Cavaliers hit new Leitao low
Walk-on Joe Vita nails a 10-footer in the final seconds as Fordham shocks host Virginia.
Doug Doughty
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Dave Leitao's first season as Virginia men's basketball coach already has been marked by its low point.

It can't get much worse than a home loss to a Fordham team that entered Wednesday's play at 1-6.

The Rams got a 10-foot bank shot from walk-on Joe Vita with 3.4 seconds left and handed the Cavaliers their first nonconference loss at University Hall in almost five years, 62-60.

UVa (3-3) was playing without sophomore point guard Sean Singletary, who played 35 minutes Sunday at Georgia Tech but was hobbled Wednesday night by a hip injury.

"I almost had a heart attack when I walked in and Singletary was in street clothes," Fordham coach Dereck Whitteburg said. "I just thought, 'Wow. Unfortunate for them and good for us.'

"I always come out late. I was talking to Dave and I see Singletary sitting there. In my mind, I'm saying. 'Oh, my goodness.' We've been preparing for him, watching tape and stressing Singletary, Singletary, Singletary."

Walk-on Billy Campbell, who started in Singletary's place, knew there was a possibility Singletary would not play, but teammates were not fully certain of his unavailability until 2 12 hours before tip-off.

"We really didn't have a point guard out there today," Leitao said. "Billy's not a natural point and neither is J.R. [Reynolds]. "

Back-up point guard T.J. Bannister came into the season with 21 career starts but underwent sports hernia surgery earlier in the fall and missed the first four games of the season. He played seven minutes Wednesday night, just six seconds of it in the second half.

"He's really not ready physically or mentally or in game shape to play right now," Leitao said.

Reynolds spent long stretches at point guard, a position at which he has not seemed comfortable when spelling Singletary this year.

"Right now, he's [Reynolds] not playing very well, which means he's probably not a very good player," Leitao said. "He's got to find a way out of it."

Reynolds was 2-of-8 from the field, committed four turnovers and missed the second half of two 1-and-1 opportunities in the final 1:17. The first would have put the Cavaliers up by two points and the second would have given UVa a one-point lead with 53.4 seconds left.

Instead, with the score 60-60, Tunji Soroye fouled Fordham center Bryant Dunston with 36.4 seconds left, essentially giving the Rams an opportunity to hold the ball for a last shot.

"You say that every day in practice," Leitao said. "I don't think there's a team in America that doesn't say, 'Don't make a dumb foul.' Tunji's foul was not a smart foul."

Reynolds got off a game-winning attempt from 22 feet, but it glanced off the left side of the rim as a small crowd of roughly 3,000 looked on.

"The last shot had nothing to do with the game," said Leitao, who had a similar evaluation of Vita's go-ahead basket for the Rams.

"The score, as I've said, is only a byproduct of how well you execute. If you win by one, versus you lose by two, it's only fool's gold because you're waiting for something negative to happen the next time you play."

One statistical comparison will haunt Leitao for 10 days, while the Cavaliers are on exam break and waiting to resume play Dec. 17 at Gonzaga. Fordham shot 34.8 percent in the first half and 53.3 percent for the second half.

Guard Jermaine Anderson had 19 of his 21 points in the second half, matching Dunston, a 6-foot-8 post man who was 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, for team scoring honors.

UVa junior Jason Cain came off the bench to post career highs of 16 points and 15 rebounds -- his second straight double-double -- and the Cavaliers got a career-high 12 points from his fellow post man, 6-11 sophomore Soroye.

Leitao conceded that Cain's numbers have been attention-grabbing, "but if he plays better and somebody else plays worse, what difference does it make?"

 

Jackets miffed at Music City snub
Georgia Tech AD Dave Braine feels the Yellow Jackets, not UVa, should be playing in Nashville.
Doug Doughty
The Roanoke Times

There is no question in Dave Braine's mind that Georgia Tech -- not Virginia -- should be filling the ACC's slot in the Music City Bowl.

"When you have a 7-4 record, which is better than Virginia's, and when you have a 5-3 conference record, which is better than Virginia's, you shouldn't have to buy a game," Braine, the Georgia Tech athletic director, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

So, was Braine saying that Virginia bought its way into the Music City Bowl? Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage said the suggestion that UVa had promised to buy 25,000 tickets was "absolutely untrue."

