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SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Seeing royal blue helmets festooned with white "NY" logos on each side ought to be enough to raise the temperature and blood pressure of every Panther who returns from last year's team. The drama and intensity of the teams' duel last December made it arguably the best regular-season game played league-wide in 2008, but the overtime loss made the result one of the most heartbreaking in recent team history.

But this is preseason, and Monday night's final score will quickly be forgotten, no matter the opponent, which truly doesn't matter. After all, the Panthers collectively seem thankful for the opportunity to collide with somebody else -- anyone else, other than themselves.

"It's about time. It's been two weeks. I'm tired of going against Travelle Wharton and Keydrick Vincent," said defensive tackle Damione Lewis. "It's just that time. Guys are starting to get antsy and ready to play. That's good. You can feel it building up."

Added Wharton: "You're going to get motivated just because you're not playing against each other anymore ... Now you're using what you learned in meetings and practices, and going out to just play."

They'll play, but they'll do so without a thorough game plan -- which is typical for preseason openers.  The starters will play "about a quarter," head coach John Fox said, leaving the balance of the action to those in scrums for roster spots.

"We don't game plan per se. We only spend one practice on looking at the opponent," Fox said. "As a coaching staff we don't game plan."

That's even more the case when the opponent is one the Panthers will see again in the regular season, which is the case for the Giants and next week's opponents, the Miami Dolphins.

"Because we play them again," Fox said. "You don't want to show too much and yet you still want to get a good evaluation of your players.

Concurred defensive tackle Damione Lewis: "It's going to give a glimpse of where the young guys are. We're going to go in and be vanilla in what we're doing, but we've got to get guys ready to play."

And for some, the need is greater. While 20 of 22 starters from last year are still with the team, competitive flux exists throughout the roster, and at five areas in particular -- which, appropriately enough, comprise the majority of the five things to watch Monday night.

ESTABLISHING THE DEFENSIVE LINE:

Maake Kemoeatu's season-ending Achilles tendon rupture moments into the first practice soured the opening week in Spartanburg. The only positive that could be extracted for the Panthers was that it occurred early enough to give the team a chance to adjust to an altered 2009 reality without their space-clogging run stopper up front.

It also forced responsibility at the feet of the team's youthful brigade of defensive linemen -- rookie end Everette Brown, second-year tackle Nick Hayden, and rookie tackles Marlon Favorite, Corvey Irvin, Lonnie Harvey and the recently signed George Hypolite.

"As you go along, you're always going to have inexperienced guys," said defensive coordinator Ron Meeks. "In the past, where I've been, we've had some situations like that, where some experienced guys or veterans got hurt early, but it gave the young guys a chance to contribute to the team and get a lot of reps and down the line that really paid off for us."

Of the younger tackles, Hayden has seen the most work with the first team, lining up at under tackle in the base package alongside Lewis, who now mans Kemoeatu's old spot on the nose. When Lewis was given a night off from practice this week, Favorite and Irvin rotated onto the first team.

"It's steadily, progressively improving," Lewis said. "It's going to take a while. These guys have not even played a preseason game, so it's going to be a learning curve. But if they can just sit here and work with it and continue to improve in their technique, they'll be fine."

But they are defined not by what they are now, but what they can become.

"It's too early," Lewis said. "These guys are just learning how to play, so you can't say, 'This is him; this is what he is,' because you know he's going to be a hell of a lot better three months from now than he's going to be right now. So we're looking for progression."

Progress has been evident in Brown, who has frequently worked with the first team in pass-rush situations while ends Tyler Brayton and Charles Johnson swing inside to the two defensive tackle slots. With that vote of confidence, the Stantonsburg, N.C. product says he's feeling "anxiety" over his preseason debut, but he isn't nervous.

"I'm just ready to make a debut in the NFL," Brown said. "A lot of times (Defensive line) Coach (Brian) Baker will tell me that I'm doing well in practice when I make a play, but I haven't done it against anybody with a shield on. There's still a lot of proving to be done, and I'm ready for it."

BACKUP QUARTERBACKS

An open competition exists behind Jake Delhomme, as Josh McCown and Matt Moore have split second-team work throughout training camp. Rookie Hunter Cantwell has also rotated into the mix, and piloted the No. 3 offense during a two-minute drill simulation Friday night.

The two-minute work Thursday and Friday provided some illumination into where the quarterbacks stand. Moore guided the third-team offense to a touchdown on his drive Thursday afternoon, capping a 60-yard march with a 16-yard pass to Jeff King. McCown responded with a touchdown drive of his own Friday night, finding Dante Rosario for a score with the second team.

