Pro. Jake Delhomme

[Cajun Express]

Everyone knows that Jake went to the better high school. Yea, they had Ali, but the Rebels had Jake!!

Talk about a win win for the great town of Breaux Bridge.

[RyChat]

We went to different high schools.

What a coincidence! This was the same reason I never dated Ali Landry, too!

[Pirogue]

May 3, 2003

By Brett Borden
Panthers.com

When Jake Delhomme came to the Carolina Panthers this offseason, he didn't come knowing he would start for his erstwhile division rivals. But he knew he had a chance. And that was enough to get him to leave home and start fresh somewhere else.

Delhomme got his first taste of life as a Panther when mini-camp began Friday. He has alternated snaps with fellow signal-callers Rodney Peete, Chris Weinke, and Randy Fasani. But the competition aspect can wait until training camp. Right now, Delhomme's focus is strictly on learning the ropes.

Panthers head coach John Fox likes what Jake Delhomme brings to his team. (AP Photo)

"The biggest thing I wanted to do was kind of get out here and see how things are run," said the Louisiana native Delhomme, who has spent the past five seasons on the sidelines with the New Orleans Saints. "I'm learning a new offense, so it's a little foreign to me, but overall it went pretty good.

"I'm still thinking a little bit coming out of the huddle about which play it is and where guys need to be lined up. I can't play my best until I say the play in the huddle and it pops up in my head, instead of when we're at the line getting ready to run it. It's the first step in a long journey. But it went well. It was fun."

After seeing Delhomme practice for the first time, Panthers head coach John Fox thought it went well, too.

"Jake has five years experience in the League," said Fox. "He did a good job as far as knowing his assignments, and I thought he threw the ball pretty accurately."

While Rodney Peete is the incumbent starter, Fox wants it to be known that competition will determine who plays on his team.

"I think everybody out here has a chance to be a starter. That is why we are out here. That is the one thing that I tell our players. We are going to play the best players, and they get a chance to set the depth chart themselves."

Whenever a player changes teams, inevitably he is asked to compare his current team with the former one. The way Delhomme sees it, though, this is basically his third team.

"New Orleans was almost like two different teams for me, with the (Mike) Ditka era and the (Jim) Haslett era. It was totally different. Right now, I'm just worried about what I need to do and trying to learn guys' names. So I haven't really had enough time to compare this to New Orleans."

Some of the other players who came to Carolina this offseason have remarked at how uptempo the practices are under head coach John Fox. Friday, for instance, the Panthers ran 75 plays in the morning practice.

"That's what I like," said Delhomme. "That's how it was in New Orleans. It was 'Let's get to work and correct it in the meeting room.' I think that's what you need. You've got a bunch of good guys on this team, and that's what I'm most impressed with. It's a bunch of high character guys. I'm not saying they didn't have that where I came from, but there is a difference here, and you can see it in the off-season workouts and you can see it carrying over onto the field."

Which is what Delhomme would like to do with his career. He feels he has watched from the sidelines long enough. The amount of knowledge he has picked up while doing so has been huge.

"The more you're around it, the more you learn," he said. "You learn something every day. I've learned something from all the quarterbacks I have been around. I've already learned something from Randy and Chris and Rodney. You just pick up little things, from players and from coaches and from watching film. You can always learn.

"I've been a backup for a while. I've been able to grow and see a lot of things. I think I'm ready. I'm not ready after today, but when it comes time in late August/early September, I'll be ready."

[Pirogue]

[Turbine]

Originally posted by pirogue
"...and I thought he threw the ball pretty accurately..."

That surprises me since Jake usually sprays it a bit at the start of training camp.

ps "spray" was an old Ditka term.

[Turbine]

Remember the debate was . . .

Should an Aaron Brooks playing at 80% have been used over a Jake Delhomme playing at 100% . . .

Now insert another Brook, Brooke Mitchell and replace Jake with 13-2 Afton Thoms.

Should Brooke Mitchell playing at 80% be used over a Afton Thoms playing at 100%?

I know Afton got rocked when rushed in at the regional but with proper mindset and adequate warmup should she have been given a chance? She was 13-2 on the regular season.