"That's what I had heard," Braine said, "but if Craig said it's untrue, then it's untrue."

Braine might have assumed that Virginia had offered to buy 25,000 tickets to the Music City Bowl because Georgia Tech had offered to buy 20,000. He said Music City Bowl executive director Scott Ramsey had not returned his call.

The ACC makes ticket guarantees but doesn't like its schools to do so individually.

"So what!" Braine said. "They're supposed to protect everybody, too."

The problem occurred when eight ACC teams became bowl eligible. The ACC had tie-ins with six games, then added the Music City Bowl and Emerald Bowl when other conferences could not fill available slots.

"People can cry," Braine said. "BC and us are probably the two people who feel we should be someplace else."

Boston College tied for first in the ACC's Atlantic Division and finished 8-3, but the Eagles fell to the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Five other ACC teams were picked ahead of the Eagles, including a 6-5 North Carolina State team.

"If I'm complaining about us, how do you think [BC athletic director] Gene DeFilippo feels right now?" Braine said. "If he were still in the Big East, where would he be? He'd be in the Gator Bowl."

A major reason that Virginia got the Music City Bowl was a pattern of ticket sales established when the Cavaliers sold 22,000 seats to the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, N.C., in 2002, then took even more fans to Charlotte the next year.

Georgia Tech took 6,500 fans to the Champs One Bowl last year in Orlando, Fla., but the Yellow Jackets haven't had the opportunity to play in Charlotte -- a car ride for most of the ACC fan followings.

"And we probably never will," Braine said. "Charlotte told us. They were honest. They said they were either going to take Clemson or N.C. State. They had to sell tickets."

Braine concedes that while Virginia was concentrating on the Music City Bowl, Georgia Tech had its attention divided.

"Up till [Virginia] Tech lost Saturday night, we were locked into the Peach Bowl," Braine said.

"The Peach Bowl and Gator Bowl both like Georgia Tech because we draw very well in both those places, obviously."

If Virginia Tech had beaten 14-point underdog Florida State in the ACC championship game, Miami would have gone to the Gator Bowl and Georgia Tech to the Peach.

Georgia Tech had put Virginia Tech in position to play for the ACC championship by beating Miami in the season's 10th week.

Braine, who is in his ninth year as Georgia Tech athletic director, was the Hokies' athletic director for 10 years before that. He knows how the system works.

"This is my 14th straight bowl," he said. "Believe me, I do."

 

More U-Va. Assistants May Be on the Move
Thursday, December 8, 2005; Page E02

The number of Virginia football assistants leaving for other jobs could increase to five by the end of the week, sources close to the situation said last night.

Cavaliers inside linebackers-special teams coach Mark D'Onofrio is expected to join Al Golden 's staff at Temple. Golden was Virginia's defensive coordinator until he was hired Monday by Temple. Golden and D'Onofrio were teammates at Penn State and were the best man in each other's wedding.

Also, Cavaliers defensive line coach Levern Belin has been offered a job by new Kansas State coach Ron Prince , sources close to the Virginia staff said last night. Prince was Virginia's offensive coordinator the past three seasons.

Cavaliers associate head coach-outside linebackers coach Danny Rocco was named head coach at Division I-AA Liberty last week.

If D'Onofrio and Belin leave, Virginia Coach Al Groh would have only four full-time assistants remaining on his staff.

-- Mark Schlabach
 

Undermanned Cavs shocked at home
Fordham rallies in 2nd half for first victory over ACC opponent since Jan. 4, 1967
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 8, 2005
FORDHAM 62 U.VA. 60

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Without their best player, the Virginia Cavaliers are no match for a mediocre Atlantic 10 basketball team. That was painfully obvious to the smattering of U.Va. fans who showed up at University Hall last night.

Sophomore point guard Sean Singletary, sidelined with an injured hip, watched in street clothes as Fordham, down by seven with 6 minutes left, rallied for a stunning 62-60 victory before about 3,000 spectators.

