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DeAngelo Williams gashed the Bucs in his last two games against them, but hasn't practiced all week and is questionable. (PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

CHARLOTTE -- Close your eyes or keep them open, but either way take a moment to recall the way you felt about your NFL team and its upcoming game one year ago.

The opposition was the same -- the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- as it is this weekend; so is the venue of Bank of America Stadium. The Bucs still wear pewter helmets with red flags brandishing a skull and crossed swords; the Panthers still bear the only helmet and logo they've ever known.

Their places and perspectives, however, could scarcely be different.

Last year, both cruised into this weekend as two of the game's best, each sporting 9-3 records. ESPN's Monday Night Football was on hand, only adding spice to a game that needed little embellishment beyond the teams' records, rivalry and the stakes: first place and inside track on a playoff bye. The result was a game, an exchange of thunderous punches that trumped its hype and only resolved itself in the final quarter when Carolina used a team-record rushing output to pull away.

The 38-23 win was an emotional crescendo for Carolina, and a devastating setback for Tampa Bay that started a season-ending, 0-4 December tailspin. But for the Panthers, their decline in fortunes would soon come.

In the 12 months since their duel last December, the clubs are a combined 7-22. The Bucs have started four quarterbacks in that span, have changed head coaches and embraced a youth movement led by first-round quarterback Josh Freeman. The Panthers will turn to a new quarterback (Matt Moore) to fill in for the injured Jake Delhomme on Sunday, have lost four starters to season-ending injuries and will lose at least twice as many first-team man-games to injuries as they did last year.

"That's the NFL. From year to year it can change on you," said tight end Jeff King. "An injury here, a bad bounce there and here you are."

Yes, here they are -- exactly where neither wants to be.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH

A CALL TO (YOUNG) ARMS

Tampa Bay is on its third starting quarterback of the year, but if the club's plan works out, then Freeman will hold onto the job for the foreseeable future as the first-round pick to which its future is staked. Freeman's starting record is 1-3, but the Bucs have averaged 21.3 points per game in his starts after averaging 13.7 under Byron Leftwich and Josh Johnson. Further, Freeman has thrown one touchdown every 17.9 attempts; Leftwich's average was one per 26.8 attempts; Johnson's was one every 31.3. Freeman has also been dangerous on the ground; his 6.9-yard average on 15 carries leads all Bucs ballcarriers with more than one rush.

Moore doesn't possess the same draft pedigree as Freeman, and even though he has two more years of experience, has one less start heading into Sunday. But with Delhomme out with a broken finger, he'll get the call, hoping to pick up where he left off in his last start -- a 31-23 win over the Buccaneers in Week 17 two years ago.

PLAYING TO MOORE'S STRENGTHS

Delhomme wasn't ruled out until Friday, but he didn't practice all week, providing time to tailor a game plan to Moore's skill set -- which includes mobility and a nice-looking long ball. "He has a knack for throwing the deep ball," wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad said. "It may take him a little time to get his pinpoint accuracy down, but he does have a nice touch on the ball, too."

Head coach John Fox had a simpler assessment of what Moore should do in his first start this season.

"You just kind of grip it and rip it," he said.

ELIMINATING GIVEAWAYS

Moore's first task will be to avoid the turnovers that have sunk the Panthers in several games this year. Last week's 17-6 loss to the Jets was the most recent example; not even three takeaways were enough to compensate for the four interceptions of Delhomme passes. One was flukish: a ball that caromed off Steve Smith's foot as he ran the wrong route, a mistake for which the wide receiver took responsibility. Another came because of an all-out blitz. But four turnovers are damaging no matter how they come, and they dropped the Panthers to 1-5 when they have at least three giveaways. The win came against the Bucs, when they overcame two interceptions -- one returned for a touchdown -- and a fumble to win 28-21, but it would be dangerous to count on such favorable fortune twice. Also worth noting: the Panthers' two wins over teams with winning records after 11 games came in their only two turnover-free games, demonstrating the team's potential if it secures the football.

KEEP ON RUNNING

Last week's 75-yard rushing effort was unusual for the Panthers, whose running game of Williams and Jonathan Stewart has been the most consistent aspect of the offense, averaging 151.5 yards per game this year. It had gained at least 180 yards in four consecutive games before having that streak snapped by the Jets, who not only overloaded the box with eight and sometimes nine men, but used them to rapidly infiltrate the backfield, a tactic that was as effective against the run as the pass.

"We're going to have a new quarterback out there, and they're going to pressure the (heck) out of us," said fullback Brad Hoover. "It's something we haven't dealt with -- especially lately. They're going to rattle us, so running the ball is going to be especially important. I don't want to jinx us and say we're going to do well, but obviously we want to come out and be physical in the run game."

They might have to do it without Williams, who sprained his ankle against the Jets and hasn't practiced since. He is questionable for Sunday, but he played three weeks earlier against Atlanta after being questionable and only practicing for part of that week's Thursday session.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

When Raheem Morris reclaimed defensive play-calling responsibilities from defensive coordinator Jim Bates, he promised to return the Bucs to the cover-two looks they displayed throughout 13 years of stellar defense under former coordinator Monte Kiffin. The results were immediate on the scoreboard; they held Atlanta to 20 points, the fewest permitted by the Bucs since Week 4. In the six weeks in between, the Bucs allowed 31.2 points per game.

"They look like the team we played last year -- how they played that type of scheme,"King said. "They've been playing better the last couple of weeks, flying around, playing defense."

"They changed it up a little bit, but they still do the same things that they've done," added Muhammad. "They play a little more man-to-man defense."

The changes aren't "night and day," Hoover said, but man-to-man coverage is one element of the Bucs' strategy that scarcely resembles what they did under Kiffin.

"(Some things are) definitely familiar. Then some things are totally opposite of what you've seen coming from Tampa (Bay)," Hoover said. "Who knows what they're doing? We just have to prepare with what they give us on tape and what we have seen and what we will see."

The Panthers have run successfully against both schemes; their two highest single-game rushing totals in their 15-season history came in their last two games with Tampa Bay.