25 Seasons of Panthers Football: Rucker wreaks havoc in 2006

Sir Purr

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Mar 16, 2019
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Rucker played in some big games during his career, and the one that November stands out as the most memorable in his mind but not because of how he helped the Panthers shut out a high-powered St. Louis offense.


It was because of the little girl who was in the stands to witness it.


"When you bring that game up, it really stirs up a great memory for me," Rucker said. "Usually, there are some pretty obvious answers when people say, 'Hey, what are the highlights of your career?' But this particular game stands out to me. Why it's so close to my heart is that it was the only game I had one of my kids at. My kids were real young, and my oldest (daughter Alexis) was around six years old at the time."


Rucker played inspired football that afternoon, and he thinks Alexis had a lot to do with it. He had two sacks of St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger, including one for a safety late in the fourth quarter that clinched the win. Rucker also posted four tackles and three quarterback pressures and was in the Rams' backfield all day long. The performance earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.


"I remember being in a zone," Rucker said. "If you talk to a quarterback or a receiver or a running back and you ask them if they ever played a game where they felt like they were in a zone, they'll all remember those games in great detail. It's where you can't do anything wrong and everything is working. And that was one of those days for me.


"It was one of those days where you were constantly getting pressure (on the quarterback) and you felt like you could have come out with five or six sacks. It was just one of those days. I really believe that it was partly because it was my daughter's first time to see me play and also because anytime I played the Kansas City Chiefs or St. Louis Rams, being from Missouri, it always allowed me to turn it up another notch because I knew I would have family back home who would be watching. So I think it was, for me, what you would call a perfect storm."


Watching in the stands was young Alexis and her mother, Rucker's wife, Kristina. Dad had made it a point beforehand, as he always did when family was at a game, to know exactly where they were sitting.


"One thing I did from high school to college to the pros was if I had family at the game, I'd always go talk to a security guy before the game and show him their tickets and say, 'OK, show me where they're seats are.' Then before the game I always would find my family in the stands after they sat down," Rucker said. "And then whenever I had a sack I would always point to them to let them know I was thinking of them in this fun time."
 
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