"They had a great guard out," said Rams coach Dereck Whittenburg, who knows U-Hall well from his days as an N.C. State star. "I just thought, 'Wow, unfortunate for them, but great for us.'"

Whittenburg didn't learn until moments before the opening tip that Singletary, Virginia's leading scorer, wouldn't play.

"I almost had a heart attack," Fordham's third-year coach said.

Reserve forward Nicholas Vita, a 6-3 senior walk-on, scored the go-ahead basket with 3.4 seconds left, calmly banking in a 10-footer from the right side. After a timeout, U.Va. forward Jason Cain inbounded to junior guard J.R. Reynolds, who dribbled upcourt and launched a running 22-footer as time expired.

It missed, and the Rams (2-6) had their first victory over an ACC opponent since Jan. 4, 1967, when they beat N.C. State at the Greensboro Coliseum.

"We pretty much laid down for them, which you can't do," Cain said. "You can't lay down on a team, because then they'll come and step on your throat."

The Cavaliers (3-3) don't play again until a Dec. 17 visit to No. 9 Gonzaga.

Fordham, which shot 34.8 percent from the floor in the first half, shot 53.3 percent in the second. Senior guard Jermaine Anderson scored 19 of his 21 points after intermission. Sophomore forward Bryant Dunston, last season's A-10 rookie of the year, had 15 of his 21 in the final 20 minutes.

His team's defensive effort, or lack thereof, put Virginia's first-year coach, Dave Leitao, in a foul mood.

"The same kind of effort we got for the first 20 minutes, we didn't get for the second," Leitao said.

In Singletary's absence, U.Va. had seven healthy scholarship players. Senior walk-on Billy Campbell started at point guard. Junior point guard T.J. Bannister, still recovering from a sports hernia, played 6 seconds in the second half and 7 minutes overall.

For the second consecutive game, Cain posted career highs in points and rebounds. The 6-10 junior had 15 and 11 at Georgia Tech on Sunday night, and he came off the bench to contribute 16 and 15 last night. Sophomore center Tunji Soroye added a career-best 12 points and six boards. But on a night when U.Va. desperately needed a big game from Reynolds, he didn't deliver.

Reynolds, who played out of position at the point for long stretches, missed two free throws in the final 1:17, each after he'd made the front end of a one-and-one. He shot 2 for 8 from the floor and finished with eight points, the third time in his four games that he's failed to reach double figures.

"Right now he's not playing very well," Leitao said, "which means he's probably not a good very player. He's got to find his way out of it."

With 6:18 remaining, Cain made a layup off a pass from sophomore swingman Adrian Joseph, pushing Virginia's lead to 56-49.

"We got a little bit of a lead, took a deep breath and thought the game was over," said Leitao, his disgust palpable. "And there they came. The same things they were doing in the first half, they did in the second. This time they got open looks and confidently knocked them down."

 

Virginia fans not in bowl spirit yet
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 8, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Ticket sales for the Music City Bowl have been sluggish at the University of Virginia this week.

The Dec. 30 game in Nashville, Tenn., will match U.Va. and Minnesota, and each school received an allotment of 10,000 tickets for which it is responsible.

As of early yesterday afternoon, U.Va. had sold about 2,335 tickets to the public, said Rich Murray, director of athletics media relations. The school will buy about 1,500 tickets for "internal use," Murray said.

That leaves about 6,150 tickets still available from Virginia's allotment.

The Music City chose the Cavaliers (6-5) in part because U.Va. officials expressed confidence that a large contingent of fans would make the trip to Nashville.

"I will say Virginia, from the standpoint of general enthusiasm, was just outstanding," Scott Ramsey, the Music City's executive director, told The Times-Dispatch.

Virginia fans turned out in force for the 2002 and'03 Continental Tire Bowls in Charlotte, N.C. Few U.Va. fans, however, traveled to Boise, Idaho, for last year's MPC Computers Bowl. - Jeff White

 

Virginia falls to Fordham
Singletary misses game due to injury
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
December 8, 2005

In 1983, Dereck Whittenburg's 40-foot heave was picked off in mid-air by teammate Lorenzo Charles, who dunked to give N.C. State a shocking win over Houston in the NCAA Tournament finals.
On Wednesday night, playing against Fordham - the team Whittenburg now coaches - the University of Virginia basketball team needed a similar miracle.

