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RICK STROUDAs the Panthers turned the corner this season, so did their fleet-footed receiver Steve Smith ... in more ways than one.
TAMPA - They had seen how explosive Steve Smith could be, watched him blow up time and again, never able to predict the flash point.
He would be sitting in a film session one second and in the next, a teammate would wind up with a broken nose. He could be conducting a cordial interview and it would erupt into a profanity-laced tirade aimed at the club for its contract stance. Or the Panthers could be driving for a come-from-behind victory and he would kick a Houston player in the helmet, costing them 15 yards and a victory.
"He's gotten better and better as far as controlling his temper," Panthers receiver Muhsin Muhammad said, "channeling it in the right direction."
But sometime during this season, Smith went from hothead to the league's hottest receiver.
In Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Eagles, the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Smith has a chance to join Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Tom Fears as the only players to have three consecutive 100-yard receiving games in the playoffs.
Two weeks ago, Smith had five catches for 135 yards against the Cowboys. The encore came in the 29-23 upset of the Rams on Saturday when he had six catches for 163 yards, including the door-slamming 69-yarder on a play called X-Clown for the mistakes Smith made running it in practice. Smith, who doesn't turn 25 until May, has earned a piece of playoff lore. But he refuses to dwell on it.
"I saw it twice, four times at the most," Smith said. "It's nice and it's dreams. That's what I dreamt about doing. You always dream, especially being a receiver, you dream about making that great catch. I've done it twice. Somebody said earlier it's the biggest catch of my career. I hope it's not. I hope it's the second of many."
There have been other more publicized passing combinations in the playoffs. The Colts' Peyton Manning to Marvin Harrison. Even Donovan McNabb to Freedie Mitchell has garnered much of the attention. But Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith has been as good as it gets.
Delhomme, who watched Kerry Collins struggle with misperceptions as a teammate in New Orleans, didn't know what to think of Smith when he arrived in Carolina this year.
"You'd read only the negative," Delhomme said. "Certainly, you'd look at it, "Oh God.' This guy must be a real hothead or something.' But you don't know the real truth.
"People get a negative perception of someone. You get to know him, like Steve, he's a lamb. Steve is a little lamb. He's as gentle as a lamb. And when he comes out on Sunday, he comes to play and he gets emotional and fired up. We all make mistakes, and yeah, he regrets that mistake. It's in the past."
That one mistake came last year when he broke the nose of teammate Anthony Bright. It resulted in a one-game team suspension. But he atoned for the mistake by volunteering for anger management classes and coaching youth soccer.
"It's been a year and somebody is always asking me about it," Smith said. "One thing I am, I know who I am. I know what I stand for and I know where I came from. No matter what kind of (article) you write or what kind of questions you ask, you're going to put that label on it how you feel.
"I'm just me. You can call it what you want. I'm just going to play how I play and act like I act."
Two other outbursts have dogged Smith this season. He harped on his lack of a contract extension and drew a costly personal foul penalty for kicking a Houston player in the helmet.
"Steve is a young man," coach John Fox said. "With most young men, you live and learn. He's learned a whole lot. He's a better man for it today. I'm very proud of him."
He should be. Smith finished fourth in the NFC in receptions (88) and seventh in receiving yards (1,110). But he has really caught fire in the playoffs.
"It's just experience," Fox said. "He has explosive abilities."
And the Panthers hope his blowups never stop.
- Information from the Charlotte Observer was used in this report.