Post Mortem on Delhomme (this game, and maybe his career)

[youngceo24]

Through the years jake has, won us some games and lost us some games, but never did i think that he irreplaceable and as boring as rodney pete was, if he had the running game that we had this year we would have put up much better numbers than jake has...i say all that to say, what harm could come from starting Matt Moore any NFL QB can hand the ball off and throw a hail mary to steve smith off his back foot without looking.

[Proudiddy]

Good post Snake... But my issue is exactly that. I've always defended Jake, but it's hard to this season. I don't think it's coincidence that he had two or three of his worst career games this season, including tonight. I've thought that it may be attributed to him being rusty in his reads because he was basically out for an entire year. But who knows?

My main complaint with ALL of our O Coordinators, but especially Davidson, is that they have never understood the concept of RHYTHM. Look at what the Cards did. Look at the Eagles most games, and they hardly run. Look at what Green Bay did for most of the game against us. For awhile there against GB, we could not stop Rodgers... All we could do is watch and hope he slips up. Our guys have never done this. There's a thing called play calling rhythm... As the announcers pointed out tonight, the Cards had us so off balance, we had no idea what they were gonna do the next play.

We never have anyone on their heels unless they just suck and can't stop what they already know is coming. The playcalling wasn't conducive to getting Jake into a rhythm, it was irresponsible and disgusting. Someone else pointed out, after the first few throws, you know he wasn't right tonight, give him a buffer - THE RUN GAME. Davidson is an idiot.

[Jangler]

But it's not one game. It has been the whole season up and down. Did he have two weeks in a row where he was consistent? It's definitely time for a honest and open competition in the up coming season for the starting job.

[Mr. Scot]

comeback player of the year..................:ihih:

Over Chad Pennington? Yep. Still. Coming back from Tommy John surgery (again, something that was never before done) and leading your team to a #2 seed is still a way better achievement than coming back from poor play, being cut and making it only to a wild card.

[Snake]

But it's not one game. It has been the whole season up and down. Did he have two weeks in a row where he was consistent? It's definitely time for a honest and open competition in the up coming season for the starting job.

When has he been consistent ever? Jake as always needed the Run game and we all should know that. He is no Payton by no means and he can make great plays but also just go sour just as quick. The Fact is he is not a great QB but he can manage a game given the right tools.

[Badbak]

You people are right about Jake having the worst game of his life but Jake is not going anywhere as long as John Fox is coach. He will throw that 12-5 record in your face every time you mention replacing Jake. There are only two ways you will get rid of Jake on Fox's watch, one is if he gets injured and can't come back and two if Jake realizes that he is past his prime and decides to retire.

Jake is a great leader and can fire up the troops but he cannot read a defense and see where his 2nd and 3rd receivers are and make the throws to them before being sacked. He gets so rattled he looks like he is having some kind of seizure sometimes.

[frash.exe]

I can't help but to think myself if it was 2005 Jake the game would be a little bit different.

You can't help or stop age from catching up with you. Look at Brett Favre, his arm is getting tired earlier and earlier in the season year after year. I don't know if they didn't see this coming, or they just ignored it because they didn't want to deal with the reality, that, if you didn't age, you'd play forever, but that's not the case.

Delhomme has been a good game manager. When his number was called this year, for the most part, he did his job. But when other phases of the game bottom out, you need your QB to become a bona-fide field general that's not only going to go through his reads, but notice the schemes the defense is showing and make the necessary offensive adjustments to take advantage. 2005 we basically had no running game, not even a real no.2 wide reciever and he could throw a deep ball, he can put the ball at it's best spot where the DBs won't get to it. 2004 he put the offense on his shoulders basically and led a rally during the second half of the season. Now, we can't expect him to pull that off like he did a few years ago. And it's sad to think of it like this, but such is the way of the NFL. It happens to everybody. Delhomme just came off elbow surgery on his throwing arm, and he didn't play as well as he did in the beginning of 07 and in 06 and prior. His play might be deteriorating.

Now, his throws are off or mistimed. You just saw a Ravens team outlast a Titans team, because when the game was close, the running game didn't bail Baltimore out, QB play did. On the other side, an aging Kerry Collins fumbled snaps, threw bad picks, and didn't play well. All the teams that are left in the playoffs, Baltimore, NY, Philly, Pittsburgh, SD, Arizona, their QBs are all playing well right now.

[Henne Given Sunday]

Over Chad Pennington? Yep. Still. Coming back from Tommy John surgery (again, something that was never before done) and leading your team to a #2 seed is still a way better achievement than coming back from poor play, being cut and making it only to a wild card.

:out::sifone:

[Mr. Scot]

You people are right about Jake having the worst game of his life but Jake is not going anywhere as long as John Fox is coach. He will throw that 12-5 record in your face every time you mention replacing Jake. There are only two ways you will get rid of Jake on Fox's watch, one is if he gets injured and can't come back and two if Jake realizes that he is past his prime and decides to retire.

Jake is a great leader and can fire up the troops but he cannot read a defense and see where his 2nd and 3rd receivers are and make the throws to them before being sacked. He gets so rattled he looks like he is having some kind of seizure sometimes.

Wrong on a couple of points.

Delhomme finds the second and third receivers plenty. Just as an example, on that miracle catch against the Saints in week 17, Steve Smith was actually the third read (Muhammad was primary, then Rosario).

One of the things people on here continually miss is that it's not the QB's job to look at every option then decide. If your first read is open, you throw it to him. When your primary read is a guy like Steve Smith, that's going to happen a lot.

