Short sees long term success

Three days have passed since Panthers linebacker Brandon Short and his teammates packed up their things and said their goodbyes. Most of the goodbyes are short term, but the players know that some are not.

Brandon Short brings down Shaun Alexander in the NFC Championship at Seattle last Sunday. (Getty Images) "It's one of the worst days in football because teams change in the NFL from year to year," said Short, who posted 69 tackles in 16 games with 15 starts at strongside linebacker during the regular season. "This is a close group of guys and you know it will never be the same again."

At his own position, Short has seen changes aplenty in the locker room. In 2004, he arrived in Carolina with former Giants teammate Jessie Armstead and played alongside Mark Fields. This year he welcomed new teammates Chris Draft and Thomas Davis. So he knows that faces and locker room nameplates change.

One thing that hasn't changed is the unwavering fan support the Panthers have enjoyed recently. Huge crowds welcomed the team back after playoff victories at New York and Chicago, and a decent sized throng awaited them at 5 a.m. when they returned from Seattle.

It was awesome to see the fan support," said Short. "Sometimes as a player, you come into work every day and do everything you can to prepare for the game, and you don't realize how much it means to the entire community. Our fans showed really strong support and it meant a lot. To see them out here at five o'clock in the morning after a loss was a pickup that we needed.

The team was down, Short said, because it knew it had played much better the previous three games in road victories over the Falcons, Giants and Bears.

We didn't give (Seattle) our best," said Short. "The team that played the best won. They played a lot better. But we didn't give our best. We're disappointed in ourselves, but hopefully, we can keep the core of this team together and use it as a learning experience. We know what it takes."
Can they contend for the Super Bowl for the foreseeable future?

I believe so," said Short. "In the NFL, players change from year to year, but what we have here in Carolina is a way of going about business, a philosophy that is good for winning.