"Until we get into games and those game reps and game management, I'm not going to rank them quite yet," Fox said.

Monday is a big night for McCown, who hasn't thrown a game-time pass since the preseason opener with the Miami Dolphins last summer. His workload dissolved when they signed Chad Pennington, and he only handed off the football or took a knee during brief mop-up work after the Panthers traded for him eight days before the regular-season opener.

"It's been a while since I played," McCown said. "So I'm excited about just getting back on the field and playing. That's why I do this. That's the fun part. Camp is hard, but when the lights come on, that's when you get to have fun. I'm looking forward to that."

Moore also didn't throw a pass during the regular season. His status as the emergency No. 3 quarterback gave him time to pause and learn the nuances of pro quarterbacking after a hectic 2007 that saw him go from training-camp casualty in Dallas to Carolina's starter by the end of the regular season.

"There were a lot of positives from that. I took a little more time studying the game and watching what's going on," Moore said. "I tried to help out any way I could during the games. I wasn't really doing much until midseason (in practice), but the body's good and to get back in mentally and working the game that was has been good, and I learned a lot last year and I'm trying to show that this year on the field."

NEXT MEN UP, UP FRONT

Along the offensive line, the first unit is set and clicking, having picked up from where it left off in a collectively exquisite 2008 performance. But no backup has played a regular-season offensive snap for the Panthers, and only Mackenzy Bernadeau was on the 53-man roster.

Bernadeau could be the key component of the Panthers' depth. The 2008 seventh-round pick has worked as the second-team center and third-team guard during training camp. As a result, he returns to his home state of New Jersey at the cusp of inheriting the swing interior backup role that Geoff Hangartner handled last year.

"We hope so," Fox said. "We had him in our system all last year, and we saw good growth and development during that time. He's definitely not disappointed us. I think he's had a very good camp thus far. We'll see better when we get against an opponent."

Given that the Panthers have only had one season where their starting offensive line was intact for all 16 games, finding the first backup in is crucial. Last year it was Geoff Hangartner, who stepped in no matter who got hurt as the offensive line shuffled around. Hangartner did the job so well that the Buffalo Bills offered him a lucrative contract to start for them within hours of free agency's opening five months ago.

"We need that guy back," left tackle Jordan Gross said. "Jeremy) Bridges did a good job with that, then Hangartner, and that's something that's hard to replace. They're wearing other jerseys right now because they can do that. But we need to find that swing inside guy, because a backup center is hard to find, and a backup guard. If Mac can do that for us, that would be outstanding."

Other reserves to watch are guard Duke Robinson, who has worked with the second team the last week of camp, guard/center Justin Geisinger, the only backup with any NFL regular-season playing experience, and tackles Geoff Schwartz and Garry Williams, who have worked as right and left tackles, respectively, with the second team.

"I think we're still trying to find that swing tackle; Schwartz has done a good job as far as that goes," Gross said. "It's been a huge question mark, and it still is, but we're doing better than I was thinking we would at this point."

RECEIVING AND RETURNING

It's worth lumping these two areas together, because three of the receivers competing for the final slots at their position have also worked extensively on punt and/or kickoff returns at training camp: Ryne Robinson, Kenneth Moore and Larry Beavers.

All know that returns could allow them to separate themselves from a crowded pack that has seen some big plays in practice from Jason Chery, Kevin McMahan and Jason Carter, who worked on punt returns last year in the preseason but has focused on receiving duties this summer, where he has settled in and caught nearly everything tossed his way the past week.

"For a young guy like me, it's going to be very important to show myself on special teams," Moore said. "It's very important for me to show that I can catch the ball well and make plays when the ball's in my hands -- whichever way I have to do it."

If Steve Smith does not play Monday -- he bruised his shoulder last Monday evening but had returned to seven-on-seven drills by Friday night -- then Dwayne Jarrett would work with the first team, leaving those behind Jarrett on the pecking order some extra snaps to sort themselves out on the depth chart.

Returning could also be crucial for running back Mike Goodson and cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. Both rookies fielded plenty of kickoffs this past week.

STAY HEALTHY

Above everything else, this is the overriding task for the Panthers, who were without Smith most of the week, have lost Kemoeatu for the season and practiced the last few days without running back Jonathan Stewart, safety Nate Salley and linebackers Landon Johnson and Thomas Davis.

Playing cautiously, however, does not help avoid injuries, so the Panthers know they might as well go full tilt.

"Once you're out there, you don't think about that stuff," Wharton said. "You're just going out there and playing. You're playing for each other -- especially the guys up front."