Post Mortem on Delhomme (this game, and maybe his career)

[Mr. Scot]

Those who know me know I’m never a fan of putting too much blame on one player, and it’s never true that one single player wins or loses a game.

But objectively speaking, Jake Delhomme has to be considered the biggest reason for tonight’s disaster

Inaccuracy, overthrows, miscommunication, poor timing, horrible decision making, bad vision, lack of discipline, holding the ball too long, wobbly throws when it did come out… Honestly, what didn’t he do wrong?

While you can’t put the first turnover entirely on him as the DT made a great play. Likewise, you can never completely fault a QB when a pick occurs on a tipped ball. All the rest though? Thoroughly on Delhomme. And the momentum switches that resulted from those turnovers were a tide that the Panthers were just never able to stem.

Clearly, the Cardinals defensive plan was to stop the run and force Delhomme to beat them. Not only could he not do it; sadly, he all but handed Arizona the win.

Few QBs have had Delhomme’s playoff mojo, but tonight it just wasn’t there. Is it gone for good? Don’t know, but the possibility of it being gone might severely alter the Panthers plans going into this offseason.

And as much as I hate to say so, it probably should

No doubt people were calling for his benching in game. Given the situation, and the fact that Josh McCown has zero playoff experience, I don’t really think that was a viable option. Those same folks will now be calling for him to be replaced though.

I’ll say this: Delhomme haters will try to turn this into an “I told you so” but they’d still be wrong. Delhomme has never been that bad in a playoff game. I’m not even sure he’s been that bad in a regular season game. I know some will claim they knew it or they saw it coming to justify being "haters' or having "bad feelings" but the notion that anybody knew for certain that a game this bad was coming is crap.

Prior to tonight, the whole 'replace Delhomme' discussion has never had any validity to it.

Now though, sadly, it does.

Is it the surgery? Age? Luck running out? Don’t know, but prior to this game, Delhomme looked like he would be the Panthers QB until he retired.

At this point, much as I hate to say it because you couldn’t find a nicer guy, I wouldn’t be that surprised if he were let go and/or talked into retirement and thus replaced in the offseason.

Why that big a change after a single game? One gigantic reason:

What Delhomme has always had, even through the bad games, was the unflagging respect of his teammates. I'm not sure he can keep that after tonight's performance.

Will they still like and respect him? Yes. Will they still be able to follow him into battle? That I'm not so sure about.

If that's gone, then it's time to hang it up. I hate to see him go out like this, but you don't always get to choose how your career ends.

If you did, you sure as heck wouldn't choose to see it end like this.

My personal hope: I'd like to see him retained in some sort of coaching/mentor capacity. It'd be too much to ask to think that he'd replace Mike McCoy (not sure he's ready for that role just yet) but he's the kind of guy you want influencing your younger QBs. It'd definitely be worth the team's while to keep him on in some sort of role.

I just don't see that role being as a starting quarterback

[Proudiddy]

well put Mr. Scot. I was yelling throughout the game to bench him... Get rid of him... He should be released... all that. But everytime they showed him, I remembered 2003, and how hyped I was seeing him go at Rodney Harrison and almost bring us back to a victory if it wasn't for Kasay. I felt bad for him everytime they showed b/c I know what a fiery competitor he is and what he must be feeling like.

But at the same time, that was a historic collapse within a matter of two weeks, and he pretty much did single-handedly lose the game (along with playcalling). Maybe I'll feel different in a couple days, but right now, I just think we might be going in a different direction.

[Sam Mills Fan]

Scot, you had me as always until you added the thing about coaching. If there's one pet peeve I have about the Huddle it's the insistence that people always have that older players always need to stay around and coach. There's zero indication that Jake has the desire or the talent to be a coach in any capacity.

Otherwise, thanks for the rational post. I hope that Jake's reputation as a "nice guy" won't cloud the judgment of Fox and Hurney when they evaluate where they need to upgrade in the regular season. Truth is that Jake Delhomme is now a 34-year-old quarterback with a surgically-repaired elbow who is a very inaccurate passer. Change needs to come.

[mountainpantherfan]

I feel the same way. The players in the locker room can say all the right words and they probably want to believe what they say but I just don't see how he can be the effective leader that he was. And let's face it, Jakes main attribute has always been his leadership. If that's gone he is of little use as a QB. It is sad but just like any player I'm a fan of the team first and at the end of the day its a business. Jake just doesn't have the value to the team anymore after this game.

[Mr. Scot]

Scot, you had me as always until you added the thing about coaching. If there's one pet peeve I have about the Huddle it's the insistence that people always have that older players always need to stay around and coach. There's zero indication that Jake has the desire or the talent to be a coach in any capacity.

I agree that we're often too quick to want to retain guys as coaches, but there is actual evidence that Delhomme can fill the role of being a positive influence and mentor. Said evidence coming in the form of statements from guys like Matt Moore, Josh McCown and other guys who have passed through here.

I wouldn't suggest handing the QB coach duties to him, but offering him some role is definitely warranted, even if for no other reason that to help a successor understand how to work with Steve Smith (not everyone can, as last year's experience has shown).

[natty]

I couldn't have said it better myself. I've never been a Jake homer, but have always defended him against the haters. This loss is like a punch in the gut, the fact that my faith in Jake has pretty much disappeared is like a kick in the balls.

I could always justify to myself that, besides their many faults, Jake and Fox where ALWAYS clutch in the playoffs....when it counted......it's gone.

[Cass4Carolina]

At the end of the day, a record of 12 - 5 is NOTHING to be ashamed of. Only 7 other teams in the NFL made it this far. Sure, Jake "chose" one of the worst days possible to have an awful game, but he is human. Everyone is full of emotions right now and want him released/traded/etc., but not as many were complaining when we were in our "moment" this season.

