Pro. Jake Delhomme

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Panthers QB prepares to play team he spurned in offseason

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Two teams showed immense interest in Jake Delhomme when the free-agent quarterback shopped himself around last winter.

He visited both teams, stopping in Dallas and Carolina to consider his options. Both teams made offers before the former University of Louisiana standout picked the Panthers.

After five years as an NFL backup, Carolina's quarterback will make his first playoff start Saturday night against the team he spurned.

"Carolina and Dallas were the two places that I visited in the offseason, and I did have an offer from them," Delhomme, a Breaux Bridge, La., native said. "I just think it was a better fit for me and my career at this time to be in Carolina, and it just kind of worked out. They have done some good things and we have done some good things and I couldn't be happier here in Carolina."

It didn't take long for Delhomme, a backup for five years in New Orleans before coming to Carolina, to unseat incumbent Rodney Peete. He replaced him in the second half of the season-opener and threw three touchdowns to rally the Panthers to a win against Jacksonville.

The team immediately responded to him in the huddle, feeding off an energy and enthusiasm that has permeated the Panthers (11-5) all season.

Although unproven in his time with New Orleans, it was those intangible qualities that made Dallas coach Bill Parcells pursue the fiery Cajun from Louisiana.

"I just like guys like him -- I've had a few like that before, who are spunky and competitive," Parcells said. "He is not classic in any manner of speaking, but I just like him. There is something about him. It looked to me that he had good leadership qualities.

"He didn't seem to be afraid and he's done a good job with them."

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By JENNA FRYER
AP sportswriter

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HARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 2 — Jake Delhomme walked up to the line of scrimmage for the first play of his first game with the Carolina Panthers. Before the snap, he paused and looked around Ericsson Stadium.

Delhomme had waited six years for this moment, six years with the New Orleans Saints and two summers in N.F.L. Europe. He was cut five times by the Saints, but always found his way back on the roster.

"I just glanced real quick and I said, `O.K., this is what you wanted, you better make the most of it,' " Delhomme said.

Coming off the bench with the Panthers trailing Jacksonville, 17-0, in the season opener, Delhomme rallied Carolina to a 24-23 victory.

Just like that, Delhomme's life as a career backup was over.

Four months later — the blur of an 11-5 record and an N.F.C. South Division title behind him — Delhomme is preparing for another first: an N.F.C. wild-card playoff game Saturday night at Ericsson Stadium against Bill Parcells and the Dallas Cowboys (10-6).

Delhomme is confident, yet hardly cocky. The past was not that long ago.

"I don't forget where I came from," Delhomme said. "That's one thing that I'll never do."

Six years should have been time enough for Delhomme to give up on the idea of making it in the N.F.L. At 6 feet 2 and 215 pounds, he is smaller than the prototypical quarterback. He does not have a pure passer's arm or a running quarterback's legs.

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New York Times
By VIV BERNSTEIN

photo by Getty Images

[Turner]

Now that is a good story.

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Quarterback takes a long, winding roadto start vs. Cowboys

On a weekend when the first-timers step into the national spotlight to begin the Super Bowl tournament, Carolina Panthers quarterback Jack Delhomme is one of the lesser lights who can shine in the NFL’s galaxy of stars.

Delhomme gets his chance Saturday night against Dallas in the NFC wild-card game at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte. Delhomme and the Cowboys’ Quincy Carter are among four quarterbacks who are making their first playoff starts this weekend.

In the AFC wild-card game Saturday, the Ravens’ Anthony Wright makes his postseason debut against Tennessee, led by playoff-tested Steve McNair.

In Sunday’s AFC game, the Colts’ Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ Jake Plummer have playoff experience. In the NFC game, Matt Hasselbeck of Seattle gets his playoff baptism against Green Bay, the team that drafted him in 1999.

This weekend, Delhomme, Carter, Wright and Hasselbeck are the wild cards and McNair, Manning and the Packers’ Brett Favre are the aces. Plummer turned up in a reshuffle. He signed with Denver this season after six seasons in Arizona.

Delhomme understands how that winding road to a place of prominence in the 2003 season makes him something of a curiosity.

“I feel pretty confident now,” Delhomme said in a national conference-call interview. “Certainly, coming in, I had only started two whole games in my career.