UVa, playing without point guard Sean Singletary, trailed the Rams by a basket with 3.4 seconds and needed to go the length of the floor.

The ball was inbounded to J.R. Reynolds, who dribbled behind his back to elude a defender near the half-court line, then took a running shot from about three feet behind the 3-point line.

The ball bounced off the rim, giving the Rams a 62-60 win in front of a crowd of 6,328 at University Hall.

The Cavs (3-3, 0-1) led by seven with six minutes to play, but couldn't deliver a knockout blow.

"I don't know whether we took a breather, but we definitely had a lapse in our defensive intensity," point guard Billy Campbell said. "We gave up some things we shouldn't have given up. With or without Sean, we have to have a better intensity for 40 minutes."

After the game, UVa coach Dave Leitao couldn't hide his anger with his team's performance. He was more livid than at any postgame press conference this season.

When asked about Reynolds' last shot, Leitao said: "That didn't have anything to do with the game."

Singletary was out with a hip injury that Leitao wouldn't elaborate on.

"I can't comment on that," Leitao said. "He got hurt. He's been hurt."

Whittenburg, in his third season at Fordham, was delighted when he learned right before tipoff that Singletary would not play.

"I almost had a heart attack when I saw him in street clothes," said Whittenburg, whose team was 1-6 and riding a four-game losing streak coming in. "We had been preparing for him - Singletary, Singletary, Singletary, and then he wasn't in the game. I didn't know what had happened. It was the big reason why we had a chance tonight."

Senior walk-on Billy Campbell started in Singletary's place and played a career-high 22 minutes. He finished with two points and three assists.

Junior T.J. Bannister, still trying to get back in shape following a sports hernia injury, played seven non-eventful minutes.

Reynolds, who was coming off a brutal performance against Georgia Tech on Sunday night, manned the point during key moments of the game - and looked uncomfortable doing it.

"We really didn't have a point guard out there," Leitao said. "Billy's not a natural point and neither is J.R."

The Cavs were led for the second straight game by forward Jason Cain, who seems to have had some sort of awakening. Cain posted another double-double: 16 points and 15 rebounds, both career highs.

Sophomore Tunji Soroye also had the best offensive game of his career, notching 12 points.

However, Leitao didn't want to talk about any of the positives after the game. Instead, he berated his team for its poor energy and defensive play.

"The same effort we got for the first 20 minutes, we didn't get for the second," Leitao said. "We did a good job on them for a half, and didn't do a good job on them for the second half.

"They got open looks that they didn't get for the first 20 minutes. We got them back on their heels ? we thought the game was over and stopped guarding them."

Leitao ripped Reynolds, who finished with just eight points, four turnovers and two assists in 25 minutes. Reynolds also missed two free throws in crunch time.

"Right now he's not playing very well," Leitao said, "which means he's not a very good player. He needs to find a way out of it."

The Cavs looked like they were going to find a way to squeak out the win, but the Rams went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 56 with 4:20 remaining.

The Rams took the lead when Cain fouled Bryant Dunston, who went to the line and hit both free throws for a 60-59 lead.

Moments later, Reynolds was fouled, but could hit just one of two free throws to tie the game at 60 with 53 seconds left.

The Rams' Nicholas Vita hit the game-winner on a bank shot from the wing on the ensuing possession.

"I lost track of my man," Cain said. "I overcommitted defensively and my man hit the shot. I didn't do what I was supposed to."

Whittenburg said the victory was one of the best he's been involved with as a coach.

"To beat an ACC team on their court," he said, "is tremendous."

 

Virginia athletics roundup
Men's tennis set for indoors
From Staff Reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
December 8, 2005

The Virginia men's tennis team has been selected to compete in the 2006 National Team Indoor Championships, as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced the field of 16 teams.
The event, which annually invites the nation's top teams, will be held this year Feb. 17-20 in Seattle.

This is the second time the Cavaliers have been invited to the prestigious tournament. Last year, Virginia became the first school in the history of the tournament to reach the finals in its first ever appearance.

