Thursday, November 19, 2009

Dolphins win 24-17; Fox says "lot of football left"

The Panthers' last-gasp attempt at a comeback fell short Thursday night and Miami beat Carolina, 24-17, to drop the Panthers to 4-6 this season.

The Panthers' Jake Delhomme got one chance to throw it into the end zone from the Miami 26 as time expired. He was under pressure and his lob was batted down, however, sending the home crowd back home disappointed.

Panther coach John Fox said after the game: "It came down to with their opportunities they scored touchdowns and with our opportunities we scored field goals. That was probably the difference in the game.... The reality is we're 4-6. We've still got a lot of football left.... We're still in no way or stretch out of it."

Miami was ahead for most of the game -- 14-3 at halftime and 24-14 in the fourth quarter after Ricky Williams scored his third TD of the game. Carolina then drove for a long field goal, didn't convert an onside kick but then stopped the Dolphins on four downs to get one last chance.

Carolina would have had to go 72 yards in 39 seconds with no timeouts to tie the game. Delhomme got the Panthers 46 yards before running out of time on the final Hail Mary play.

Note: I'll be posting my "5 things I didn't like" about this game around 12:30 or 1 a.m., but feel free to offer suggestions below for what should make the cut.

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

Number one thing is poor tackling. Two, poor pass blocking.

Jennifer said...

I had dance classes all night, didnt see, or hear any of the game, so I will have to read about it from you guys...

No Panthers Happy Feet Dance this week I see <:-(

Anonymous said...

The panthers are doing horrible and obviously they dont have a first round draft pick next year so get rid of peppers and get you somebody useful maybe a new qb to go along with the new coach next year. Maybe tim tebow or boise state qb. They have alot of work to do and im sure steve smith is very pissed and frustrated with the team put him at punt/kick return if you cant throw the ball to him hes better than anybody else.

Anonymous said...

The season is over Fox. Deal with it. You're not coming back. For all we know, the team might move. By far the biggest off season for this franchise, even after 2001 season. Jake do the NFL a favor and retire

Anonymous said...

Jake Delhomme better be in the 5 dislikes list. Once again Steve Smith makes Jake Delhomme look decent. Steve Smith should of had 150 yards and 3 tds. But like he does every single game Jake Delhomme can't getit to him. And these weren't "hey the CB was in goo position and made a play incompletions". That's acceptable. They're " Smiths 5 yards infront full stride but Jake messes up the throw" incompletions. Fox and Davidson need to go. Davidson for taking the ball out of our best assets hands and putting them in our biggest losers. Fox because fox doesn't have the backbone to tell Davidson otherwise and losing the most talented 4-6.

Anonymous said...

I agree tackling was awful, so is our special teams coverage, I swear we are probably last in the league.

josh said...

Why abandon the run and who outside of a pickup game throws a hail mary from the 26???

Anonymous said...

Every week I watch less and less of the game. Tonight was about 7 minutes. Wake me up when they get better.

Anonymous said...

Also Gary Barnidge needs to play more, he is underrated.

Anonymous said...

On offense play calling was poor. So you get a long drive to start the game. First and goal and you throw 3 passes...Same old story, when other team makes adjustment to stop the run the Panthers have no answer. On defense it was disappointing to see long 3rd down conversions by Miami and poor tackling by Chris Harris among others.

Anonymous said...

5 things I didn't like about this game

1. John Fox coached the Panthers and needs to be fired A.S.A.P., this season is over.
2. Jake Delhomme played QB and sucked it up with a 60 passer rating.
3. We tried passing 46 times with the worst QB in the history of the league when we have the 3rd best rushing attack.
4. Jake can't hit the broad side of a barn passing.
5. Julius Peppers made 1 million dollars for 1 tackle.

Anonymous said...

there is talent on this team. too bad it is wasted by a terrible idiot coach. a coach with half a brain would fire crossman, bench jake (long ago) and open up the offense so that we could use ALL of our assets. we have pretty good catching tight ends, but never use them. and for petes sake, BLITZ on third and 12.

Anonymous said...

