My Panthers-Falcons prediction

I’ve already gone on record this week in the newspaper and online saying that “Good Jake” will make a reappearance against the Falcons. I just don’t see Jake Delhomme having three nightmares in a row.

Of course many of you don’t believe that: my column expressing that opinion this week drew more than 250 comments directly on the story and e-mailed to me (most of them from Jake haters).

I still believe Delhomme isn’t done, however, and I don’t think he will lose the Falcons game on his own. With that said, Delhomme is only one of the Panthers’ concerns in Georgia. Atlanta stands as the favorite to win the NFC South this season: the Falcons have top-notch skill players, a sound philosophy and an emerging defense.

-- Steve Smith and DeAngelo Williams are speedsters, and as such they always look faster on artificial turf like that in the Georgia Dome. I expect both to have far better games than they did in that 38-10 pounding Philadelphia laid on the Panthers in Week 1.

-- I have always liked the Falcons-Panthers series, in part because it seems to be high on the weirdness factor. That started in Carolina’s first-ever game – an overtime loss at Atlanta in 1995 in which Dom Capers wanted to go for a game-winning two-pointer at the end of regulation, only to be undone by an offensive tackle’s false start.

My prediction: Atlanta 27, Carolina 23.

And now to the stats -- a new feature of my weekly prediction on the Panthers:

My year to date record predicting the Panthers: 1-0.

My preseason prediction of Panthers' 2009 record: 7-9.

Likelihood that my preseason record was too high: 60 percent.

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On Jake: you don't seem to believe me

My column on Jake Delhomme today -- predicting that "Good Jake" will make an appearance in the Atlanta game Sunday -- has drawn over 130 comments so far online.

The comments mostly range on one extreme from "Did they really pay you to write such a horrible article" to the other extreme of "You are the worst writer in the history of all writers."

In other words, there's not a lot of range.

There are some Jake fans out there still, but mostly they are hiding behind the bushes for now, worried that if they publicly declare themselves it will be grounds for a humiliating and/or a public stoning i.e. that short story many of us read in school once, "The Lottery." I'm getting some e-mails to that effect -- people who like Jake but don't want to say so in a public forum because of the vitriol they might be letting themselves in for.

As for me, I can take the vitriol -- years of practice, you know. So say what you like, but I still think Delhomme will have a good game against Atlanta Sunday.

And if he doesn't, I'm sure you will let me know about it.

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Panthers officially sign Feeley

As expected, the Panthers officially signed A.J. Feeley and placed Josh McCown on injured reserve Tuesday.

Feeley, 32, was available because the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick -- Feeley was the guy who got fired due to that move.

He's not a bad quarterback, but has rarely been a very good one, either. Feeley's career stats: 27 TDs, 29 interceptions, QB rating a shade under 70. (By comparison: Jake Delhomme has 115 career TDs, 80 career interceptions and a career QB rating of 84.2).

Feeley should practice Wednesday and will be feverishly learning the playbook, but the Panthers will start Delhomme Sunday at Atlanta. McCown had the hard luck of getting injured at just the wrong time -- his knee and foot injuries could have kept him out for up to six weeks.

It could have been shorter than that, too, but the Panthers aren't in a mood to sit still after that 38-10 whipping they took in the season opener to Philly.

Delhomme will be the subject of my column in Wednesday's Charlotte Observer and online.

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Jordan speech: Hall of fame or hall of shame?

I'm getting a lot of e-mail about the column I wrote today about Michael Jordan's hall of fame speech. I found Jordan's speech to be candid and refreshing -- a peek behind the corporate image that has been so carefully crafted by Jordan's handlers for all these many years.

It was 22 minutes of pure Jordan, unvarnished and unplugged, and I liked it. The folks in the audience mostly did, too -- no one screamed out "You lie!" or anything like that (although at one point I think Isiah Thomas wanted to).

Other folks I respect have had a very opposite take. My e-mail is running about 50-50 as to whether the speech was hall of fame or hall of shame material, with some readers saying the speech was "classless" or "petty" or "vindictive."

Those readers are probably best represented by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Adrian is an excellent writer and a friend. On this speech, however, I disagreed with him totally. In the interest of fair play, though, here is what Adrian wrote. Read that, read my column, watch the speech -- draw your own conclusions. Hey, but ain't that America... as John Mellencamp might say.

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A pathetic opening day: Panthers lose by 28

OK, now that was ridiculous.

So ridiculous, in fact, that John Fox finally gave up the ghost and has taken Jake Delhomme out of the game. Josh McCown entered to loud cheers -- down 38-10 midway through the third quarter. But he didn't last long, getting sacked and hurting his left knee early in the fourth quarter. Then Matt Moore came in -- the Panthers' third QB. He played the fourth quarter for Carolina and got the team to the 1 on its last drive, but DeAngelo Williams was stopped short of the goal line, so it ended 38-10.