Every team ranked in the top 10 of last season's final rankings will be competing in the tournament (UCLA, Baylor, Mississippi, Florida, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, Pepperdine, Duke, and LSU), as will Florida State, South Carolina, and host Washington, which all ranked in last season's top 20.

The field also includes Penn, the Northeast Region representative, and a team from the Central Region and one from the Mountain Region (both to be determined later).

FOUR CAVALIERS NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL-MID ATLANTIC REGION: Four members of the Virginia women's soccer team were named first team All-Mid Atlantic Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

Junior defender Becky Sauerbrunn, senior midfielders Sarah Huffman and Noelle Keselica and freshman forward Jess Rostedt were all honored as the Cavaliers' four first-team selections tie the school record set in 1991.

By earning first-team All-Region honors, all four players are now eligible for NSCAA All-American consideration. The organization will announce its All-American teams later this month.

Sauerbrunn and Huffman will be looking for their second NSCAA All-America honors as Sauerbrunn was a first-team NSCAA All-American in 2003 and Huffman was a second-team NSCAA All-American in 2004.


VIRGINIA'S WHITE NAMED ACC WOMEN'S SWIMMER OF THE WEEK: In Greensboro, N.C., Virginia senior swimmer Brielle White has been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week.

White automatically qualified for the 2006 NCAA Championships in a pair of events during the UGA Fall Invitational on Dec. 2-4 in Athens, Ga.

It marks the first time White has garnered the ACC's weekly award.

The Virginia men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to action January 7 when they compete in the Matt Gribble Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla.

VIRGINIA'S KIRKWOOD EARNS ALL-REGION VOLLEYBALL HONORS: In Colorado Springs, Colo., Virginia sophomore outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood has been named to the 2005 American Volleyball Coaches Association All-East Region First Team.

Kirkwood is one of 12 players named to the All-East Region First Team after garnering honorable mention accolades as a freshman in 2004. Eleven of the 12 players named to the first-team are from Atlantic Coast Conference schools. With the All-East Region selection, Kirkwood is eligible for AVCA All-America honors, which will be announced on Dec. 14.


VIRGINIA VOLLEYBALL INKS TWO RECRUITS: Virginia head volleyball coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton has announced that Lauren Dickson of Austin, Texas (Westlake) and Tara Hester of Naperville, Ill. (Naperville Central) have signed national letters-of-intent to attend Virginia and play volleyball for the Cavaliers beginning in the 2006-2007 academic year.

Dickson is a 6-foot-1 outside hitter and Hester is a 5-11 outside hitter.
 

Fordham's Vita vexes Virginia
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
December 8, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Win or lose, Dave Leitao was not going to be happy. His Cavaliers struggled in every facet against lowly Fordham on Wednesday night. Without point guard Sean Singletary, sidelined with a bum hip, they had no rhythm on offense. Worse yet and to Leitao's ire, they had numerous lapses in the second half on defense.
So when Fordham's Nicholas Vita banked home the game-winner with just 3.4 seconds left, it just twisted the knife a little more.

Vita , a walk-on, sank his shot from within 10 feet to lift Fordham to a shocking 62-60 win over the Cavaliers at University Hall. J.R. Reynolds' running 22-footer at the buzzer glanced off the rim, sending a dazed Virginia squad to its first non-conference home loss in almost two years and leaving Leitao wondering just what kind of hand he's been dealt.

"I'm in search of a team that can consistently play harder for sustained minutes on defense," an irritated Leitao said afterward. "We're in search of a team that can play more aggressive and more together on offense. Whether we have a game tomorrow or 10 days from now, it doesn't matter because we have to find a way to get there."

The win was the first for the Rams (2-6) over an ACC opponent since 1967.

Virginia (3-3) wasted a career night by junior forward Jason Cain, who had 16 points and 15

ebounds, setting career highs in both categories for the second straight game. He had nine offensive rebounds, the fourth highest single-game total in school history.

Other than Cain and forward Tunji Soroye, who added 12 points, Virginia had little success offensively., especially in the backcourt. UVa couldn't find a replacement for Singletary, who missed the first game of his college career with a hip injury.

"I almost had a heart attack when I walked in and saw him in street clothes," third-year Fordham coach Dereck Whittenburg said.