The inability to score...driving 70-80 yards does absolutely nothing when it doesn't result in a score.

It usually results in 3 points, but all too often results in 0.

Unknown said...

play calling should be number one i mean we are inside the 10 and we pass pass pass kick.

Anonymous said...

i HOPE there isn't ONE GAME LEFT for Fox to coach.

Anonymous said...

Pep has a broken hand, give him some slack

WANT SOME AMAZING NUMBERS

PAST 4 GAMES, THE PANTHERS ONLY SCORED 2 TIMES IN THE 2ND HALVES. BOTH ONLY IN 4TH QUARTERS. LAST WEEK, AND THIS WEEK

Who fault is that? That is so pathetic

JRM said...

How bout the Defense not stoping Ricky Williams on that long TD run...Sherrod Martin should lose his new starting job for that pathetic non-tackle. If they stop the Dolphins there, then the score would've been tied after our next drive. Instead, we had to try to come from behind all night. Hang this lose on the poor "D", not poor Jake!

Anonymous said...

Fox says plenty of football left to keep Jerry off his backside. The guy knows he's done and a coaching search should be underway any day now. Let's just go ahead and get him out of here for the love of all things holy.

Drithe said...

1. Bad QB.
2. Bad bad coaching.
3. Bad bad bad ownership who doesnt address any problems.
4. NOt letting D. Williams run more.

The Charlotte Observer sports guys seems to know more about football than the coaching staff does. Maybe THEY should coach? I'm sure they know how to tell the QB to hand the ball off to D. Williams some more.

Anonymous said...

JRM 19 for 42 with 4 sacks that he caused plus 1 pick. That is all Jake's fault. get a QB who can pass and this game is a blow out. But it's Fox's fault b/c he starts the bum. Just admit that we have a lame duck coach running this asylum and thank the lord Jake Delhomme's days of sucking is just about up. Time to clean house.

Anonymous said...

if I hear one more "poor Jake" i am going to puke. we are happy when the guy doesn't LOSE the game for us. what kind of QB is that? why can't we put in a QB who might win one once in a while. i bet if we had a QB who could pass better than a 5 year old, willams and stewart would have 150 yards a game each.

Anonymous said...

Poor offensive decisions

Anonymous said...

1)Poor tackling + overrunning plays on defense. We pulled within 3 in the 4th quarter, and with momentum swinging our way we let Miami convert on 3rd and 12, and then allowed Ricky to break off a long run for a touchdown.

2)Pass blocking was a problem, but this should have been expected with the recent shuffle due to the loss of Gross.

3)DROPPED PASSES! Could have come away with touchdown on the first drive if some key passes were not dropped.

4) THE ABSOLUTE WORST THING EVER: We panicked down 3-14 and abandoned the run. We have the best 1-2 punch in the NFL, and a bottom 10 QB. Its no secret that we have to stick with the run, EVEN when we fall behind. Davidson wants pass really badly for some reason, even when the run game is clicking.

Philly said...

Here's what 3 of them should be that you didn't like.
1. Playcalling. I checked an NFL stat (it's true) that in every game this season Jake has thrown the ball 30 or more times, they've lost. I know you can't hide him, nor should you, but it makes no sense to throw the ball 42 times and run 27, when you have two of the best backs in football, and Miami not being able to stop the run all night.
2. O-Line. Remember a while back when Travelle Wharton WAS our Left Tackle and he couldn't block any good pass rusher? Well, here we go again. Watch replay of the game, and see that most of Miami's pressure came on the side Wharton was blocking. He just doesn't have the speed to get around on guys like Joey Porter, and with teams like New England, New Orleans, New York(both of them), and Minnesota still to go, it's only gonna get worse.
3. Tackling. There wasn't any of it. Ron Meeks I'm sure is a great guy, but his defense is a pass first D, so while we're great against the pass, we're terrible against the run. Now I also think it's a player personnel issue, but that doesn't excuse the piss-poor tackling attempts tonight.

JRM said...

