's 30-20 loss to the Saints. It's the same knee in which a sprain of the medial collateral ligament cost him a month of preseason time. The Panthers haven't officially put him on injured reserve or signed a replacement on the 53-man roster, though that is expected today.

For all the bad news the Panthers have endured this year, this one stings most, because the homegrown 26-year-old linebacker had finally found his role, figuring out how to mesh his incredible physical talent with an increased understanding of the new system which seemed built for him.

“He's played very well,” Panthers coach John Fox said Monday, prior to the diagnosis. “I feel bad for the young man because he's put a lot into it. He was playing at a high level. It's unfortunate, and I feel bad for him and his family. On that particular play where he went down, they were able to get out of the end zone. It was unfortunate that he got hurt, and it was unfortunate he got hurt in the middle of that play.

“But he's a tough guy, a tough-minded guy, and whatever the extent of the injury is, I know he'll deal with it in the right manner.”

In his place, the Panthers are expected to start veteran Landon Johnson, who started two weeks ago against Buffalo (when Davis had a hamstring strain), collecting 10 tackles in the loss.

“He's been out before, and Landon came in and did a great job. So we expect Landon to come in and do a great job again,” defensive tackle Damione Lewis said. “ … It's a great opportunity for him to step up and do some things. Hopefully, he's ready to go, which I'm sure he is. He's been busting his butt in practice every day, too. When he got in (Sunday), he did some things.

“He's not Thomas, by no stretch of the imagination, but he's the best that Landon can be, and we can win with that.”

Not many players are like Davis, a 245-pounder with the speed of a defensive back. He long has been known as one of the fastest Panthers, and that kind of movement is what the team will miss the most. Coupled with his understanding of his position, he was simply playing faster than before.

“I haven't seen one like him, on any team I've played on, or another team,” veteran linebacker Na'il Diggs said when asked about Davis' athleticism. “Just flat-out, just crazy talent, crazy athleticism. You can work all offseason trying to get and you'd never get it. It's one of those things, just a gift he's born with.

“It's something he has in his tool-belt post-surgery, that he can makes leaps and bounds ahead of where he is. Hopefully it's a speedy process and he gets through it healthy.”

Davis was backpedaling and turning to break on the ball when his knee gave out in the fourth quarter, but he wasn't touched by another player. He went down in a heap, and sat quietly on the sidelines after being helped off, with a number of players and team employees coming by to console him.

That continued Monday, as he sat through defensive meetings before a cart was brought around back to give him a ride back to his car.

The Panthers now have to try to reconfigure a defense that was built for him. From the start, the Tampa 2 scheme was designed with rangy weakside linebackers in mind, from Derrick Brooks in Tampa Bay to Lance Briggs in Chicago to Cato June in Indianapolis.

Davis was in the same mold, with 69 tackles, two sacks and an interception so far this season, as he and middle linebacker Jon Beason swapped the team lead in tackles. His fast-flowing style enabled the Panthers to slow down backs in pass patterns and tight ends better than in recent years.

Now they'll do it with Johnson, who has been a productive starter in the past. He was Cincinnati's leading tackler three times in a four-year span, playing all three spots. He came to Charlotte on a three-year, $10 million contract prior to last season, but took a pay cut to stay this year.

He said he's probably most comfortable playing the weakside spot, though he didn't claim it for his own, as the Panthers will list James Anderson as a possibility as well.

“If I end up going in to replace TD, obviously that's big shoes to fill,” Johnson said. “I've just got to practice as hard as I can, prepare as hard as I can and do the best I can when I'm out there.

“When it comes down to it, linebacker is linebacker. The reads are different, the position is, but it's still running and hitting and trying to get to the ball.”

Still, Johnson lacks Davis' closing speed, and the Panthers will have to adapt to that by scheme.

“It is a big loss,” Diggs said. “But guys are going to have to step up, pick their game up. I've seen lesser athletes play that position in this defense and do OK.

“It's not a Thomas, but they get the job done. That's what you've got to have, got to have a guy to put his hard hat on and go to work.”