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You've gotta have a "thing," a signature step, if you're an NFL receiver. You do something, and you do your thing. It's as if a trademark big play celebration has become as important a part of a pass catcher's repertoire as strength and quickness.

Carolina's Muhsin Muhammad has his thing, and he's done it quite a bit this season. You've probably seen it, he's in the end zone so much. It goes like this: Since Muhammad's so big into hoops, whenever he scores, he makes figure eights with the football through his legs, as if dribbling a basketball crossover-style.

"Just the mentality of the crossover, man," Muhammad said, "when you're coming down the court and the guy's looking you in your eyes, and you cross him over, it sends a message that the guy's feeling good about how he's playing."

Muhammad's been feeling it for, oh, two months or so. He's squeezed a really good season into his last nine games, catching 64 passes for 1,020 yards and 12 touchdowns. He's been the hottest receiver in the league the last seven weeks, helping spark Carolina's 6-1 run with 48 catches for 820 yards and 10 scores, while posting two 10-catch performances.

Muhammad, along with quarterback Jake Delhomme, tailback Nick Goings, and defensive end Julius Peppers, has led the Panthers back from a seemingly lost season to the brink of the playoffs.

Carolina (7-8) plays host to New Orleans (7-8) Sunday and -- with a win combined with a Vikings loss at Washington or a win combined with a Seahawks win or tie or a win or tie combined with a Rams loss or tie -- can become the first team in league history to start 1-7 and go to postseason.

One place Muhammad knows he's going for certain is back to Honolulu, for the Pro Bowl.

The 31-year-old and franchise leader in catches and yards has regained his form of 1999-2000, when he led the conference in receptions back to back seasons (96 and 102, respectively), following a three-year stretch in which he averaged just 56 catches. Through Week 16, Muhammad ranked second in the league with a team-record 1,310 yards, was tied for fifth with 87 receptions, and shared with Terrell Owens and Marvin Harrison the league lead in touchdown catches with 14.

The 14 TD grabs represent half his career total for his first eight seasons.

All this, lest we forget, without the Panthers' big-play receiver and Delhomme's No. 1 target last season, Steve Smith, out since suffering a season-ending leg injury in the opener.

Carolina would have been out of it a long time ago had Muhammad not started playing, as they say, out of his mind.

"This year, without him, we would be lost," offensive coordinator Dan Henning said. "He's been superb in every fashion. Leadership, blocking, catching."

Muhammad may be the most complete receiver in the game outside of Pittsburgh.

"Year to year, you might want Hines Ward over 'Moose,'" Henning said. "But I wouldn't take anybody in the league right now over Muhsin Muhammad. Not this year.

"He's not super fast, but he gets deep, makes catches in a crowd, and there isn't any route that he can't run or any block he won't try and make, which makes him different and special in my mind," Henning added. "There's a lot of receivers in this league who just won't block. They have a philosophy: Hit them if you must, miss them if you can. But Moose takes tremendous pride and is a very good blocker."

Muhammad approaches his blocking assignments with such vigor that defensive backs are often fooled into playing the run and leave themselves vulnerable against the pass.

	“	This year, without him, we would be lost. He's been superb in every fashion. Leadership, blocking, catching. ”
		— Dan Henning, Panthers offensive coordinator

"When he comes down and goes after safeties, he goes after them," Henning said. "Pretty soon they're so worried about him coming down that they forget he might bluff and go for the big pass. He keeps people thinking about his blocking and takes their mind off of him as a receiver."

Muhammad always is thinking about improving. Catching extra passes after practice helps him snatch balls out of traffic on gameday; he drops fewer passes now than in past years. Intense weight training allows him to shed tacklers and pick up chunks of YAC (that's Yards After Catch). He may be getting more attention from defenses without Smith on the other side, but he's able to produce because he pays so much attention to detail.

"The players that pay attention to the small details and work hard at the small details are the ones that manage to be productive over a long period of time," Muhammad said. "Everybody in the world knows that Marvin Harrison is going to get the ball, but he has 1,000 yards every season. A lot of that is because of the work he puts in to being a good player. I think I just work hard at what I do and it just shows on the field."

Get a good look Sunday. The game could be the Panthers' last of the season. It also may be Muhammad's last as a Panther.

Carolina already has invested major money in Smith (a contract worth $26.5 million). It's unlikely that they would pay top dollar to keep two top-flight wideouts around. Muhammad, technically, is under contract for next season, but under the terms of a September restructuring to save the Panthers cap space, he's due a $10 million roster bonus March 2. In this business, that's grounds for immediate termination.

Coming into this season, Muhammad's skills were thought to be in decline, but he's proved that he's far from finished. He's probably just finished in Carolina unless he decides to stay put for less than he could command on the open market. Some team may be willing to pay $6 million to $7 million a season over the first two years of a long-term deal for a tough and athletic 6-foot-2-inch, 217-pound receiver with "sneaky speed," who excels at finding openings in coverage.

Muhammad reported that there had been no substantial discussions regarding a new contract. He also acknowledged that he has considered the significance of Sunday's game.

"I have given that some thought," he said. "This is not only a very big game for us as a team, but for myself, this could possibly be my last game playing at (Bank of America Stadium) as a Panther. It's an emotional time. I'm not sure exactly how this free agency thing is going to pan out. Nevertheless, my focus is trying to get to the Super Bowl and once the season is over with, I'll worry about free agency after that."

He still has one more game with the Panthers -- at least -- to do his thing.

Michael Smith is a senior writer for ESPN.com.