The good news for Carolina: The Jake Delhomme career deathwatch can take a week off.
The bad news: they are still two games behind Atlanta and New Orleans in the NFC South after losing 28-20 to the Falcons in the Georgia Dome.
Delhomme played fairly well, especially in the second half, where he completed 16-of-23 passes for 184 yards before finally throwing an interception on a fourth down late in the game. (Delhomme finished with 308 yards and threw for a touchdown.)
But Matt Ryan was clearly the best quarterback in the game, throwing for three scores and 220 yards on only 27 surgical attempts. Tony Gonzalez caught seven passes for 71 yards and his second touchdown in as many weeks.
So, Steve Smith may like Delhomme again as a quarterback, not just as a person. But he may not like Carolina’s overlooked weaknesses: a mediocre defense and a thin receiver corps.
The Panthers aren’t in full panic mode yet, but they will be next week if they lose at Dallas and fall further behind the Saints and Falcons in a division that may not be nearly as balanced as it was last year.
Me wanna know the injury status of RB Jerious Norwood and DT Peria Jerry. Jerry looked like he had a serious knee injury there in the 4th quarter.
The defense has problems. Especially defensive secondary. But I think this team can improve, and Jake was a pro QB today. The one pick is forgivable considering the circumstance. Not the most accurate day, but he didn’t give it away. There is hope.
Poor falcons fans….they are acting like they’re headed for the Super Bowl because of two wins against really bad offenses….in September. LOL
The Panthers defense should thank Jake for turning the ball over so much. He has taken almost all the attention away from how badly the D has played since about the last half of last season.
I’d say the receivers played just fine, considering the yardage. The offense as a whole had a good outing.
The D-line was the glaring problem and it wasn’t hard to see that Ryan had all day to pass.
Anybody see the special teams play? Panthers looked awful.
yea i agree. although the secondary could be better, its the d-line thats making them look even worse because theres no pressure. looks like we might be in for a long season…