Teammate Damione Lewis, who plays beside Peppers on the Carolina Panthers' defensive line, sometimes has to stop himself from chuckling when "Pep" goes vocal.

"It's zero to 60," said Lewis. "Last year and the year before last, he said absolutely nothing on the field. ... Then we got on the field [this year] and he started making a lot of noise. It's really strange, but at the same time it's funny, and we welcome it."

It's not that Peppers, the Panthers' Pro Bowl defensive end, has suddenly become a trash talker -- far from it. He still chooses his words carefully, but he no longer hesitates to speak up when his input is needed.

His evolution after a disappointing '07 season is a big reason the Panthers are 11-3 heading into tonight's big game against the New York Giants. He ranks sixth in the NFL with 12.5 sacks and is tied for second with five forced fumbles.

"I feel like he's embraced the role that all of us knew he had on this team," offensive tackle Jordan Gross said. "He's our main guy, him and Steve [Smith], but he's a North Carolina guy his whole life.

"I really feel like he's stepping into that role of the face of the organization."

That's what team owner Jerry Richardson had in mind before last season when he challenged Peppers to take more of a leadership role after the retirement of veteran safety Mike Minter.

Peppers didn't respond immediately. While suffering through the most difficult season of his career (2.5 sacks in 2007), he yielded leadership of the defense to veteran end Mike Rucker.

Rucker, who retired after the season, said he never asked or wanted Peppers to defer to him, but that he appreciated the intent.

Peppers politely declined to be interviewed for this story. He sent word that he didn't want to bring special attention to himself and instead wanted to concentrate on the Panthers' pursuit of the Super Bowl championship that has eluded the organization throughout its 14-year history.

Roots of renewal

Peppers' return to stardom can be traced to several offseason months he spent working out 2,000 miles away from Charlotte at the Athletes' Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz.

A center designed for elite athletes, API has helped train some of the top names in pro sports, including Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson, Houston defensive end Mario Williams, baseball's Manny Ramirez and Chase Utley, and basketball's Chauncey Billups.

The far-away-from-home setting gave Peppers somewhere to increase his strength and speed, while providing time and space to process his future at a crucial pivot point in his career.

The Panthers generally prefer their players to conduct offseason workouts at Bank of America Stadium under the supervision of team trainers, but some players make alternate plans.

"I think it [was] important for him to leave," Gross said. "I go back home [to Idaho] in the offseason and see family. But he's born and raised here. If he needs to get away and clear his mind, and be just a guy, no one thinks twice about it."

Carolina coaches and officials say they were confident Peppers was being diligent.

"He's not a guy who goes away and you worry," Trgovac said. "He's one of our hardest workers.

"We had full faith in the pride he has in himself, in this defense, in this organization. He wasn't happy with what happened in '07 and he's not a kid who just sits on his duff. We just knew he was doing the right things. He had done it before that way."

When Peppers (listed at 6-7, 283, but probably closer to 300 pounds) returned for spring practices and training camp, his increased size and strength were striking.

"I feel like I'm a pretty decent player, and he was throwing me around in camp," Gross said.

Back to the future

Rucker said he knew what to expect from this season when Peppers came out wearing a dark helmet shield for the opening game at San Diego.

Rucker and Peppers wore dark shields in 2003, when the Panthers reached the Super Bowl, but Peppers had switched to a clear shield in recent years.

"As soon as I saw [that] shield, I knew his frame of mind was going back old school," Rucker said. "When you look good, you feel good, and you play good."

Peppers had two quarterback pressures in the Panthers' win at San Diego. After five games, he had three sacks, more than all of last season.

He really caught fire in November, recording seven sacks, seven pressures and forcing three fumbles to earn the NFC defensive player of the month award.

Peppers followed that with 1.5 sacks in the Panthers' big Monday night Football win over Tampa Bay on Dec. 8. Though he didn't have a tackle in last week's win over Denver, he had two pressures and drew so much attention from the Broncos' offense that it freed second-year defensive end Charles Johnson to have one of his best games.

The Broncos tried using two and sometimes three blockers on Peppers. He gets that kind of attention frequently, which requires him to be creative in order to make plays.

"They don't [double- or triple-team] every down and you have to take advantage of the downs when [they] don't, and that's what he's done," Trgovac said. "He's [also] fought through some good double-teams this year."

The Panthers also move Peppers away from his right end position occasionally to try to create more favorable matchups and to confuse opposing offenses. He has lined up at defensive tackle, left end and as a standup linebacker.

Rucker said Peppers looks much more comfortable changing positions than he has in previous seasons.

Hall of Fame coach John Madden, who will help broadcast tonight's game for NBC Sports, said he thinks the difference in Peppers this year is that he's healthy and fresh.

"If he's healthy, he's such a great athlete. He's a combination defensive end and NBA player," said Madden, alluding to Peppers' college basketball career at North Carolina. "He has moves and the footwork, he can get hands up in the [passing] lanes, he can do so many things. On a pass rush, he can just dominate and take over a game."

But Madden said it's premature to assess how Peppers compares to great defensive ends of the past.

"The first name I think of when you [ask] that is Reggie White," Madden said. "I think Peppers maybe has to get to a point where he dominates over a longer period of time."

What price is right?

Peppers' contract expires after this season and so far the Panthers haven't succeeded in reaching agreement on a long-term extension. Negotiations with his agent, Carl Carey, have been cordial and extremely private.

If a deal isn't completed before the free agency signing period opens Feb. 27, the Panthers can put an exclusive franchise tag on Peppers to prohibit other teams from making him an offer.

That would require Carolina to pay him an estimated $17 million for the 2009 season -- 20 percent more than he counts against the salary cap this year.

The Panthers' goal, of course, is a multi-year extension, which almost certainly would make him the highest-paid defensive player in league history. However, they would be able to structure the contract so he would count significantly less under the '09 cap than he would with the franchise designation.

The NFL's highest-paid defender now is Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen, whose six-year deal signed earlier this year averages about $12.2 million per season.

Lewis said he can't imagine Peppers leaving Carolina , or the Panthers letting him go.

Peppers has lifelong ties to North Carolina. He grew up in Bailey, near Wilson, and owns a luxurious lakefront home just north of Charlotte in Iredell County.

Yet, he's been silent about his future for months, which is unsettling to some Panthers' supporters, but not to Rucker.

"Here's the mystery of the whole thing," Rucker said. "Because as a society everything is about money and getting money fast ... it's different and it rings an alarm bell when somebody isn't chasing money.

"He's more worried about trying to get this championship. ...

"I really think it goes back to letting it play out, getting as far as they can get in [their drive for the playoffs], then deal with it."

How ironic: The man who got his rush back is in no hurry. Time has become his ally.

(Staff writer David Poole contributed to this story.)