As to the notion that Fox won't cut Delhomme loose? Maybe, but no one thought he'd cut Dan Henning loose either.

[Jangler]

Jake is a great leader and can fire up the troops but he cannot read a defense and see where his 2nd and 3rd receivers are and make the throws to them before being sacked. He gets so rattled he looks like he is having some kind of seizure sometimes.

I agree he is a great leader. But where was that tonight? Usually when things go bad he get fired up and pissed off. Tonight it seemed like he was beaten almost from the start and thought Arizona was going to give him a birthday present or something.

[Snake]

I can't help but to think myself if it was 2005 Jake the game would be a little bit different.

You can't help or stop age from catching up with you. Look at Brett Favre, his arm is getting tired earlier and earlier in the season year after year. I don't know if they didn't see this coming, or they just ignored it because they didn't want to deal with the reality, that, if you didn't age, you'd play forever, but that's not the case.

Delhomme has been a good game manager. When his number was called this year, for the most part, he did his job. But when other phases of the game bottom out, you need your QB to become a bona-fide field general that's not only going to go through his reads, but notice the schemes the defense is showing and make the necessary offensive adjustments to take advantage. 2005 we basically had no running game, not even a real no.2 wide reciever and he could throw a deep ball, he can put the ball at it's best spot where the DBs won't get to it. 2004 he put the offense on his shoulders basically and led a rally during the second half of the season. Now, we can't expect him to pull that off like he did a few years ago. And it's sad to think of it like this, but such is the way of the NFL. It happens to everybody. Delhomme just came off elbow surgery on his throwing arm, and he didn't play as well as he did in the beginning of 07 and in 06 and prior. His play might be deteriorating.

Now, his throws are off or mistimed. You just saw a Ravens team outlast a Titans team, because when the game was close, the running game didn't bail Baltimore out, QB play did. On the other side, an aging Kerry Collins fumbled snaps, threw bad picks, and didn't play well. All the teams that are left in the playoffs, Baltimore, NY, Philly, Pittsburgh, SD, Arizona, their QBs are all playing well right now.

I have to say this is all true but do we just dump him cause he melted down in a playoff game. Kurt Warner was getting replaced by Matt Leinart last year. People have bad year and yea it might be he is getting over the hill but it might be he just had a off year. Its happened before.

[frash.exe]

I have to say this is all true but do we just dump him cause he melted down in a playoff game. Kurt Warner was getting replaced by Matt Leinart last year. People have bad year and yea it might be he is getting over the hill but it might be he just had a off year. Its happened before.

Not necessarily. But it does mean, at the very least, that this team needs to start taking QB seriously and looking for some young options to come in and compete, like Jake did himself when he came over here. Maybe it's Moore, maybe Josh McCown, but it wouldn't hurt to bring some guys in and try them out. Luke McCown, Josh's brother, played 4 games for the Bucs in 07 and did a very good job considering he was unknown, and he will be a free agent, maybe that's someone we can bring in, and will push for a starting job with some other guys.

It may have been one bad game, but it was one hideous one, and a LOT of his throws were off and inaccurate, 5 picks is just not good QB play, period, and when you go back to his last one against Seattle it doesn't look much better, 3 ints, 15/35. An even bigger problem is that this is not the first time he's done this,...this season. 3 ints against TB, he didn't play well against Minny, 4 picks against Oakland even when we were running the ball well, he even had 2 picks against the Bucs the second go around, when we put up 300 rushing yards.

[Mesmer]

One of the things people on here continually miss is that it's not the QB's job to look at every option then decide. If your first read is open, you throw it to him. When your primary read is a guy like Steve Smith, that's going to happen a lot.

I agree 100%. If people are going to complain about Jake going to Smith too much, blame the play design or the other receivers for not getting open.

Pass plays are just like run plays. Run plays are drawn up to go through a certain hole, and pass plays are drawn up to go to a certain receiver. The 2nd and 3rd reads, and so forth are the next place to look if the intended target is sniffed out.

The only way that you could make an argument about Jake going to Smith too much is deep down the field into really good coverage. However, he does this with Muhammed as well. I think a lot of it tonight had to do with the fact that Jake was not only just plain off target all night, but you could tell as the game went on that he was losing his patience very quickly.

Jake has been a miracle worker at times for this team. Even during the regular season this year, he's taken the game on his shoulders in the final minute and won the game. To me, that's a bonus in a QB. Not many QB's can do that, and in my opinion, being a miracle worker like that is going above and beyond the call of duty for a QB. (Especially in this system we run in Carolina that revolves around responsible game management.)

Tonight Jake was just trying to make something happen. Whether you like it or not, this was a team loss. Yes, Jake had a bad game. Yes, due to the factors that Mr. Scot mentioned, he may be done in Carolina. However, you cannot blame Jake for having the poor defensive performance put him in a hole early on. You cannot blame Jake for abandoning the running game. He had nothing to do with that.

And honestly, even though Jake looked completely awful...I respect the guy for never giving up and trying to make something...anything good happen. When the other team scores 33 unanswered points, what the hell else can he do besides try to make big plays? Time was short, and this was never supposed to be Jake's game to win to begin with. The entire team, including coaches, failed.

[Udogg]

Wrong... usually its a team loss.. that was all Jake on that one. All Jake. 5 interceptions? Come on. People were open, he just threw to wrong person. Not O-cord fault. Not Defense fault. They played well enough considering the position they were in and how long they were on the field. Jake's fault. Period end of. No need to argue about it.