“Then being able to play a whole season, and having had some success as a team this year, you only gain confidence,” Delhomme said. “But getting comfortable week in and week out and just learning, that’s the biggest thing in this league.

“It’s not overnight for a quarterback.”

Delhomme has some titles on his resume. He grew up in Breaux Bridge, La. The town calls itself “The Crawfish Capital of the World.”

In 1999, two years out of Louisiana-Lafayette and before he ever threw a pass in an NFL game, Delhomme quarterbacked the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe to the World Bowl championship.

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By Mike O'Hara / The Detroit News
AP Photo

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Sometimes you win in the playoffs by going with the "chalk," playing to your strengths, following the same well-rehearsed and same tightly performed script with which you principally succeeded during the regular season.

And then there are those outings, like in the Carolina Panthers' 29-10 rout of the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night, when you survive and advance to the next round by going almost completely against character. Clearly, that was the case for the Panthers, who gained their first postseason victory since a division-round win in the '96 playoffs, mostly by ignoring on offense the components that earned the NFC South championship.

Oh, sure, tailback Stephen Davis, the unquestioned offensive fulcrum for the Panthers in his first season since coming over from the Washington Redskins as a free agent, rushed for 104 yards. After all, there weren't many Carolina victories in 2003 that didn't include the eight-year veteran tailback posting triple digits, right?

Davis and 100-plus yards has quickly become as staple here as, say, watery grits.

But having a wideout go for 100 yards, let alone get both wide receivers over the century mark in the same contest, is certainly not according to form. Yet that is precisely what the Panthers offense accomplished -- as Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad combined for nine catches, 238 yards and one score -- and Carolina proceeded on to the division round where it will face the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome next Saturday.

"(The Cowboys) are very aggressive on the outside," said Muhammad, who had four receptions for 103 yards. "Especially on third down, they'll 'man up' on you and they like to blitz a lot. We kept saying all week, 'If you live by the blitz, we will make you die by the blitz.' That was our sentiment coming in and we carried it out. I mean, in the playoffs, your big-play guys have to make big plays for you. And, well, you saw what happened out there."

What happened, several Carolina veterans emphasized, is that the offense took a quantum leap forward in its ongoing evolution. This is not, players insisted, the same offense with which the Panthers opened the season. It isn't even the same offense of a month ago.

"A lot more diversity," said Smith, who has grown into an explosive playmaker. "A lot more. We don't have to have those 10-play drives now. We're able to do so many more things now, it's not funny, man."

Certainly, it was no laughing matter to weary Cowboys defenders.

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By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com


Delhomme celebrates his 18-for-29, 273-yard, 1 TD, 0 INT outing.

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Panthers' Delhomme rides surprise success in playoffs

Name: Jake Delhomme.

Stats

Age: 28.

Position: Starting quarterback, Carolina Panthers.

Personal: With relatives, owns thoroughbred horses in Louisiana.

College highlights: Ended his college career at Louisiana as the state's all-time college passing leader with 9,216 yards.

Pro highlights: Was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted rookie free agent in 1997. He started two games for New Orleans in 1999 and spent most of the 2000 and 2001 seasons as the Saints' emergency third-string quarterback. Along the way, he won a World Bowl Championship with the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme doesn't mind being considered an interloper in one of the NFL's most elite fraternities.

Not even Delhomme could argue he belongs in the same company of some of the other quarterbacks that have their teams two games shy of reaching the Super Bowl -- Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb and Tom Brady.

But when you consider the previous three Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks -- Baltimore's Trent Dilfer, New England's Brady and Tampa Bay's Brad Johnson -- weren't exactly household names, being an unknown isn't necessarily a bad thing.

More than anything, it allows the carefree Cajun from Lafayette, La., to approach Saturday's NFC divisional playoff game at the St. Louis Rams without any pressure.

"I'm having a lot of fun," said Delhomme, who turns 29 on Saturday. "Winning makes everything fun. I'm having a good time with it. We're working hard, and I think that's the beauty of it. All the hard work and effort and preparation that we put in is coming through on Sundays. There's nothing better than that."

Signed by the Panthers off the scrap heap as an unrestricted free agent in March, Delhomme was thrown into action in Carolina's first game of the season and engineered a thrilling 24-23 come-from-behind win over Jacksonville.

