'Old guy' Moose still dangerous for Panthers

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- There were days recently when Carolina Panthers wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad simply felt like an old man.

But Tuesday, he could smile when he said it, because the old man just made some plays.

“What are you talking about, I am the old guy running the possession routes,” the 36-year-old said, laughing at the reality of his role.

But after his six-catch, 91-yard performance against Atlanta, it's fair to wonder if Muhammad doesn't have just a little more left in his tank, if he might have been the thing the Panthers passing game needed all along. After all, attempts to replace him with younger models have failed for about five years running now, something he takes veiled if not considerable pride in.

“It's just a blessing for me to be able to play this game. I've had 14 great years to play this game — God has been good to me,” Muhammad said. “I'm going to continue to play this game as hard as I can, preparing for this game. I don't think that I can be put in a box and say ‘He's too old to play this game' or ‘He can't do what he used to do' or those other things.

“Because I still go out and block very good, and I still catch balls that are thrown to me, and I still know how to get open. I'm still a factor in this team, in this offense, and I'm always available when they're ready to throw me the ball.”

Granted, Muhammad has always been available.

The guy who is out there now trying to provide a complement to Steve Smith isn't the same guy who did it before. He has slowed some, but he was never all that fast — in part, he said, because of a hamstring problem he was supposed to have surgically repaired 14 years ago but never did. But he still is able to play a physical game, to lay enough blocks to spring long runs.

And he's doing it with far less of an edge than he used to.

This was, after all, the guy with the D. Coy jersey. But when asked Tuesday about his numbers being down, Muhammad smiled and joked: “Are they? I didn't notice.”

“I don't know, six or seven years ago I had a lot more opportunities to catch the football,” he said when asked about the evolution of his role. “But I don't complain about that kind of stuff. So I guess I'm way more patient than I was before. I'm healthy. I think I still have some good usable qualities.

“It is what it is. You get what you get with me. I'm a great blocker, I'm going to catch the tough balls and make the key plays here and there, and go out and play with a lot of fun and a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully bring some people along with me.”

It wasn't always that way. He carried the Panthers in 2004, when Smith broke his ankle in the opener and Muhammad responded with 93 catches for 1,405 yards and 16 touchdowns. Then the Bears swooped in with a six-year, $30 million contract, though he only got three years' worth.

But the Muhammad who came back last year is a different player and a different person, his teammates attest.

The old jokes still come in rapid fashion, with Smith saying he would agree with anything Muhammad said: “When you've been around the block and been playing for 45 years like that, I think Moose is pretty accurate.”

“I think it's so cool to be playing with my friend; that is the cool part,” Smith said. “A lot of people say I need a guy on the other side of me, but for me, I get to play with one of my good friends on the team. I know that isn't always going to be at times, not necessarily because I'm not friends with other wide receivers, but me and Moose have been together for so long that it's neat and real cool.

“Every time we line up against each other, we have conversations. We laugh. We sometimes make fun of people in the huddle without them even knowing because we've been around each other for so long. We even make fun of each other. It's cool that we get to do that. It's those little gems and memories that I'll have for a lifetime, just playing around and joking with Moose.”