His teammates say Julius Peppers is more vocal this season, a year after Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson challenged the defensive end to become a leader.
Peppers said Wednesday it's no accident it took so long. He couldn't accept that role until Mike Rucker retired.
"Last year we talked about Mr. Richardson calling me out and asking me to be a leader on this team,"
Peppers said. "You talked about that, but you don't really realize, I'm here and Mike Rucker, the guy who when I first came here I hung onto and tried to learn from him. I respected him as much as you can respect anybody."
Rucker and Peppers were the starting defensive ends for six years. Rucker returned from major knee surgery to regain his starting job last year.
"I can't really be myself around him and try to take over, if you want to call it the big dog role of the defense with him still in it,"
Peppers said.
Rucker announced his retirement in the offseason, ending a nine-year career with Carolina, and Peppers has helped fill the void. He's been seen firing up players on the sidelines and has been more emotional on the field.
"Last year, I kind of fell back a little bit and let Rucker do his thing,"
Peppers said. "Now, I feel like I've been here the longest, and I feel like I can do that a little more."
Peppers is coming off his most impressive performance of the season. A week after doing little in a 27-3 loss to Tampa Bay, Peppers had a sack, two tackles for a loss, a quarterback hurry, a pass deflection, a fourth-down tackle and forced a fumble that led to the game-changing touchdown run by Jonathan Stewart.
Peppers has four sacks, a year after he was held to a career-low 2 1/2 and saw his three-year streak of Pro Bowl selections snapped.
"I am a lot stronger,"
Peppers said.
"I worked out hard in the offseason, like everybody in here did. That's the result, is you play better on the field, your performance is better. That's what you're seeing, a whole bunch of work in the offseason paying off."
And the Panthers are seeing their best defensive player take a leadership role - finally.
"He's just an all-around, vocal person this year,"
defensive end Charles Johnson said.
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ANKLE WOES: Center Ryan Kalil and right tackle Jeff Otah played catch with a medicine ball as their teammates practiced on an adjacent field Wednesday.
The starting offensive linemen remained sidelined with sprained right ankles that have kept Otah out of the past three games and Kalil the last two.
While coach John Fox has insisted they won't be extra cautious with a bye next week, their absence from practice Wednesday is a sign they may sit another game.
The news was better for receiver D.J. Hackett, who practiced on a limited basis for the first time since he sprained his right knee on the opening kickoff against Kansas City on Oct. 5.
"He looked better,"
Fox said. "I think he's definitely now day-to-day. He's not week-to-week any more, which is a good sign. He's a guy that had production for us early in the season, had the injury and we're happy to have him back out there."
Receiver Muhsin Muhammad was given the day off to rest his 35-year-old body. Linebacker Thomas Davis (shoulder) was limited in practice.
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REMEMBERING VINNY: The Panthers face Arizona on Sunday for the first time since Vinny Testaverde rode to the rescue last year.
With Jake Delhomme out for the season with an elbow injury and David Carr nursing a sore back, the Panthers signed the then-43-year-old Testaverde before the start of practice on a Wednesday. Four days later, and after an intense crash course to learn the offense, Testaverde threw for 206 yards and a touchdown in Carolina's 25-10 win.
"I think he had been around (the offense). I think he knew kind of the basics and kind of brushed off the dust a little bit on some of it,"
tight end Jeff King said. "He came in and did a great job. Now we have Jake back and we welcome that. Hopefully we can go out and play even better than we did last year."
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EXTRA POINTS: After getting flagged only three times for 29 yards against New Orleans, the Panthers are no longer the most penalized team in the NFL. ... The Panthers, who have had three punts blocked and two returned for touchdowns, will need to paying attention Sunday. Arizona beat Dallas in Week 6 by becoming the first team in NFL history to win a regular-season overtime game with a touchdown off a blocked punt.