Delhomme proceeded to lead Carolina to the NFL South Division championship only two years after the Panthers went 1-15. He finished the regular season eighth in the NFC with 3,219 yards, with 19 touchdowns and 16 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 80.6.

And Delhomme has been unflappable late in games. The Panthers are 3-1 in overtime games this season and tied the 1998 Arizona Cardinals for the most wins (seven) by three points or less in one season.

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By BRIAN McTAGGART
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

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Charlotte -- Jake Delhomme splurged last Saturday night. For his first NFL playoff game, the Carolina Panthers quarterback treated his family to a suite at Ericsson Stadium.

Said Delhomme, "You don't know how often these happen, so let them enjoy it."

There was plenty to enjoy: Delhomme played perhaps his best game of the season in a 29-10 wild-card victory over the Dallas Cowboys, complete with a post-game celebratory lap.

Delhomme has a better perspective than most on how rare a playoff game can be. The 28-year-old Delhomme waited six years for the opportunity to lead his own football team. He was sent twice to NFL Europe and before signing with the Panthers last March, was cut three times by the same team, the New Orleans Saints.

"I feel I can be a productive starter, and that's all I've ever wanted, was a chance," Delhomme said Tuesday. "Now it's up to me to see if I can keep it up."

He'll find out Saturday, when the Panthers will go on the road to play the NFC's top seed, the St. Louis Rams.

Delhomme has done well enough so far. Improving over the course of the season, he averaged 201.2 passing yards per game and compiled a respectable 80.6 passer rating. More notably, he led the Panthers to wins on their final possession seven times. The Panthers finished 11-5 and won their first division title since 1996, their second season.

"He's got something about him," Falcons pro personnel director Les Snead said. "When the game's on the line, he's made plays and won."

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By KEN SUGIURA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

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Carolina's QB seems to thrive on losing cool

In the heart of NASCAR country, the season has been one big victory lap for Panthers QB Jake Delhomme.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - At crunch time, when the field is long, the clock is short and the odds are foreboding, "collected" and "composed" are the traits one looks for in a quarterback. He is the one excitable teammates can turn to for equanimity.

At least, that's what common sense says. But there is nothing common about Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme, and precious little makes sense. Delhomme comes to the huddle the way a kid comes down the stairs on Christmas morning. When the going gets tough, he gets wired.

"It's like he's a little league or high school kid out there," said Panthers center Jeff Mitchell. "I mean, look at him. He's about a buck-fifty (150 pounds) and you look him in the face and you'd swear he's about 12 years old. I mean, it's like we have to calm him down."

Yet, Delhomme is to late-game heroics what David Letterman is to late-show antics. The Panthers have won seven times on their final possession this season and six when trailing at halftime. The previously undistinguished Delhomme has completed 22 of 29 passes during drives in which Carolina has scored the decisive points inside the final two minutes of regulation or overtime.

From an emotional standpoint, he might be Jake the Quake more than Jake the Snake, but Delhomme gets it done.

"He's so fired up and crazy, there's no mistaking when he's in there," Mitchell added. "What it is, is positive energy. It's enthusiasm. It's unbridled, which is good. He's been working so hard for this, for so long."

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By Dan O'Neill
Post-Dispatch
01/07/2004

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He'll start for Panthers, while Warner on bench

The roles of Kurt Warner and Jake Delhomme were quite different in 1998 when the two quarterbacks played in NFL Europe.

Warner was the starter in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Delhomme his backup.

Today, when they meet in the NFC divisional playoffs, Warner will be on the bench for the St. Louis Rams, and Delhomme will start for the Carolina Panthers.

Both have been unlikely success stories. In '98, Warner was showing signs of the form that would complete his journey from stocking grocery store shelves to winning two Most Valuable Player awards and a Super Bowl ring.

Admirals coach Al Luginbill had to decide whether to start Warner, who had spent three years in the Arena League but hadn't drawn much NFL interest, or Delhomme, a raw kid from Louisiana who had been sent overseas by the New Orleans Saints.

After a brief training camp, Luginbill went with Warner, though his decision was met with a few protests from his staff.

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By DARIN GANTT
THE (ROCK HILL, S.C.) HERALD

[Turbine]

Just got back from supper with my wife listened to part of the Panthers game at a Greek restuarant.

Now I get home and Jake has his team leading the Rams 32-21 with 8:50 left in the game.