Panther Problems

I know the Bucs have a lot of injuries, but none of them to this point are insurmountable. The Panthers, on the other hand, are a mess at quarterback.

David Carr better not have any flare-ups of his back injury or the Panthers might not have a chance against the Titans Sunday. Vinny Testaverde has a sore Achilles and rested the injury by keeping it in a boot Wednesday. He hopes to be the backup quarterback, but this is what it will be like the rest of the season for the Panthers. Carr, who has a compression fracture in his back, won't be 100 percent the rest of the season. Testaverde, who is 43 years old, is always going to be a question mark.

I remember hearing some analysts saying that Carr was the free agency pickup of the year. Now it may come to the point that Matt Moore has to start some games, which would be tantamount to them throwing in the towel for the season because there's no way he's ready to take on Green Bay or Jacksonville or Dallas. There's no good reason why Tampa Bay shouldn't pass up the Panthers in the NFC South in the next couple weeks.

Speaking of the Panthers, Steve Smith called out rookie receiver Dwayne Jarrett during an interview. But it wasn't Smith's interview, it was Jarrett's.

"Instead of talking to the media, why don't you go watch some film?" Smith said.

Jarrett gave a slight smile and kept talking to the media.

Smith, followed up in a very strong tone.

"Seriously," Smith said.

I would make fun of this, but the fact is that I wish someone had called out Michael Clayton about getting his pudgy ass in the training room a couple years ago so he wouldn't have so much ground to make up now.