The differences are apparent at first knock.
July 18, 1995
The security guard for the Jacksonville Jaguars glares and asks for identification.
The security guard for the Carolina Panthers smiles and asks if you want a cold drink.
The differences are also apparent at introduction.
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Tom Coughlin, Jacksonville’s coach, acknowledges that he doesn’t allow his players to sit on their helmets. Or slouch in the huddle. Or show up at the stadium wearing clothes bearing a sports insignia other than a Jaguar. And he acknowledges it is troubling.
Sometimes I drive myself crazy, writing down that I have to use the bathroom at 9:01 a.m., things like that, Coughlin said. But it’s like I have to be perfect. I can’t swallow anything else.
Dom Capers, Carolina’s coach, acknowledges that he will be leaving work around noon on this midsummer day to serve as grand marshal of a Charlotte, N.C., auto race known as the Red Dog 300. And so what?
The only thing I know about auto racing is turning on ESPN and watching guys crashing, he said. But what the heck.
The differences have also been apparent at training camp.
That recent eruption heard in Stevens Point, Wis., was Coughlin scolding receivers Desmond Howard and Ernest Givins, ordering them to forget about that little hamstring pain, put on their pads, and get their fannies out to the
see EXPANSION, page 11
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