By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Carolina Panthers quarterback Rodney Peete. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Carolina quarterback Rodney Peete is playing on a 4-8 team that just ended an eight-game losing streak. But he couldn't be much happier.

"It's actually been a lot of fun," he said. "It's been good for me just to play. That's one of the reasons why I'm in this football game. To be out there on the field and play and be around the action."

Peete's Carolina Panthers host the Bengals at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Starting is a change for Peete, 36, who had not thrown a pass in two years and hadn't started a game in three years.

But he has been the Panthers' starter in all but two games, which he missed with a knee injury.

Peete spent two years as a backup in Oakland and one in Washington. He started his career with Detroit and also played for Dallas and Philadelphia.

"Getting an opportunity to be out on the field again after a few years of being a backup has been great for me," he said. "I know we've had some tough times and tough losses this year, but overall, for me, it's been great. I've been more relaxed this year playing than I've been in the previous years I've played earlier in my career. I feel good about it. Hopefully, I can close out these last four games and play well."

Peete has played fairly well. Coming into Sunday, he has completed 151 of 260 passes for 1,817 yards and nine touchdowns. He has been intercepted 11 times and has a quarterback rating of 73.5.

Peete has been troubled by a sore finger much of the year.

"I tore the tendon in my middle finger in my right hand a few weeks ago," he said. "It's not going to get any better until I can have an opportunity to rest it and keep it straight for a month or two. I just kind of tape it up and try to keep it as straight as I can and also be able to grip the football and take snaps."

The Panthers ended their eight-game losing streak with a 13-6 victory in Cleveland last week, and they're only a few plays from having a respectable season. They won their first three games and then lost the next three by a total of seven points. They have been in every game but two - they lost to Atlanta 30-0 and 41-0 - but frustration was building with the eight-game skid.

"We were in a lot of games during those eight losses, and that was probably what was most gut-wrenching about it," Carolina coach John Fox said. "I think we've got some resolve as a group, and we were able to work through some of that adversity and tough it out in Cleveland."

Carolina, which went 1-15 last year would like to build on the Cleveland win.

Peete says the Panthers are playing for more than pride.

"We're playing to win," Peete said. "That's the No. 1 thing. We have pride in all aspects and all the things that come along with winning, but the No.1 thing we're trying to do is win. Everything else will take care of itself. We went through a string of games - losing eight straight was very difficult on this team... And so you just kind of search and search and search to find answers to figure out how you can come away with a win. I think it was a great game for us last week in going into a place like Cleveland and some tough weather conditions and being able to come out of there with a win and play well. That was a big statement for us."

The Panthers broke the losing string with their best player, Julius Peppers, in the lineup. Peppers won't play Sunday. He will begin serving a suspension for using a banned substance. Peppers was third in the NFL with 12 sacks.

"Any time you've got a player of that magnitude, you're going to miss him," Fox said. "Julius has done a terrific job for us all season and he'll be missed, but fortunately we've got (Brentson) Buckner back, and from a depth standpoint we lost one, got one."

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