"It was definitely a different experience than last week," Stewart said. "Last week was more getting my feet wet. It was like, 'This is what I'm doing now.' But I had a little more confidence tonight, especially when one of your first runs is a big run. It builds confidence as a runner. So that being said, I just kind of kept things rolling after that."

As for his touchdown run, Stewart was quick to deflect credit to his blockers.

"The only thing I had to do was run to the sidelines and cut it up -- that is how good the blocking was," Stewart said. "The offensive line did a tremendous job all night and (fullback) Brad Hoover, he's our lights in the dark. So he just kind of leads and guides us and we have to pick and choose holes."

Like most of Carolina's starters, Stewart probably won't see much action next week against Pittsburgh.

Regardless, he said he now has plenty of confidence heading into the regular-season opener against San Diego.

"It gives me a lot of confidence just to know that coming off toe surgery, everything is going well and starting to roll," Stewart said. "I'm getting the offense down now. Just to go out and perform in my second preseason game like I did tonight. ... I just think overall as a whole team we did better than we did last week. And that is what coach told us he wanted us to do."

--For the first time since their much-publicized sideline brawl, wide receiver Steve Smith and cornerback Ken Lucas squared off in practice last week, but this battle went smoothly with no punches thrown. Lucas practiced for the first time since Smith punched him -- while Lucas was on one knee -- and broke his nose on Aug. 1 at training camp. Lucas missed two weeks of practice and Smith received a two-game suspension.

Both players went through practice as if it were just another day, and coach John Fox did his best to downplay the situation.

"That's well (in the) past," Fox said. "Until you mentioned it, I didn't even think about it. It was good to have them both back."

Both players declined comment after practice.

However, cornerback Richard Marshall, who replaced Lucas with the first team during his two-week absence, said it's good to have his mentor back.

"He's real experienced and knows a lot more than a lot of our corners do," Marshall said. "So a lot of us go to Luke and ask Luke about little things, ins and outs of corner, what not to do and how to play this and how to play certain routes. He's been there to teach us just as well as coach (Tim) Lewis.

"Having Luke out there on the field with you is good. It's just like when Mint (Mike Minter) was here; Mint was the one helping me out. Now, I can go to Luke, since Mint's not here and Luke can help me out on stuff I don't know."

Lucas talked about how things had been brewing between the two almost from the moment he joined the team in 2005. He also spoke about how they need to put aside their differences for the good of the team.

"We still have some more things to talk about as far as what we can do to go out there and co-exist on the same field, the same team and still be productive and help this team win this year," Lucas said. "Only two men can do that, and I feel like we have what it takes in order to do so."

Smith apologized to Lucas and the rest of his teammates after the incident and called his decision to hit Lucas "asinine."

Smith practiced for the first time in more than a week after suffering a concussion in the preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts.

Along with Smith, Dwayne Jarrett returned to practice after missing Thursday night's game with a leg bruise. However, wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad (ribs) sat out and is day-to-day.

With Jarrett and Smith back, the Panthers' receiver corps may finally be getting healthy. Muhammad could return for the Washington game Saturday, giving the Panthers almost their full complement of receivers.

"We'll be better off this week than we were a week ago," Fox said. "Any time guys aren't out there, it's a concern. We've got to get them healthy, because really our main goal here is to get ready for Week 1 against San Diego. When guys miss time, they miss time. That's all concerning, but we're better off at this point right now than we were at this point a week ago."