Maake Kemoeatu News

The easy thing to say, and the thing you most often hear from football players, is that injuries aren't and can't be an excuse.

It's not Julius Peppers' fault he broke his right hand in New Orleans, and it's certainly not his fault Thomas Davis went down the same day or Jordan Gross the next week.

CHARLOTTE The Carolina Panthers season is over. You can hold out a faint hope that they're mathematically alive at 4-6, but the reality is this team has thrown in the towel.

Two months ago, the Carolina Panthers' defensive line was approaching being a weakness.

Thomas Davis simply was dropping back into pass coverage. Then in one split second, the former Georgia linebacker's season was over.

South Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas Power Rankings: Preseason: 14. This week: 21.

Originally published November 9, 2009 at 1:30 p.m., updated November 9, 2009 at 2:12 p.m. CHARLOTTE, N.C. a ' The Carolina Panthers lost perhaps their most productive defensive player Monday when tests showed weakside linebacker Thomas Davis has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

JEFF SINER - jsiner@charlotteobserver.com http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2009/11/07/20/B82196365Z.1_20091107200008_000+GINTCOTH.3.embedded.prod_affiliate.138.jpg 244 12/28/08 Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu watches his teammates run through drills prior to action vs the New Orleans Saints Sunday at the Louisiana ...

As hard as it might be to believe at the moment, the Carolina Panthers used to be the envy of the league when it came to defensive tackle help.

The Carolina Panthers have added depth at defensive tackle, sending an undisclosed draft pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for Tank Tyler.

It's strange to hear Carolina Panthers defensive line coach Brian Baker say it, but the conviction in his voice and the smile on his face are the first two signs of the truth of his message.

Bucs coach Raheem Morris said earlier this year there would be times Sims would have to be the Bucs' version of Michael Jordan.

Jon Beason apologized Thursday for calling out Carolina teammate Julius Peppers for his lack of production last week, even after the Panthers responded with their first win.

As a self-proclaimed "happy-go-lucky fat kid," the Panthers' newest starting nose tackle has brought girth and a lighthearted personality to a club in desperate need of both.

Maake Kemoeatu realizes the best way to ensure the ruptured Achilles he suffered in training camp is season-ending, and not career-ending, is to lose some weight this off-season. That won't be easy for Kemoeatu, who is naturally a wide-body guy who comes from a family where "the older you get, the bigger you get." Kemoeatu said he weighs about 368 ...

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas The Carolina Panthers are the final stop in our Saturday series of team-by-team mailbags.

Hopes were high for the Carolina Panthers this summer. The defending NFC South champions didn't have a first-round choice and didn't add a major free agent, but they did return 21 starters.

If Carolina's 0-3 record, a slew of damning statistics and the sight of Maake Kemoeatu leaning on crutches weren't enough to make defensive coordinator Ron Meeks miserable Thursday, he had a nasty head cold, too.

Not playing a game dropped the Panthers three spots to the bottom of the NFL statistics in run defense.

Hollis Thomas, Carolina's latest attempt to fill its giant hole at defensive tackle, had just finished his first practice with the Panthers Thursday when he was asked what he would bring to his new team.