Having posed this question I can't say enough about how gutsy and tough Brooke Michelle is.

Congrats to her and all the Lady Cajuns on a GREAT season.

[RyChat]

The Jake Delhomme-Aaron Brooks thing did cross my mind today before I read this. There's no use crying over spilled milk, but in the little bit of time Thoms got to play today (a little more than 1 inning), she looked pretty darn good. You kind of wonder what if she would have been really hot today and we would have put her in sooner. Regardless, we struggled to hit that UCLA pitcher. Only 2 hits in 2 games. You really see some great pitching in the WCWS, and even our powerful lineup couldn't do much against the two we faced.

[RaginDave]

Look, I love the heart and determination that Brooke showed during the WCWS, but the truth is Coach should have played Thoms in game 2.

She was not 100% and while she was the horse we rode in on, our back up was quality as well. I don't think it would have made a big difference, but I think Afton should have played.

Just my opinion.:confused:

[Cajun Express]

Originally posted by Turbine
Remember the debate was . . .

Should an Aaron Brooks playing at 80% have been used over a Jake Delhomme playing at 100% . . .

Now insert another Brook, Brooke Mitchell and replace Jake with 13-2 Afton Thoms.

Having posed this question I can't say enough about how gutsy and tough Brooke Michelle is.

Congrats to her and all the Lady Cajuns on a GREAT season.

Well I think that if Brooke can't do it, we don't win, she had to come into the second game with an injury, and managed to win it in the regional. Jake Delhomne is a potential NFL starter, I don't think ms Thoms is a legit final 8 contending pitcher regardless of her record. Having said that I think maybe we could have beaten Texas if she had been inserted into the top of the sixth. No way can she hang in there for an entire or most of a game.

[CajunCharlie]

Post game analysis brings lots of opinions. Some where along the line one has to trust the coach. She and her assistants made wise decisions throughout the regular season. The decision they made to pitch her against UCLA, I feel, was not unwise. What would have been the analysis if they had used Thoms against UCLA and we really got whacked? Conversely, had they used Thoms and we win they would have looked like brilliant strategists. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

[Pirogue]

He's Cajun on quickly
May 29, 2003

By Brett Borden
Panthers.com

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme likes to compare learning a new offense to learning a new language. Anyone who has heard his Cajun accent gains an instant appreciation for what he is saying. Or at least, what they think he is saying.


Jake Delhomme's Cajun accent sounds funny to those who haven't heard it before. (AP Photo)

"I'm sure it's going to take a little time," laughed Delhomme after summer school practice Wednesday. "I have a pretty strong Cajun accent. I've been talking real quiet and real slow in the huddle, trying to say my words correctly. I was back in Louisiana last week, so I'm sure I'm talking a little faster today, though."

Delhomme is picking up the Panthers offense a lot faster. The former backup for the New Orleans Saints has come to Carolina eager to back up the confidence his new coaches proclaimed in him when he signed.

"It's not second nature yet but it's coming," said Delhomme. "There were certain times where I felt real comfortable in there. Coach called the play, and it popped up in my head real quick. When I do that, my drops will be faster and I'll make quicker decisions. It won't start feeling really comfortable until training camp or until I get hit for the first time. You can look good in shorts but you still have to perform under the lights in pressure situations. That's the NFL. You have to come through in the clutch."

Learning a new system can be like learning to drive a clutch. It takes a few mistakes to get a feel for things and be comfortable behind the wheel.

"It's so much better than mini-camp right now," said Delhomme. "Plays are flowing easily out of my mouth. I'm getting guys up to the line. The quicker you can get the offense out of the huddle, the quicker you can make the defense line up and see what's going on to know where you want to go with the football. That's what these times are for, to get ready for training camp.

"I've done a lot of studying. Not long after I signed, I was able to get the playbook. All the plays are pretty much going to be the same, the patterns and things like that, that we had in New Orleans. It's just learning a new language."

Those around him are learning one, too.

[CDeb]

Having spoken to one of the players, it seems like the ladies have such confidence in Brooke, and they feed so much off of Brooke's intensity, that they are a different team when she's pitching. That probably had something to do with it.