Carolina Panthers First Quarter Awards

The Panthers have not scored much this year, but this touchdown grab by Dante Rosario was definitely the cream of the crop.

The Panthers capped off a stellar two-minute drive at the end of the first half in Dallas with this great throw by Jake Delhomme over the shoulder of Rosario to take a 7-0 lead into halftime.

It is still unknown whether Jake Delhomme called his own number on the bootleg that sealed the deal in their lone win against the Redskins, or if the call came from the sidelines.

Regardless, we'll chalk this one up for the coaching staff. Nobody in the NFL saw it coming, seeing as how Jake is about as mobile as a jar of molasses in December.

While the coaching staff has made some questionable calls at times this year, they made the right call here and brought home a win.

Jonathan Stewart's game winning touchdown against the Redskins goes down as the first quarter's biggest score if for no other reason than the fact that it gave the Panthers their only win in that window.

After clawing back from a deficit that was 17-2 at one point, the Panthers went ahead for good courtesy of this 8-yard run by J-Stew.

Now before everyone jumps on my case for this pick, let me explain.

Most will want to see Jake Delhomme crucified on this superlative, but that just isn't the basis for the "award." The category is WORST MENTAL mistake. Not worst decision, worst play, worst throw, etc.

In the game in Dallas, the Panthers were down 13-7 with under six minutes to go. The Cowboys had pretty much controlled the second half after Carolina had controlled the first half.

The Panthers started with the ball at their own 10, and after a 12-yard DeAngelo Williams run on the first play of the drive, faced a 2nd-and-10 after an incompletion.

Delhomme took the snap, took a short drop, and fired the ball on the slant route to Smith. Only problem was, Smith was nowhere to be found. He had broken the route off to the outside as Delhomme released the ball in hopes of creating a big play.

Cowboys' corner Terrence Newman came up with the interception and took it to the house, sealing the game for the Cowboys.

Smith's mental mistake was trying to force a big play when it wasn't necessary. The play call was a quick slant to Smith, and he didn't run the quick slant. Plain and simple. The Panthers had scored their only touchdown of the game in the two minute drill and had more than enough time to go down the field and take the lead with a score. A win in Dallas would have this team looking at themselves in a much different light after the first quarter.

The biggest surprise so far this year is pretty simple. The Panthers are 1-3.

This team has too many tools and too much potential to be sitting at 1-3. Say what you will about Jake Delhomme, but the team as a whole has not played anywhere near their potential so far.

Coming off the best record in franchise history, expectations for the Panthers were sky high and rightfully so. They lined up 19 starters from the 12-4 team on opening day. So far the Panthers are making 2008 look like a fluke, and must pull off a 180-degree change to reverse that school of thought.

The remaining three quarters of the season are filled mostly with games against top notch opponents who will make light work of a team like the Panthers if they are not playing inspired football.

Jake Delhomme celebrated his game-sealing bootleg with an inspired celebration that most notably included a near-knockout blow to tight end Dante Rosario, who was among the first to reach Delhomme after the play.

The explosive display of emotion was the release of months of negative energy from Delhomme. When you combine the awful playoff performance with five more turnovers on opening day and mediocre-at-best play in the other three games, the big play that clinched the franchise's first win since December 2008 was cause enough to cut loose for Delhomme.

Who can blame him?

The Panthers were once a team known for their hard-hitting, suffocating defense. Back in the earlier days of the franchise, the fearsome duo of 'Salt-N-Pepper' (Kevin Greene and Lamar Lathon) knocked heads off around the league.

Back in the Panthers' 2003 Super Bowl run, the defensive line that consisted of Julius Peppers, Brentson Buckner, Kris Jenkins, and Mike Rucker was known as one of the top units in the league.

In recent times, however, the Panthers defense has turned into perhaps its most maligned unit. Coming into the Redskins game, the Panthers were giving up around 180 yards per game on the ground. That trend was bucked when they held Clinton Portis and the Redskins to only 74 yards rushing, recorded a safety, and notched five sacks.

The Panthers held their opponent to less than 20 points for just the second time in the last 12 games, and the first time since December 14, 2008 against Denver.

The defense was a big part of the Panthers' first win of the season, and will need to keep stepping up if this season's ship is to be righted.

This is a tough award to hand out, seeing as how the Panthers have only put up 57 points this year.

Quarterback Jake Delhomme has thrown for only three touchdowns, and neither DeAngelo Williams nor Jonathan Stewart has more than two touchdowns.

Tight end Dante Rosario has accounted for two thirds of Delhomme's touchdown passes (all of which have been to tight ends) as well as a third of all the Panthers' touchdowns this season.

Those numbers are enough to tilt the scale in his favor. Rosario has seven receptions for 111 yards and his two touchdowns lead all Panthers (tied with Williams).

When a quarterback is struggling, a pass catching tight end can become his best friend. Delhomme has certainly been struggling, and he has found Rosario a few times to bail him out of bad situations. Getting the tight end involved was something the Panthers needed to do before the season, and so far they have succeeded.

Thomas Davis is having a monster year. Averaging 10 tackles per game, Davis is quickly shaping the Panthers' linebacking corps into one of the most tenacious in the NFL. His hard hitting, emotional playing style and natural leadership abilities inspire his fellow Panthers defenders and intimidate opponents.

In addition to his 40 total tackles, Davis already has two sacks, just 1.5 away from his career high. His 33 solo tackles are good for fifth in the league when most players have yet to hit their bye week. He is also one of only five players officially credited with a safety.

If Davis and middle linebacker Jon Beason can continue to lead these linebackers, expect the play of the entire defense to keep improving.

If you had told me at the conclusion of this year's draft that our seventh round pick would be giving the Panthers the most production through the first quarter of the season, I probably would have laughed.

Nobody is laughing at Captain Munnerlyn, however, and his play so far is sure to earn him additional snaps in the weeks to come. Munnerlyn is the team's nickel back on defense and occasionally returns punts and kicks.

On the season, Munnerlyn has recorded 12 tackles. He also has seven punt returns for 62 yards, leading the team with nearly nine yards per return.

Munnerlyn was drafted with the Panthers' last pick in the draft out of South Carolina where disagreements with some of the coaching staff seemingly led to his fall down the draft board from his projected first-through-third round projection.

Captain's biggest moment as a Panther was his 55-yard punt return against the Dolphins this preseason where he was a single foot out of bounds away from taking the ball to the end zone.

That's it for the first quarter awards, check back after Week Nine to see the second quarter version.

If you have ideas for other categories, feel free to leave them on my bulletin board or in my inbox.