(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

The season hasn't even started yet, and already fans have begun criticizing Jake Delhomme.  Darin Gantt reports that in the press box of the Ravens game someone stated that Delhomme wouldn't start for any other team in the league.

Tell that to fans in Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, etc... and see what they think.

Jake bashing has almost become a sport in the Carolinas.  In six years the Panther quarterback has gone from a franchise savior who inspired a line of "Got Jake?" t-shirts to the most often cited reason for failure on the team.  Through it all the quarterback who people love to call inconsistent has posted the following ratings:  80.6, 87.3, 88.1, 82.6, 111.8 (over three games only), and 84.7. 

Aside from his short season, where he was very good indeed, Delhomme has been consistently average as far as stats are concerned.

As far as winning, he's been consistently good with a 49-30 record, but despite the haters' proclivity for blaming Delhomme for losses, he gets no credit for victories at all.

But this isn't about whether or not it's fair to hate Jake, that's been written about to death.

This article is about the "what-if?" game that Panthers fans love to play.  What if Kasay hadn't kicked that ball out of bounds?  What if Collins hadn't had his meltdown?  What if we never traded for Gilbert?  What if they drafted Tom Brady in the fifth?  (That thought is shared by 31 other teams around the league, for what it's worth).  What if...?

There will always be the nuts who say "What if the Panthers had executed a four-way deal with Peppers and Denver and Chicago and whoever and ended up with a stud defensive end and Jay Cutler?" but those scenarios aren't realistic.

How about this one—What if Fox wasn't such a good coach that we would get a top five pick in the draft one year?  Getting a franchise quarterback is difficult even if you do have a high pick to spend.  Without one, the only hope you have is to find a diamond in the rough and spend a few years polishing it on the bench. 

Well, in Fox's first year as the Carolina coach, the Panthers had the second overall pick.  With it they took Julius Peppers, and in doing so passed on the opportunity to draft Joey Harrington.  Even the most bitter fan out there would probably acknowledge that it was the smart thing to do.

The Panthers went out and got some stability at QB with free agent Rodney Peete, and then in the 2003 offseason they picked up Jake Delhomme from the New Orleans' Saints.  Delhomme, of course, led the Panthers to their lone Super Bowl appearance, and was credited with leading many of the Panthers come-from-behind wins that year. 

2003 also represents the first lost opportunity for the Panthers.  After the draft the Dallas Cowboys picked up UDFA Tony Romo and gave him a roster spot.  The Panthers were happy with Peete and Weinke at the time, and no one would have given the Eastern Illinois product a second look had the Panthers picked him up.  He probably wouldn't have made the roster in Dallas had Quincy Carter not had a substance abuse problem.

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