Pro. Jake Delhomme

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SPARTANBURG — It was third and eight when Jake Delhomme stepped into the huddle with less than two minutes remaining. A first down would ice the victory. Anything else gave the visiting team a chance.

Delhomme dropped back, surveyed the field and hit his receiver.

Ten yards. First down.

That wasn’t one of the NFL-high seven games in which Delhomme led the Carolina Panthers to victory in the final two minutes or overtime, not counting the 69-yard touchdown pass that ended the second overtime of the NFC Divisional playoff game at St. Louis.

That was a year earlier when the former Louisiana-Lafayette quarterback came off the bench to replace an injured Aaron Brooks and secure a win for the New Orleans Saints against Tampa Bay.

The heart he showed on that play led the Panthers to make Delhomme their quarterback of the future before last season.

“Sometimes there is a tendency to get hung up on arm strength and all of that,” general manager Marty Hurney said. “A quarterback is a leader and is judged on his ability to win football games.

“Whenever he had those opportunities he took full advantage of them.”

It didn’t take long for Carolina fans to see that.

Delhomme entered last season’s opener in the second half with a 17-0 deficit against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He threw for three touchdowns, including a 12-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 16 seconds remaining.

In the seven last-minute or overtime rallies Delhomme completed 75.9 percent of his attempts and compiled a quarterback rating of 122.2.

“It could have been (one more) if we had won the Super Bowl,” said offensive coordinator Dan Henning, reminding the Panthers gave up the game-winning field goal after Delhomme rallied Carolina to a 29-29 tie with 1:08.

“I’ve seen Jake do some things I haven’t seen other people do. When that happens over and over again, that’s not a fluke”

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By DAVID NEWTON
Senior Writer

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CHARLOTTE - If we've learned anything from three preseason games it's this: it's time to take the handcuffs off quarterback Jake Delhomme for good.

Dan Henning, you don't have to worry about this kid making very many mistakes anymore.

He may have just one real season of NFL experience under his belt, but Delhomme plays like a seasoned vet. And when the Panthers go to the air, good things seem to happen. The offense starts to click and the Panthers become explosive.

It happened Saturday night against the New England Patriots.

The Panthers ran the ball five times on their first two series and failed to pick up a first down.

On the third possession, Delhomme went to the air and suddenly the Panthers started to move the football.

Granted, the Panthers hadn't game-planned for the Patriots and the Bill Belichick's base defense was prepared to stuff the run. It was little like running into brick wall carry after carry.

And granted, star running back Stephen Davis was sitting this one out with sore knee.

There's no doubt that as long as John Fox is head coach the Panthers will be a running team.

And I'm not suggesting the Panthers abandon the running game. The Panthers are not, nor should they strive to be the Minnesota Vikings.

But given the way Delhomme and the Carolina's receivers are hitting on all cylinders this preseason, it's time for the Panthers to flip from a team that runs the ball 53 percent of the time to a team that throws it 53 percent.

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STEVE REED
FREEDOM ENC

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Is Jake Delhomme the Cajun Carolinian, or the Carolinian Cajun?

It depends on whom and where you ask that question. This past offseason, when Delhomme went back home to Breaux Bridge, LA, he started noticing a startling transformation around him.

"It was nice to go back home, but the thing I was most proud of was that any time I got out and about to go do something I would see Panthers hats and shirts," said Delhomme. "I would talk to people and they would say, 'We can't get any Panthers gear down here, what's the problem?' Now you're starting to see more Panthers stuff in the sporting goods stores. That's what I'm most proud of, is that we were able to take some of the Carolinas and bring it down to Cajun Country, so that was nice."

It's not an easy thing to do so close to New Orleans, where "Geaux Saints" signs hanging in the Superdome let you know of the Cajun influence in the area.

"We're proud people," said Delhomme. "I am a Cajun boy, Louisiana-bred, through and through."

He's also the quarterback who stunned the NFL with seven game-winning drives last season, and a 106.1 passer rating in the postseason. Not bad for a guy who didn't even start the season opener, a game in which he led the Panthers from a 17-0 deficit to a 24-23 victory over Jacksonville.

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By Brett Borden
Panthers.com

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A year ago at this time, Jake Delhomme was an anonymous backup quarterback so obscure to the public that even knowledgeable football fans routinely mispronounced his last name.

Life has changed dramatically for Delhomme. Instead of playing second fiddle like he has most of his six-year NFL career, Delhomme is the leader of the band in Carolina. His clipboard is gone, and his press clippings have multiplied in a remarkable year that has seen his career skyrocket like a NASA missile fresh off the launch pad.