That's because Fordham was able to throw everything it had at Reynolds, who got into foul trouble and never found his shot, going 2-for-8 from the field for eight points. Reynolds was coming off a 1-for-7, five-point effort against Georgia Tech.

"Right now he's not playing well, which means he's probably not a very good player," Leitao said. "He's got to find a way out of it."

Walk-on Billy Campbell started in Singletary's place but had one points and three assists in 22 minutes. Point guard T.J. Bannister, in his second game back after offseason sports hernia surgery, was ineffective in his seven minutes, so much so that he played just six seconds in the second half.

Virginia felt it down the stretch. A Cain layup with 6:17 left gave the Cavaliers their largest lead at 56-49, but they would make just one field goal thereafter.

The Rams, who shot 45 percent from the field and were 9 of 21 from 3-point range, quickly went on a 7-0 run to tie the game.

"We got a little bit of a lead, took a deep breath and thought the game was over," Leitao said.

"Defensively, we had lapses that just can't happen," Cain said. "We pretty much just laid down to them, which you can't do. You can't lay down to teams because they're going to come in and step on your throat.

Reynolds made one of two free throws to give UVa a 59-58 lead with 1:01 left, but Fordham grabbed the lead on a pair of free throws by Bryant Dunston, a big man who made all three of his 3-point shots on his way to tying teammate Jermaine Anderson for game-high honors with 21 points.

After being fouled, Reynolds missed the back end of two free throws, leaving the game tied at 60 with 53.4 seconds left.

After a foul against Soroye reset the shot clock, Fordham ran the clock down to under 10 seconds, when Anderson cut toward the lane and dished to an open Vita, who made the basket, his second of the game, and sent the Rams bench into a celebration.

The mood couldn't have been any more contrary for Virginia, which now has what is sure to be a long 10 days before it travels to play No. 9 Gonzaga on Dec. 17.

Said Cain: "Nobody's happy right now."

 

Panthers Question Falcons' Cut Blocks
By JENNA FRYER : AP Sports Writer
Dec 7, 2005 : 6:41 pm ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina defensive ends Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker both missed practice Wednesday with sprained ankles, leading the Panthers to question the legality of the cut blocks that injured them.

Peppers sprained his left ankle early in the first quarter of Sunday's win against Atlanta when Falcons tight end Alge Crumpler tackled him below the knees. Rucker sprained his right ankle when tackle Kevin Shaffer did the same to him later in the game.

"Cut blocking is not fair, it's going after the legs," defensive end Al Wallace said. "It would be the same thing if in NASCAR you were able to shoot people's tires out."

The technique is actually legal under NFL rules as long as the defensive player isn't engaged with another blocker. Still, the Falcons are one of few teams who have been openly criticized for it. The blocking was initiated by offensive line coach Alex Gibbs when he was with the Denver Broncos in the 1990s, and he brought it with him to Atlanta, where he's currently a consultant.

"That's what the Falcons are known for," Rucker said. "They all do it."

Carolina coach John Fox wasn't thrilled to see both ends go down and said he'd like to see the rule changed. The NFL has modified the rules in recent years, but the Panthers can only hope that the technique is addressed again this offseason.

"The league's already addressed that," Fox said. "Until the rules change as far as cut blocking and the legality of it, those things are going to continue to happen."

"But I'm only maybe one-millionth of a vote," he added.

"Everybody was all nervous that there wouldn't be any good kick returns because of it," Fox said. "But we've kind of made do with that in the kicking game. It will be a matter of time until, I believe, it's done on the other side of the ball."

For the rule to be changed, it would have to go through the league's 10-man competition committee, which includes Panthers team president Mark Richardson.

Although Peppers said he held no ill will toward Crumpler, his former college teammate, he would like to see the cut blocking rule addressed.

"I have concerns about players being protected," Peppers said. "They protect the quarterbacks and you can't put a hand on them in certain situations. I think they should take a look at how everybody's being protected.

"But that's somebody else's argument."

For now, Peppers and Rucker just want to focus on healing in time for Sunday's game against Tampa Bay.

The Panthers head into the matchup with a one-game lead over the Bucs in the NFC South, and a victory would put them on the fast track for the division title.