McCown has a sprained knee -- it's unclear how long he will be out. Coach John Fox said after the game when asked who his quarterback would be next week at Atlanta: "I think we start back with Jake. We've got to go back and evaluate what happened to us.... I don't think that it was all Jake's fault."

Delhomme's last two passes were intercepted, giving him 5 turnovers for the game (and only 7 completions). One of those third-quarter picks came on a screen pass -- with Delhomme under huge pressure, but still. Philadelphia ran that one back to the 10 and scored.

That score may have come at a price, however. Donovan McNabb scrambled for the TD but was tackled hard and stayed on the field for about 5 minutes on his back. He had a rib injury -- some outlets are reporting he will be out 2-4 weeks, although Eagles coach Andy Reid did not say anything that strong and implied McNabb might even play next week.

The Eagles brought in backup QB Kevin Kolb (Michael Vick was in Charlotte too, but in streetclothes, watching from a skybox). Kolb finished the game but couldn't score against the Panthers, so the game's last 21 minutes were scoreless and Carolina STILL lost by 28.

After that screen-pass pick the Panthers sent Delhomme back in -- to a torrent of boos -- and had him throw deep. Delhomme threw a 40-yard jump ball toward Steve Smith, who had one-on-one coverage. But the coverage was really good and that one got intercepted, too. I was surprised Smith didn't knock it down at least.

So that was four interceptions for Delhomme as well as his fumble that got taken back for a TD. The similarities to the Arizona playoff game were uncanny -- and painful.

Smith expressed confidence in Delhomme after the game, as well as compassion for his friend. But it's clear that the Panthers are going nowhere until the QB situation gets sorted out. All in all, it was a pathetic opening day for the Panthers.

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Getting way out of hand: Eagles 31, Panthers 10 at the half

Wow, this game turned sour in a hurry for Carolina.

The Panthers defense is actually playing OK, and yet Philadelphia put up 31 straight points before a Carolina field goal finally stopped the bleeding. Jake Delhomme already has committed 3 turnovers and has been booed vociferously by the home crowd. He's picking up pretty much right where he left off from the Arizona game, and fans are angry about it. (Delhomme has now committed 9 turnovers in his last 6 quarters of play).

Most of the 31 points weren't the fault of the defense, although the most recent TD (which took Philly from 24 to 31 points) was. But it's striking how this game is a carbon copy of Arizona, where Carolina also scored first and then got trounced.

How'd the 31 straight points happen (28 of them in the second quarter for Philly)?

Carolina held Philadelphia to a field goal after Jake Delhomme threw a bad interception with Carolina leading, 7-0 (after that beautiful first drive, which looks like a mirage right now more than anything else).

Down 7-3, the Eagles put a beautiful blitz on Delhomme, and the ball squirted from his grasp after he was hit by an untouched blitzer. The Eagles picked it up, went 2 yards and boom, it was 10-7, Philly.

Then came another unsuccessful Panther drive, this one at least ending in a punt rather than another turnover. But wait -- that was just as bad. Philly's DeSean Jackson took the ensuing punt return 85 yards for a TD, and no one other than Jason Baker came within 5 yards of the speedy Jackson.

Then, down 17-7, Delhomme tried to force one into Steve Smith, who had been gesticulating about not getting the ball after a couple of routes. Instead, that got picked off, too, and run back inside the 10 by Eagles CB Sheldon Brown, who had already picked off No.17 once. Donovan McNabb immediately threw a TD pass to his TE Brent Celek and it was 24-7, Philadelphia.

Then Philly finally scored a TD the old-fashioned way, driving more than 70 yards on Carolina's defense. The TD came when McNabb threw a shovel pass to Brian Westbrook for the score.

This home crowd is sitting here stunned right now, oblivious to the beautiful weather and just about everything else as the Panthers try to get untracked. They've got lots of time to do it, but Philadelphia has taken over this game. It's halftime, the home team is down 21 points, and it will be interesting to see how many people even return to their seats to watch the second half.

#Panthers 1st drive full of surprises -- Panthers lead #Eagles 7-0

Carolina looked better on its first drive than it did for almost all of that 0-4 preseason -- and definitely different. Among the surprises on the 13-play, 70-yard drive:

-- The Panthers ran the "Wildcat" formation once, with Steve Smith taking the snap rather than DeAngelo Williams.

-- After going for it on fourth down an NFL-low eight times in 2008, John Fox made a nice call on fourth-and-1 from the 2 on Carolina's first drive. Jonathan Stewart got the ball and scraped out a yard-and-a-half for the first down.

-- Carolina burned two of its timeouts on the drive.

-- The Panthers got two straight false-start penalties, changing a first-and-goal from the half-yard line to a first-and-goal from the 10 1/2.

-- And then, after both those penalties, DeAngelo changed direction, sprinted to the end zone's left corner and scored from 11 yards out. Carolina 7, Philadelphia 0.