Jake Delhomme is killing the Carolina Panthers

Adam on 09 15, 2009

Somebody call the proper authorities, Jake Delhomme is killing the Carolina Panthers. He is putting a bow on the game, writing a nice card, and hand delivering victories to opposing teams. It’s so bad that the Panthers used two other quarterbacks in yesterday’s debacle against the Eagles.

Delhomme was so atrocious that Donovan Mcnabb only had to throw for 78 yards, got injured half way through the game, and it still didn’t matter. Rarely do you see a team put up 38 points (as the Eagles did) on only 267 total yards. Delhomme gave the Eagles the ball, and excellent field position time after time yesterday.

It’s not all the Panthers fault, well, except for the fact that Delhomme threw 5 interceptions in their final game last year, when they were thrashed by the Cardinals in the playoffs. So maybe they should have seen this coming, or at least prepared by obtaining a suitable backup quarterback. Instead they have utter journeyman and incompetents in Matt Moore and Josh McCown. Bringing in Moore or Mccown to stabilize the game is sort of like bringing Mike Tyson into a situation to add a dose of sanity. It’s misguided.

In Delhomme’s last two starts dating back to that awful game against the Cardinals he has totaled 9 interceptions and 2 fumbles (both lost) for a total of eleven turnovers. That is beyond inexcusable. In the NFL the turnover battle almost always decides the game, 11 turnovers in two games literally gives the game away.

Now the Panthers have to be wondering which direction to go. Maybe if they didn’t have $18 million tied up in Julius Peppers this year they could have made some adjustments. That’s correct, they are paying a defensive end $18 million for one year in which he is unlikely to be motivated and will almost assuredly leave the Panthers next offseason.

Many NFL prognosticators viewed the Panthers as a playoff team, and some even as a super bowl team. That might be feasible if they had a quarterback that could make solid decisions and take care of the football. After all they have an excellent running game, and a pretty good defense. Unfortunately Delhomme is adding to Carolina’s Deficit like George Bush did to ours’.

In the NFL, plenty of teams will lose games, but you absolutely can not give them away. To win in this league you must be close in the turnover battle, and possess the ball more than your opponents. Throw 4-5 picks in a game and you will lose to every team every time, well except for the Lions.