Lucas ready to shut down Seattle

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - All the things cornerback Ken Lucas wanted for his career - respect, recognition, the chance to play on a championship defense - couldn't be found with the Seattle Seahawks.

So he took the first flight out when his contract expired, eagerly accepting a six-year, $36.5 million deal with the Carolina Panthers. Now "Super Luc" gets the chance to show the Seahawks what they let slip away this Sunday when the Panthers play Seattle for the NFC championship.

"It's not Ken Lucas vs. the Seattle Seahawks, it's the Panthers vs. the Seahawks," Lucas insisted. "I don't want the emphasis to be placed on me."

Still, Lucas calls this the biggest moment of his life since he spelled "scissors" to win a fifth-grade spelling bee.

He's always been a little bitter about the way his four years with the Seahawks ended just a few short months after he was the NFC's co-leader with six interceptions.

When Seattle turned its attention to re-signing players, they never really got around to Lucas. By the time they made their offer - two days before the free agency period began - Lucas had already made up his mind to leave.

"That just let me know that I wasn't really a priority for them," he said.

Seattle coach Mike Holmgren insisted that he didn't want to lose Lucas.

"I thought Kenny was our best defensive back last year," he said. "If you remember at the end of last season, we had 16 free agents and the front office was in a little bit of turmoil here.

"In the time that we got things kind of fixed a little bit, Kenny got out of here."

Lucas wants to go to Pro Bowls and to be recognized as one of the league's best cornerbacks.

He believed that was never going to happen in Seattle.

"Because of the market being way out there, people never noticed me," said Lucas, who has the Superman logo tattooed on his arm and personalized "Super Luc" plates on his Bentley.

"I like to think I can do some extraordinary things on the field, and I want people to recognize the things that I do."

The Panthers believed he had that potential, uncharacteristically splurging on a $13 million signing bonus to lock him up almost as soon as free agency opened.

Lucas has more than delivered.

"He came in and gave us stability on one side of the field, where we can say we've got a shutdown corner," defensive tackle Brentson Buckner said.

Lucas had six interceptions during the regular season, then added two in playoff wins over the New York Giants and Chicago.