Are you actually blaming the guy for the 4-sacks? Are you kidding me? That was the o-line's fault. This is obviously the end of the Fox/Delhomme era...but you can't put this lose on Jake, to do so is stupidity. The Eagles game, the Bills game, certainly...but not this one. Something else you can't put on him,the play-calling. The guy should never throw over 30 passes. He's a game-manager...come on man!

Anonymous said...

After a 5 step drop the QB has to get rid of the ball. Only one sack was he not allowed to drop back. He is terrible, the coaching is terrible and this season can't get over soon enough. Jerry Richardson has some BIG decisions to make b/c I don't see this getting any better. John Fox needs to go.

Anonymous said...

jrm,
it IS jakes fault. part of sacks is holding the ball too long. jake can't throw long, so he holds the ball waiting for his receivers to become SO wide open that a blind man could hit them. even then he overthrows, throws low, throws wide, etc. HE CAN'T THROW. he has terrible mechanics which lead to being inaccurate. HE CAN'T change. we can't always run the ball to win and if the ONLY thing he is is a game manager, then he REALLY sucks at it.

JRM said...

Um, I don't know if you watch other games in the NFL...but good o-lines give their QBs a little more time than the 5-step dropback. Also, Jake was having to scramble tonight before he even got his 5-step dropback. The pick was his fault, but the blame stops there. This is the end...John Fox is done. But the blame spreads all around! No coach gets fired for having a bad qb, they get fired for allowing multiple problems to come up. And Jake is only one of those problems. In the 5 things I dislike, Delhomme should not be on this list.

Anonymous said...

Delhomme should just resign like Kerry Collins did. It's embarrassing watching a guy who makes more money than everyone that will look at this thread combined. It's pathetic to pay for my season tickets and watch this garbage. It's pitiful to watch a coach ruin a franchise. It's unacceptable on every level to put the fans through this type of play with talent we have. John Fox has made me HATE my favorite team. Simply HATE them right now.

Joe said...

You know, I was just saying the other day, now that we've lost our best pass blocker and established the fact that we can't win when Jake throws more than 25 times in a game, if for some reason we fall behind or *gasp* get into the red zone, we should air it out with Jake. It'll take them by surprise, especially if DeAngelo's having a big game.

JRM said...

A real fan never hates his team, he can be mad or sad, but loves them nontheless! I'm sad about the state of this franchise, but I love my team! Love em! Get off the Bandwagon you Panther-hatin wannabe!

Anonymous said...

I'm sooooooo very tired of the Panthers playing soooo hard and making great throws and at the LAST TWO MINUTES of the entire game!! They need to put that kind of game on ALL four quarters of each game instead of thinking, "Oh, it's only 1st quarter... we got plenty of time to play..." If they can score at least 38 points on the board at the 1st half, then the Defense just need to stop the other team's plays... *sigh* So very sad and disappointed and angry!!!

Anonymous said...

Ron Meeks is a token hire of a DC. You have Miami under duress on a 3rd and 12 and don't bring pressure on the QB, instead dropping into a soft zone that results in a first down, then a TD on the next play when you bring up 9 into the box. Stpudity defined.

Did Jerry Richardson sleep through this game as well? He apparently doesn't care anymore.

Anonymous said...

+100

3. We tried passing 46 times with the worst QB in the history of the league when we have the 3rd best rushing attack.

+100

Red zone play calling... WTF? Why are you passing so much in the red zone when we have DWill and JStew? Seriously?

Philly said...

JRM... dude... shut the heck up and go sleep on your air mattress. If you actually think Jake had NOTHING to do with losing this game, not a thing at all, you obviously don't have a lot of smarts about the game yourself. I don't know you at all, but your comments make no sense. I'm just as big a fan as you, heck probably even more, but I call it like I see it, unlike yourself, and you just have to realize Jake doesn't have it anymore, and this team needs changes in a lot of areas. No, it's not just one person, or the big three, that's got this team so bad. But you can't deny the facts JRM. Get out of your state of denial, and accept it.

Anonymous said...

42 pass attempts and 25 rush attempts, how can that be? They were never down more than 11 points!!

Anonymous said...

