Carolina Panthers Doomed With Jake Delhomme? Don't Count On It.

Carolina is a running team.  When the game starts, Jake is called on to be a game manager.  He's tasked with handing the ball off to Williams and Stewart, and when the Panthers need a first down he'll throw for it. 

Carolina doesn't use a short passing game to set up the run.  They don't have a West Coast offense.  They're a plain old smash it up the middle and throw it down the field football team.

In that system, or maybe because of it, Jake doesn't have great stats.  But he was fourth in the league in yards per attempt, and first in yards per completion. 

Think his stats would be better with a bunch of short completions mixed in?  Do you think he cares for a minute, as long as he's winning?

Hand it off, hand it off, throw for a first down if necessary, or to keep the defense honest.  That's the Panther's game plan.  And they have a quarterback who understands it and is happy to execute it as it's intended. 

And when the game is on the line and they need the gunslinger to come out, his rating rises from the high 70's to the high 90's.  Somehow he gets a lot more accurate too.

Do you think the Chargers are ready to question his accuracy in the last two minutes?  Dante Rosario sure won't.

How about the Bears, who watched him go four for five in the fourth, including a deep ball to King that put the Panthers in perfect position for the go-ahead score.  Do you think they respect his game?

Green Bay ought to have a lot of respect for Jake's ability to hit the deep ball in the fourth quarter.  Or was that all Steve Smith?

Of course, the Saints are well acquainted with his comebacks.  They suffered another one last year as Jake hit Smitty for a big gain on the Panthers' last drive.  He completed his only other attempt to Moose before Kasay kicked the game winning field goal.

The bottom line is, Jake was deadly in the fourth every time the Panthers were in a close game last year.  The Giants edged the Panthers in overtime, but that might be blamed on the defense instead of the quarterback.

And don't forget, Jake Delhomme is a great leader.  His teammates love him, and when he's called on to carry the team late he delivers.

His two worst games of the season both came on two weeks rest, but that's fodder for another article.  Just in case anyone wants to research Tommy John surgery and recovery times, that is.

This column isn't about that.  It's about why people think the Panthers are doomed with Jake under center.

It's about blaming a quarterback for choosing a terrible time to have a terrible game. 

A game in which the starting running back managed 23 yards after an opening drive that saw him run all over the opponents. 

A game in which the NFL's third best rushing attack ran the ball 15 times and passed 34, including on the vast majority of first downs.

A game in which the defense left one of the NFL's best receivers uncovered in the flat for the entire first half.  In Arizona's seven possessions during the first half, the Cardinals were forced to punt only once.

A game in which the quarterback shouldered the blame for the whole team and staff, and still accepts it.

Face it, Jake's a game manager who has the ability to tighten it down late in the game.  Make him carry the team from the outset and you risk a meltdown.  And if he has one, he'll take the heat for the entire team no matter what else happened.

But pair him with a great running attack and give him a close game or lead in the fourth quarter; well all he'll do is just win a lot of games for you.

So if you consider all that and are still worried about whether he can recover from a five interception game in the playoffs, well you just need to look at NFL history to realize how unfair that really is.

After all, when Brett Favre threw six interceptions in the division playoffs against the Rams in 2002, no one was writing his professional obituary.  They weren't writing it when he threw four against the Vikings in the 2005 postseason either. 

And writing Jake's is also premature.  Good quarterbacks aren't defined by a single game.

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