CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The box score may show that linebacker Thomas Davis made the play of the game when he intercepted Aaron Rodgers on 4th-and-goal to seal Carolina’s 37-29 win over Green Bay, but Davis knows better. He knows it wouldn't have been possible without defensive tackle Kawann Short getting in the face of the Packers' quarterback.
"I cannot express enough how big Short was in on that play and making it happen,” Davis said after the win, which pushed Carolina to 8-0. “We can’t do what we do at the linebacker spot, or in the secondary without those guys getting pressure, doing their jobs. We love having these guys in front of us.”
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The pressure from Short, aka KK, who was microseconds away from sacking Rodgers, led to the rushed throw and Davis’ glory.
"We just wanted to make sure (Rodgers) stayed in front of us," defensive end Kony Ealy said. “We didn't want to get him out, rolling out where he was able to plant his feet. We wanted him to stay in front of us, and KK got to the ball and TD was in position."
Both Short and Star Lotulelei, the Panthers' other stout starting tackle, have been the unsung heroes of Carolina's defense this season. The third-year players combined for eight tackles (three for a loss) and two sacks on Sunday.
Davis, a 10-year veteran, puts the Short-Lotulelei duo among the best he's seen during his time with the team.
"Guys like Kris Jenkins and Brentson Buckner really set the tone early on in my career," Davis said. "But right now, these guys are playing as good as any group I’ve ever played with."
Teammates lauded Short's combination of size (6-3, 315) and speed when tracking down quarterbacks. They talked up Lotulelei's strength as a run stopper.
"They push the pocket, they’re able to get outside and move in open space,” Ealy said. “You seen Star run down guys, you see KK get (pass breakups) and pass-rush production against the quarterbacks. They're unstoppable, period, and we're unstoppable as a unit."
Safety Roman Harper said that when the line rushes the passer well, things get easier for the secondary. Cornerback Charles Tillman also weighed in on the defensive line’s production while talking about Rodgers' mobility.
"He does a really good job of buying time for his receivers,” Tillman said of Rodgers, whom he has faced more than a dozen times dating back to the corner's days in Chicago. "A guy covering six, seven seconds, that’s a lot for a DB. But again, our D-line was able to get a lot of sacks today, a lot of quarterback hits."
Rodgers was sacked five times, the most since Week 17 of 2012. That year, Green Bay gave up the most sacks in the league. Coming into Sunday, Rodgers had been sacked only 14 times over 7 games.
Defensive end Jared Allen, who played with two great interior linemen in Pat and Kevin Williams while in Minnesota, likes what he sees from his new teammates.
"As far as being dominant in the middle, they compare that way," Allen said. "If they stay consistent, that's the difference between being good and being great. They're coming into their own, they're understanding the game well and their ceiling is as high as they want to push themselves."
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Short, the No. 44 overall pick in the 2013 draft, is tied for seventh in the league with six sacks in '15, and the next closest on the team is Mario Addison (three). Short also entered Sunday's game with 10 quarterback hurries.
"We’ve been together since our rookie year, came in together," Lotulelei said of Short. "He’s grown a lot since we’ve been here. To see him playing the way he’s playing right now has been great. I think we both do our jobs the best way we can."
For Lotulelei, taken No. 14 overall in 2013, his impact is less statistically based. A 6-2, 320 pound behemoth, the Utah product is known for clogging run lanes and hogging multiple blockers.
“They look at Star and they feel that he’s one of the greats, one of the good guys coming up," Short said. "They double-team him and when they double-team, I got the one-on-one and I gotta make the play.”
For Short, it's all about helping his teammates and keeping the Carolina defense a well-oiled machine as the season hits the home stretch.
"We gotta go out there and rush every down," he said. "Our back seven will come up to us and say, ‘We need y’all, we need y’all,’ and we just trying to answer the phone that they call.
"We're disappointed if we can’t help them out. If we do, we don't need the praise, we're just doing our job."