The no-name quarterback, who entered the league as an undrafted free agent from little-known Louisiana-Lafayette, enters the 2004 season as a household name.

So much has happened in such a short time that it's hard to believe Delhomme opened the 2003 regular season as an understudy to pot-bellied, past-his-prime Rodney Peete. Delhomme came off the bench in the second half of that game, sparked Carolina to a 24-23 comeback win over Jacksonville and never looked back, driving the Panthers to their first Super Bowl appearance.

Along the way, Delhomme led the Panthers to a flurry of comeback wins, threw for 3,219 yards and 19 touchdowns, while compiling a regular-season efficiency rating of 80.6. When the pressure of the postseason kicked in, Delhomme did what elite quarterbacks do. He raised his game to a higher level, improving his efficiency rating to 106.1.

Delhomme capped a dream season and reached folk hero status with a fabulous performance in Super Bowl XXXVIII when he threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 113.6, the highest in a Super Bowl since Steve Young's 134.8 mark in 1995.

So, what has Delhomme's sudden rise to the top been like?

"The biggest thing is I'm having a lot more fun," said Delhomme, in a conference call Wednesday with the Wisconsin media. "Last year, Rodney was going with the 1s (No. 1 unit), and I was going with the 2s. It's hard to get your timing down like that. It's like you're running the offense from March through August, then you're running scout team the rest of the year."

Although few could have predicted Delhomme's breakout season in his first season as a full-time starter, Delhomme (pronounced Duh-lome) wasn't a complete surprise to NFL coaches and executives. Originally signed by the New Orleans Saints in 1997 after being ignored in the draft, Delhomme developed into a highly regarded backup quarterback with the Saints, spending five seasons in New Orleans before signing with the Panthers last season as an unrestricted free agent.

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By Tim Froberg
News-Chronicle

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Mardi Gras, the festive tradition synonymous with New Orleans, is moving to Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., for a night.

The rosters for Monday's regular-season opener between the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers feature four quarterbacks who hail within a 300-mile radius of the party capital of the South.

"It kind of reminds me of when we were in the Super Bowl in San Diego (during the 1997 season), when I was with the Packers and (fellow quarterback and Louisianan) Bubby Brister was with the Broncos," said Packers backup QB Doug Pederson.

Craig Nall, the other Packers backup, also hails from Louisiana.

Meanwhile, the starters facing off in the nationally televised game are natives of tiny towns separated by only 150 miles.

The Packers' Brett Favre was raised in Kiln, Miss., population 2,100. The Panthers' Jake Delhomme still makes his residence in Breaux Bridge, La., population 7,500.

Nevertheless, the two quarterbacks never have met.

"Certainly, I know about him," said 29-year-old Delhomme, who's five years younger than Favre. "I used to watch him when he was (in college) at Southern Mississippi and play against Southwestern Louisiana back in the day. It was always fun the way he played."

Though Louisiana is one of the smaller populated states in the U.S., with only 4.5 million people, it can make a strong case for yielding the largest crop of quarterbacks to the NFL. Peyton Manning, star for Indianapolis, and younger brother Eli Manning, rookie with the New York Giants, are New Orleans natives.

The list of great ones stretches back to Pittsburgh Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw.

"If you look back and did a little history lesson with some of the quarterbacks who have come out of there - the Bobby Heberts, the Bubby Bristers, the Terry Bradshaws, the Joe Fergusons, the Stan Humphries' ... There's so many guys," Pederson said. "For whatever reason, it's become a melting pot for quarterbacks.

"It would be an encouraging thing for a young quarterback in high school or college to consider that when deciding their future."

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By Todd McMahon
News-Chronicle

[Turbine]

If you missed the United Way Jake/Kevin videos the picture link below takes you to the page where you can download the files.

The small videos are humorous but the long one the "United we're Super" is heart warming. Check them out.

area

Thanks to Jeremy Broussard for the links and pics.

His hope is to get people interested in visiting the United Way of Acadiana web site, and hopefully learning more about United Way and ultimately getting involved any way they can.

[Turbine]

I listened to the entire Panther-Chiefs game on KPEL 105.1 and watched the entire Saints-49ers game on FOX

They won at almost the exact same time.

I had fun, the Chiefs had not lost at home in 13 games almost 2 seasons.

Jake was hot and cold but mostly "HOT" considering he lost most of his O-line and his leading rusher and leading reciever from last year.

