Despite the worst game I’ve ever seen Jake Delhomme play and the quarterback’s four interceptions, the Panthers ground out a 17-6 win at Oakland Sunday to move to 7-2. Here are the 5 things I most liked about the win and the 3 I liked least:
The 5 best:
1. DeAngelo Williams was outstanding. His 69-yard touchdown run was superb, but so was that big one late in the fourth quarter, when he broke three tackles after an already long day. He ended up with 140 yards.
2. Julius Peppers was fantastic. He made play after play after play, sacking the QB, chasing down runners and once sniffing out a short pass and suddenly changing gears to guard the receiver, forcing a throw out of bounds and a punt.
3. Mark Jones made me rewind. I watched this game from home – we have a crew of three writers at the game in Oakland. When I have to do that, I generally skip all Panther punt and kickoff returns. That’s been my habit ever since Steve Smith stopped returning them regularly. But Jones made me regret that decision Sunday with two superb returns.
4. That 7-2 Carolina record. The ugliness of this game will be a distant memory by December, but the Panthers’ 7-2 start won’t be.
5. Jon Beason. I now am surprised anytime there’s a running play by the opposing team that doesn’t end with No.52 on top of the ballcarrier.
The 3 worst:
1. Delhomme. He was Jeff Lewis bad. He was Randy Fasani bad. He was unbelievably bad – four interceptions, 7-for-27 for 72 yards, constantly throwing too high, just totally out of synch. Even the best starting pitchers get shelled occasionally, and Delhomme picked the right team to have this happen to, since Oakland’s offense is so woeful and couldn't take advantage of his frequent mistakes.
2. Steve Smith. This was partly Delhomme’s fault, of course, but Smith was a total non-factor on the receiving end (1 catch, 9 yards). He did contribute a couple of fine blocks, but that was about it.
3. 20 -- yes 20!!! -- punts. What a snoozefest most of this game was, with neither offense able to move the ball much. It’s a good thing it didn’t start at 1 p.m., so at least most folks could enjoy a lot of a beautiful afternoon in the Carolinas before watching one of the Panthers’ least entertaining wins of the season.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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16 comments:
But wait!! There's more!!
Scott, it may be a bit early for this question, but do you see the Panthers/Giants game going to the NFL network via flex-scheduling?
Tomorrow...maybe...
Steve, hilarious man.....serious. Do you wonder if he even knows what youre refering to?
Scott: Nice observations. I was especially happy with Julius Peppers. He was a beast today.
Well, bk, the Panthers-Giants game COULDN'T be on NFLN. NBC is the only network with Flex capacities.
I love me some Pep...Thats what a humble hometown Southern Nash Senior High Firebird can do for you :-)
Scott, some nice comments about the game, however, you fell a bit short on Delhomme. It's pretty obvious the arm is gone. He either floats them high, which puts his receivers at risk, or he is 2 to 3 yards short, hence 4 interceptions. He has lost his strength and has no "zip" on the ball. Take a look at Mc Nabb in last nights game, even the one's he didn't connect on were rockets. The Panthers should continue to win next week against the lowly Lions, but with 3 tough teams coming up, 8-5 wouldn't surprise me. Jim H
There's nothing better on a chilly day during a snoozefest like that than curling up on a couch with a cup of hot cocoa and some big marshmallows.
spectre,
His arm is NOT gone. He had 1, COUNT ONE bad game. He was due for one, because before this game, everyone was talking about him having a pro-bowl caliber season... You don't have to consistently throw for 300+ yards to be a great QB in this league .. Look at Drew Brees right now. He's been throwing for a ton of yards, but he's also been making some horrible throws too .. Our offensive philosophy is much different than the throw first S. Payton west coast hybrid offense ... Even on a pass heavy day for the Panthers, Delhomme will be lucky to break 300 yards. You throw Delhomme back to the Saints in that offense, and statistically, he wouldn't be much worse than Drew Brees ..
I'm usually never a supporter of Mr. Bojangles...and once again I will not be. I will, however, step to his defense slightly. spectre, you've got it all wrong. Jake's arm is not gone, but neither is his infamous lack of consistency. I'm not going to "bash" the guy, contrary to the anticipatory belief of the Jake-lovers out there...even though he's making it really easy. I've been a devout Panthers fan for years. I've also been a devout Jake Delhomme skeptic for years. One thing I've noticed throughout the years is that Jake has a cult following (for whatever reason) that rivals the irrationality of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple followers of the 70's. You Jake lovers are so far stuck up his a%# you've inherited his "blame everyone else before me" mentality. It's like Charlie Kaufman decided to write a sequel to Being John Malcovich starring yours truly and you are physically unable to see the attitude he has off the field after mistakes. Aaaaannd begin with the defense of said behavior now......
You people puzzle me.
Scott,
You do not know how happy I am to see everything going well for "Our" Panthers. Not yours because you wrote them off again at the beginning of the season. Jake will forever keep falling back to his normal self. This will not get better. He is ageing and with that, we need some youth QB in our arsenal. Like I said at the beginning of the season too, leave Pep alone and let him do work. Everybody talked all that trash about him and for what, to sound absolutely stupid. He had some personal things going on last year. Maybe next year Scott, you can come out talking trash. But as for now, you ain't so bright.
Hi, guys: It's Scott. To answer a couple of questions in this post: 1) I don't think Delhomme's arm is gone. He's thrown a number of rockets this season. But yesterday he did throw high an awful lot. That makes me wonder if something was wrong with his grip, although Fox said today nothing was (although Fox isn't exactly forthcoming on injuries). As for reference to "But wait, there's more," yes, I understand it. As for Panthers-Giants on Dec.21, I would certainly think that's a great candidate to be moved to a Sunday night game on NBC, or if not that a 4:15 p.m. start rather than the current 1 p.m. start. It WON'T go to NFL Network though -- rest assured you will see it on free TV. That one will definitely have some playoff implications and might even determine who gets the No.1 seed in NFC and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Scott, Watching yesterdays feeble Offensive effort reminded me of our Offensive woes of the past 3 years, most of which I attributed to a terrible Offensive line. The O-line was playing great with the backups. Put in the supposedely healed starters and the whole line was out of sinc at Oakland. Take away 2 good runs be Deangelo, and what is left was a running and passing game that was virtually shut down by the raiders. We were lucky to win this game (Go D). I just hope that this game was our "Tampa Bay" game for the 2nd half of the season.Looking forward to the real Panthers to return in the Detroit game
I don't like the fact that teams can run at us. We do well on the wide runs though because of speed but we seem to lack enough beef in the middle. Even Beason was knocked back on a couple of runs.
As for Jake, he ALWAYS has thrown high, but for the life of me, I couldn't understand how he could miss people THAT bad. His first couple of throws were excellent, couldn't be better. After that, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door. His mechanics are terrible anyway and when they are, you get wild swings like this. It's scary, but after the first drive, Jake completed 5 to the Panthers and 4 to the Raiders.
i am perplexed. What happened to Jake? Why was he throwing high enough that ball could not be caught. He throw so good throws against Arizona that lead to Carolina win 27-23.
How can change of location be that big of factor to cause QB not perform at all.?
Any answers
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