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Jake to Smitty now vs then. Why it may not be all bad.

top dawg

By top dawg,
in Carolina Panthers

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top dawg Grand Master

top dawg

Posted
Posted

The Jake Delhomme-Steve Smith Connection is nearly as potent as ever. Last year the two were basically lost without one another, so this year they are making up time and Jake just can't seem to keep his eyes off of Smitty.

Like I alluded to, Jake's desire to get the ball to Smitty has been very productive this year. When looking at it from just an intellectual sense, it seems like this productivity is to the detriment of the other wide-outs. We all remember the 2005 Season when Delhomme and Smith seemed like magnets, and that got us to the brink of another Super Bowl. But it was in Seattle that Jake's undying reliance on Smitty got outed, and the Panthers were crushed in that game because of it. The impetus that lead to Jake's blinders was the fact that we had a pretty much average running game, and an obviously sub par receiving corps other than Steve Smith all season long. But, it was in Seattle that our lack of talent (including an injury to Deshaun Foster) sore out like a sore thumb against the league's top talent.

This year, Jake seems to be up to his old tricks, but the difference is that there are other options, and the very much real talent that plays alongside the Jake-Smitty connection is in fact the reason why the relationship has been so successful. Now, as opposed to a primary running back who had "fumbilitis," we have Deangelo Williams that never puts the ball on the ground, and is even a bigger threat to take it to the house each and every down. And, better still, we have a secondary back, Jonathan Stewart, who is arguably just as potent and explosive as Williams. When looked at in totality, Panthers version 2008, has three explosive game-breakers as opposed to one. Moreover, Jake's first love, Muhsin Muhammad, has returned from a long trip to the Windy City, and will no doubt play interference whenever the Jake-Smitty connection starts to get too much attention from the opposing players in the field.

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