[CajunKate]

Don't forget da Bears, Turbine! Peanut lead the Chicago defense today with 11 tackles today- 9 of them solo.

[Turbine]

Originally posted by CajunKate
Don't forget da Bears, Turbine! Peanut lead the Chicago defense today with 11 tackles today- 9 of them solo.

Yeah you right, hey that is one Babb looking avatar

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Jake Delhomme Yes, you probably know the name by now. You know his hometown, his voice, his Bojangles commercial, and the number on his jersey. Most of you can even pronounce his name correctly (Duh-lome). He has been the topic of NFL discussion forums and analysts interviews since the 2002 season when fans of the New Orleans Saints would chant "We want Jake, We want Jake".

What you may not know is that Jake's long and winding road to the Superbowl last season didn't start in Carolina, and it wasn't John Fox or Marty Hurney that gave him the break he needed. It was a man named Bill Kuharich.

Born on Jan. 10, 1975 in Lafayette, La., Jake Christopher Delhomme attended Teurlings Catholic High School (his hometown school), where he was an all-state defensive back -- even though he finished his career with 7,423 yards in total offense and 81 touchdowns completing 421-of-835 passes for 6,703 yards and 65 touchdowns as a quarterback. As a senior, he completed 218-of-394 passes for 3,351 yards and 32 touchdowns and rushed for 265 yards and eight touchdowns, leading his school to the state semifinals.

By comparison, that is almost more completions as a senior than Peyton Manning had attempts (168-265), and Delhomme's 3,351 passing yards as a senior eclipsed that of Manning's 2,703. Not only did Delhomme edge Manning in senior year statistics alone, but over the course of each player's high school career as well. Delhomme's 7,423 career offensive yards stand just above Manning's 7,207.

Did he get a major college scholarship?

While players like Manning were offered scholarships to Tennessee, Texas, and Michigan, there wasn't a Louisiana State University, Southern Cal or Florida in Delhomme's stack of offers. Delhomme attended the closest college to his home, Louisiana-Lafayette, where he proved to be an even better college Quarterback than he was a high school one. Jake was the only true freshman quarterback to start for a Division I-A school in 1993 and his completion percentage of 145-of-259 for 1,842 yards and 14 touchdowns with 12 interceptions gave him a 124.5 passer efficiency rating. A rating that ranked second among NCAA freshman quarterbacks. He also became the first true freshman in school history to pass for more than 1,000 yards, setting a single-season school mark for completions that he would later surpass.

As a senior, Jake completed 201-of-377 passes for a school-record 2,901 yards and 20 touchdowns with 17 interceptions in 1996.

Jake ended his college career as the all-time Louisiana College passing leader with 9,216 yards on 655-of-1,246 passing with 64 touchdowns and 57 interceptions. He led the Ragin' Cajuns to three consecutive winning seasons in his four years, became the first player to pass for more than 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons and started the last 43 games of his career, which was the longest streak among active quarterbacks in the nation. Jake was ranked 22nd in NCAA history for passing yards and 28th for total offense at the close of his collegiate career.

So which NFL team drafted him?

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By Ryan McPherson
PantherInsider.com

[Turbine]

I love this article, very concise.

It's the message I was trying to send when I wrote (on saintsreport.com in 2001) a series about how Jake belonged in the NFL based on what he had done at UL Athlete (1993-96) Jake Delhomme
I copied, edited and reposted here in 2002

I had much less time on my hands but I started to do the same thing here with NFL: Jake Delhomme

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Tim Rattay and Jake Delhomme each enjoyed stellar college careers in the state of Louisiana.

On Sunday, Rattay and Delhomme will be at the helm of struggling teams when the San Francisco 49ers meet the Carolina Panthers in a matchup of the NFC's two worst teams.

At Louisiana Tech from 1996-99, Rattay finished second in NCAA history with 12,746 yards passing.

He also was just the third player in NCAA history to throw for more than 100 touchdowns in his career.

Delhomme starred at Louisiana-Lafayette from 1993-96, finishing his college career ranked 22nd all-time with 9,216 passing yards.

In the NFL, Delhomme has enjoyed more success than Rattay and guided the Panthers to the Super Bowl last season.

But both Delhomme and Rattay enter this contest with their teams mired in six-game losing streaks.

Delhomme had his best game of the season in last week's 27-24 loss to Oakland, completing 25-of-45 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns.

His favorite target again was Muhsin Muhammad, who has 16 catches the last two weeks.

Carolina has been without running back Stephen Davis for the last three games due to a knee injury.

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