He was placed on the list Tuesday.

Providing a donor heart becomes available, Richardson will undergo heart transplant surgery at Carolinas Medical Center. There is no timetable for the organ donor process.

Richardson, 72, continues to be in the hospital after recently undergoing a variety of medical tests resulting from not feeling well throughout the fall. He underwent coronary bypass surgery in October of 2002 and received a pacemaker/defibrillator last month.

While the pacemaker/defibrillator is working effectively, Richardson continued to not feel well and was readmitted to Carolinas Medical Center last week for further testing.

A heart transplant candidate can remain in the hospital or go home during the waiting process. After surgery, a heart transplant patient normally remains in the hospital a period of time and once he is released, the recovery time can be up to several months.

Approximately 2,200 heart transplant surgeries are performed in the United States every year with a very high success rate.

--Jake Delhomme never seems to be the highest-rated quarterback in the league, but he sure knows how to win.

Including the playoffs, Delhomme is 54-31 as Carolina's starting quarterback.

"You can get caught up in quarterback rating and all of that. I have never understood that," Delhomme said. "I think one of my better years in quarterback rating was when we went 7-9. Well yeah, I had a pretty rating -- we were getting killed I and was chucking the ball in the fourth quarters and everybody is playing back. If you want to make it a true rating, add 25 points plus or minus on a win or a loss. If you want to have it pretty at the end of the game so you feel good about yourself that is one thing. If you want to win and feel really good, that's another."

--The Broncos come into the game having defeated the other three NFC South foes this season.

That's quite an accomplishment considering it is one of the toughest divisions in football.

"We're a strong division and they've beat everyone in our division," said linebacker Na'il Diggs. "You can't judge a team by their division. They're leading their division, we're leading our division, but they've been on the road in places where we've lost, they beat Atlanta in Atlanta. We know how tough it is to win there. They got it done and we didn't. So you really can't take a team for granted. You're either a good team or you're not. I know we've got good teams in our division and they beat those teams. So that should tell you how good they are."

--Coach John Fox will spend this week making sure his players don't get overconfident and that the focus is on Sunday's opponent, the Denver Broncos.

He seemed to emphasize the point after the completion of practice Wednesday, huddling with 11 of the team's leaders - at least one player from each position -- on the field.

Although Fox wasn't willing to share what was discussed with reporters, several players said the basic message was simple, but pointed.

"It was basically, 'Keep your heads on straight,'" said linebacker Na'il Diggs, one of eight players in on the impromptu meeting. "Nothing really severe or anything. (He just wanted) to make sure everybody knows that was a pretty big game and we're in the driver's seat on this thing, so we can't fall asleep at the wheel."

BY THE NUMBERS: 7-0 -- Panthers record at home entering Sunday's game.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Cover. Don't allow the big play. We have shown we can do it in the past, and we've just got to get back to doing it the way we did it the old way. We haven't been covering as well as we have in the past. But we have been coming out with the win. That's the epitome of this team, it might not be a pretty win as some people say, but we have been finding ways to win. If we're not playing well on defense, the offense has done enough to bring us through and vice versa. It has been a total team effort all year long where we've been playing as a while. It's hard to beat a team when one is not playing as good and the other steps up, and the guys making plays here and there. That is the reason we're 10-3 right now even though some of the wins have been unimpressive from our point of view." -- Panthers CB Ken Lucas on the Panthers secondary giving up more than 600 yards passing and five TDs through the air in the last two games.