To lead your team to the playoffs with a first-round bye and home-field advantage, the season after coming back from surgery (to a 12-5 season) is commendable in my honest opinion. Like Coach Fox said "At the end of the playoffs only one team is going to end up happy. Whether you get knocked off during wildcard week or lose in the Superbowl, somebody's going to lose." Unfortunately it was us.

I have a lot more hope at the end of this season than I did at the end of last season, that's for sure.

[tarheelpride]

i generally agree with this post. delhomme has been good for us, but something's off about him. i don't know what but this game shows the absolute worse. my question: will we see more of this delhomme, or will he uses this as motivation and come out with a fire under his ass and suddenly turn into peyton manning? who knows, but based off recent performance, we need to cut him. 9 mil for this??? hell no.

[Snake]

You don't lose faith in a guy after one game. Its one f*cking game damn. He has been spotty all year but you know what helps an struggling QB? Short f*cking passes not bombs down the field backed by running up the gut on second down just to make sure the D knows what your doing on 3rd and a mile. The Coaches didn't even try to get Jake into a rhythm and hey why change now they never tried all season. Everyone knew if we got the run game shut down its not a good thing and look what happened.

[Mr. Scot]

One of the other things that's going to suck about this offseason is the abundance of threads suggesting we trade for this, that and the other guy, a good many of which will likely border on the ridiculous.

We're not getting Matt Cassel. One, the Patriots want too much in return. And two, outside of that system, he's got as much chance of turning into the next Scott Mitchell or A J Feely as he does the next Brady or Manning.

We're not getting Donovan McNabb either. I seriously doubt he leaves Philly, but if he does it'll likely be for a team that runs a west coast offense.

Derek Anderson? Please

Draft pick? Anyone seriously believe John Fox will start a rookie QB without being forced to by injuries? We have no first round pick, and it's highly unlikely anyone picked lower would be ready to be an immediate starter, not to mention we have other needs.

And no, The Golden Calf of Bristol is not coming in to lead this team to immediate glory (unless it's as the tight end I'm hoping we get).

Bottom Line: I honestly wouldn't be that surprised if we went into next season with Josh McCown as the starter.

(and I also wouldn't be as upset about it as others would)

[Henne Given Sunday]

Those who know me know I’m never a fan of putting too much blame on one player, and it’s never true that one single player wins or loses a game.

But objectively speaking, Jake Delhomme has to be considered the biggest reason for tonight’s disaster

Inaccuracy, overthrows, miscommunication, poor timing, horrible decision making, bad vision, lack of discipline, holding the ball too long, wobbly throws when it did come out… Honestly, what didn’t he do wrong?

While you can’t put the first turnover entirely on him as the DT made a great play. Likewise, you can never completely fault a QB when a pick occurs on a tipped ball. All the rest though? Thoroughly on Delhomme. And the momentum switches that resulted from those turnovers were a tide that the Panthers were just never able to stem.

Clearly, the Cardinals defensive plan was to stop the run and force Delhomme to beat them. Not only could he not do it; sadly, he all but handed Arizona the win.

Few QBs have had Delhomme’s playoff mojo, but tonight it just wasn’t there. Is it gone for good? Don’t know, but the possibility of it being gone might severely alter the Panthers plans going into this offseason.

And as much as I hate to say so, it probably should

No doubt people were calling for his benching in game. Given the situation, and the fact that Josh McCown has zero playoff experience, I don’t really think that was a viable option. Those same folks will now be calling for him to be replaced though.

I’ll say this: Delhomme haters will try to turn this into an “I told you so” but they’d still be wrong. Delhomme has never been that bad in a playoff game. I’m not even sure he’s been that bad in a regular season game. I know some will claim they knew it or they saw it coming to justify being "haters' or having "bad feelings" but the notion that anybody knew for certain that a game this bad was coming is crap.

Prior to tonight, the whole 'replace Delhomme' discussion has never had any validity to it.

Now though, sadly, it does.

Is it the surgery? Age? Luck running out? Don’t know, but prior to this game, Delhomme looked like he would be the Panthers QB until he retired.

At this point, much as I hate to say it because you couldn’t find a nicer guy, I wouldn’t be that surprised if he were let go and/or talked into retirement and thus replaced in the offseason.

Why that big a change after a single game? One gigantic reason:

What Delhomme has always had, even through the bad games, was the unflagging respect of his teammates. I'm not sure he can keep that after tonight's performance.

Will they still like and respect him? Yes. Will they still be able to follow him into battle? That I'm not so sure about.

If that's gone, then it's time to hang it up. I hate to see him go out like this, but you don't always get to choose how your career ends.

If you did, you sure as heck wouldn't choose to see it end like this.

My personal hope: I'd like to see him retained in some sort of coaching/mentor capacity. It'd be too much to ask to think that he'd replace Mike McCoy (not sure he's ready for that role just yet) but he's the kind of guy you want influencing your younger QBs. It'd definitely be worth the team's while to keep him on in some sort of role.

I just don't see that role being as a starting quarterback

comeback player of the year..................:ihih:

[Panthers128]

what about ken lucas though? he got beat like he was taking a breather in practice today

[Sam Mills Fan]

Yep, my hope is that either McCown or Moore starts next year. Realistically though, he's going to let Jake start yet again and we all know that deep down.

It's too bad too. Jake was a backup for many years before 2003 and only got to start once Fox took a chance on him. He should allow the same opportunity for McCown or Moore.

[Henne Given Sunday]

what about ken lucas though? he got beat like he was taking a breather in practice today

seriously....your defense needs help....warner (without boldin) looks right at fitz all night....and hit em' every time.....yikes....