In advance of today’s Panthers/Bucs battle, The State’s David Newton delivers an item that is notable for no other reason other than its ability to trigger a near-fatal “I-told-you-so” attack on an emotionally spent Phil Mushnick.

One thought immediately came to Mike Rucker™s mind when the Carolina Panthers defensive end saw teammate Mike Minter flatten Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Brian Finneran in the fourth quarter of last Sunday™s 24-6 victory.

JACKED UP!

He thought the same thing when linebacker Chris Draft bounced running back T.J. Duckett to the ground.

JACKED UP!

Rucker is an watcher of œJacked Up, a segment on ESPN™s œCountdown to Monday Night Football in which Tom Jackson and friends highlight the five biggest hits of the week. He makes the 8:55 p.m. segment part of his Monday routine, and when he can™t watch it, he records it.

œIt™s funny, Rucker said. œPlayers are professionals, but we™re just fans of the game, too. To see a good hit, that™s what football is about. … To see Mint pop that dude, that™s what Mint has been known for since his college days.

œThat gets you jacked up.

It gets the coaches excited, too, particularly Carolina™s coaches, who stress physical football.

œBut clean, defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac said. œWe stress being clean on defense. I don™t think we have many personal fouls this year. We just want good collisions and physical plays.

Trgovac said it seems players sometimes go out of their way to make highlight hits, almost as though they are thinking about how they will look on TV before they make contact.

Perhaps that™s because they do.

œDefinitely, rookie linebacker/safety Thomas Davis said. œYou always feel at any given point this could be the one.