IT IS WHAT IT IS....

Unknown said...

I know there are key injuries on both sides with Gross and Peppers, but these are pro football players. They looked horrible. There were sacks everywhere on us it seemed. Most of the gains by the RBs seemed to be on pure athleticism and talent by Williams and Stewart. And the Defensive line was constantly getting gashed. They should have excelled with Ronnie Brown out, but they looked pathetic. Nick Hayden is a pathetic excuse for a human being. As is Jeff Davidson. As is Jake Delhomme. I thought Travelle would play much better than he did. Travelle used to be a serviceable LT. He looked like a rookie playing against Joey Porter, who was absolutely non existent in previous weeks.

In short, a foolishly high number of pass plays, terrible line play, and embarrassing tackling by the LBs and Secondary sealed this game, and the season.

Anonymous said...

I am just as frustrated as the next Panther fan. We had yet another opportunity to get to .500 and at least talk about a playoff opportunity. But yet again, we do take advantage of the opportunity. I agree that moves need to take place in this offseason, but at the end of the day we have a lot of good parts to work with. We have a great running game, when healthy a solid "o" line, when healthy, a solid "lb" crew, decent secondary, we need a legit #2 reciever, and yes we will need a successor at qb. The only thing I will say though, is be careful of what you ask for....How is a young qb going to do....Sanchez ,Russell, Leaf, A. Smith, A. Smith anyone....nothing...you will have to invest at least a year for the young qb to develop. I mean even Manning went 3-13 in his first year. It bothers me to hear such aweful talk about Jake and Fox..Do you remeber what we were like prior to their arrival..I do, 1-15 and no identity. I will say thought that the Fox brand of football may be bland and no room for error, but it has taken us to a Super Bowl, 2 division championships, and 2 NFC championship games. When you bring a new coach in you are starting over from ground zero with a new philosophy..i think Jerry has done a great job by not metaling in the franchise and let his people do their job. I think Hurney has done a good job as well. He was in a no win situation with Peppers...I mean you aren't going to let him go for nothing, but again the only position on the football field that justifies a million per game is the qb. He still has put a team together that consists of Beason, Gross, Otah, Stewart, Williams, Davis, Harris, Smith, should I go on......I don't mean to ramble, but I guess what I am saying it could be a lot worse..we could live in Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, or Oakland to name a few. I think Fox is a good coach with a philosophy that Richardson likes and before everyone wants to give him a pink slip pleaes go look at Cower's reocrd and all of the mediocre years he had at Pitt...He didn't win the "Bowl" until his last year. It will be interesting to see where we go as a team from here and the league..I mean we are facing a work stopage in 1 year which will throw the league upside down. I think what e need to do for next year, is keep Fox, draft a young qb to compete with Jake, let Peppers go, re-sign Davis, get some depth at dl, and go out and get a legit number 2 at reciever. We do that with the returning players at rb, ol, lb, and in the secondary we have a strong team with a 3rd place schedule. We will be looking at a run at the division once again..does anyone remember the Saints finishing 8-8 and get a 4th place schedule...Anyways, Panther fans I believe this season is over but I will still be in their corner rooting for them until the end and then get excited yet again for next season, so go Panthers!!

Jennifer said...

Coah Fox is right about one thing....there is alot of football left and unfortunately for us diehard Panther fans, we are gonna have to suffer through it...

Le Sigh!!!

Ps...Least the Tarheels won. <:-)

Anonymous said...

Panther coach John Fox said after the game: "The reality is we're 4-6. We've still got a lot of football left.... We're still in no way or stretch out of it."

What is he thinking? Has he seen the remaining schedule?

The Panthers QB can't think his way out of a paper bag so why does the coaching staff and management think he can figure out what to do when the defense is rushing him. They won't bench him because it makes their decision for his contract extension look look stupid. He was never worth that much money.
Coach has got to go to. You can't watch and coach the game with your head that far up your aaaas...hey kids! Why throw a bomb when you have 3rd and short and your running game works for you and your QB can't complete a pass to the broad side of a barn, unless that barn is the other team's...