Football outsiders has an in depth analysis of Jake Delhomme

[Fiz]

's biscuit commercial.

oh also there's some stuff about his playing career.

http://footballoutsiders.com/scramble/2010/scramble-ball-our-biscuits

Mike: Truly, Jake Delhomme is living the dream. Except for that whole being put on IR in disgrace thing.

Tom: Remember, it's not Jake's fault John Fox signed him to a crazy extension. If I were in his shoes, I would have signed the same deal.

Mike: Of course.

Tom: Nor is it strictly Delhomme's fault Fox kept trotting him out there after it was reasonably clear Delhomme was not a good option.

Mike: I'm really wondering what happened to him. Maybe too many biscuits? Or too tired after a night of stalking the town, protecting women from inferior baked goods?

Tom: He's 34, and NFL quarterbacks tend to decline as they age. Guys like Warren Moon or Don Lorenzo are serious, serious exceptions to the general trend of NFL quarterbacks. Almost no quarterbacks are good after the age 36 or so, and that includes elite, Hall of Fame-caliber players. Delhomme had a shorter distance to fall, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised that he declined slightly early.

Mike: Wait, is this actual football analysis in our commercial segment? DARK ARTS.

I've never really liked Football Outsider's hand waving about Delhomme just getting old and that being that.

Traditionally, when people talk about the age of a QB, they're actually referring to the number of snaps, throws, and hits the QB has taken in an NFL game. With modern medicine and training regimens the way they are, physical deterioration isn't such a problem as it was just a decade ago. These guys are in a physical form that most humans never reach.

Their stats of delhomme match their statistical model of QB regression, but it doesn't take into consideration that Jake Delhomme was 29 when he started for the Panthers, only had a handful of NFL starts before that, and the average QB who started in his second year in the league had 6 years more under his belt.

Adding further evidence that Jake Delhomme's problems are strictly between the ears and not physical is his performance last year, namely against Detroit and Oakland. In those games, Jake was as bad as he would be in 2009 and against Arizona in the playoffs. He looked strikingly similar, actually. Deep balls floated on him, out routes were jumped, crossing routes were airmailed, basically everything we saw this year. His footwork completely broke down as well.

He didn't physically regress just in those two games. The same guy who imploded didn't then physically resurge at the end of the season.

It's clearly mental and I wish the media would just point that out but oh well whatever i didn't mean for this post to be this long here's a funny gif of titans owner bud adams flipping off everything he sees

[Guest DrewBreesIsGod]

of course it is mental, no doubt about it. You play golf Fiz? Jake basically has the yips....all between his ears. Throws a floater when he should throw a bullet, throws a bullet when he should throw a floater, when things start going bad they just start snowballing on him...yips my friend, yips.

[Kettle]

i don't know where jake's mind was, but it never seemed to be in the game. thanks for the gif. it will be of good use in the IM software at work.

[Captroop]

i didn't mean for this post to be this long here's a funny gif of titans owner bud adams flipping off everything he sees

What's this? Self-depricating humor? Fiz actually considering the feeling of other Huddlers to the point that he actually does something nice for us (funny gif for our amusement)? Is this the dawn of a kinder gentler Fiz, or the quiet before the storm.

[err456]

What? No mention of tommy jone.

[Khyber53]

The yips has killed the career of many a golfer or big league pitcher. A few pro quarterbacks, too. If you look at how he went south so quick and so completely, it can't be anything but the yips.

Self-doubt, in anything, can be a killer. And traditionally, the only way to cure the yips is to play through it. But sometimes, with the pressure constantly on, there's no way to break through the wall. I believe Fox was trying to give him every chance to play through it, but it just wouldn't happen.

Maybe a year on the bench as a second stringer will do it. Perhaps his want will exceed his fear.

[frash.exe]

I said it was mental like 7 months ago and I had 800 people on here arguing with me

[weyco2000]

Please God, let's not keep him around to find out! Of course Saint fans now love the guy!