Pro. Jake Delhomme

[PantherCanada]

Gotta get mine signed now....

To heck with the jinx, I love this.

[PantherCanada]

Panthers in Residence
Delhomme has been dubbed Mr. Charlotte by teammates, and few would dispute that

Sunday, September 4, 2005

By Joe Menzer
JOURNAL REPORTER

His Panthers teammates have taken to calling him Mr. Charlotte, but he hasn't let it go to his head.In fact, some might be surprised to learn that Mr. Charlotte still mows his own yard when he goes home to Breaux Bridge, La., between seasons, offseason conditioning programs, minicamps and coaching sessions.

But not tight end Kris Mangumn, the teammate credited with laying the nickname on quarterback Jake Delhomme.

"I can honestly say he's one guy where success has not gone to his head," Mangum said. "You can go out to dinner with him and if there are kids sitting there at a table, but you can see they don't want to bother him, he'll walk over to their table and sign autographs for them. He's from the South, you know? He's one of those guys who has taken nothing for granted - because in this league, he knows it can be taken away from you in a snap."

Delhomme said he has never understood athletes who balk at signing autographs, especially when it comes to signing for children. When fans lined up each day for autographs after training-camp practices, he frequently was one of the first to begin working the crowd and one of the last to leave.

"That's nothing," Delhomme said. "I know when I was a little kid, I never got a chance to go see an NFL practice. I could just imagine if I was young, how much I'd love to see somebody or get their autograph. I'd probably try to come out before and after the practice, just to do that. You can't get everybody, but I just try to do as much as I can. It means a lot to them. If scribbling my name on a piece of paper means a lot to somebody, by all means I can do that."

He does so much more for the Panthers. As he prepares now for his third season as the team's starting quarterback, Delhomme is a man who leads by example.

And Mangum said it appears that Delhomme is poised to take his game, and perhaps the team along with it, to a new level.

"He's a good leader for us. He's taken more of a leadership role this year," Mangum said. "In practice the other day, he changed one of the protections. I had never seen him do that. We all looked at each other and said, 'Yeah, he knows what he's doing.' On our offense, the way he goes, we go. We've got to run the ball to take the pressure off, but he's at his best when he's back there gun-slinging it around.

"We'll take him. He's been really good for this offense and this organization and, really, the whole town. I've never seen more No. 17 jerseys around. You could say he's taken over Charlotte, because he's Mr. Charlotte now. He probably won't tell you that, but take it from a guy who has been around nine years: I've never seen a town like a guy as much as they like Jake."

After only 31 regular-season starts, Delhomme ranks second in franchise history with 48 touchdown passes. In helping the Panthers overcome losing seven of their first eight games last season to nearly make the playoffs, Delhomme threw only four interceptions and 17 touchdown passes in the last eight games. That gave him a quarterback rating over that stretch of 102.8.

With a more complete offensive arsenal assembled around him for the start of this season, that's the type of play he expects from himself for the entire 16-game schedule.

Delhomme said that it's no coincidence that his increased success has come as he has received increased playing time. There is, he says, absolutely no substitute for experience. It breeds confidence, and with confidence, he said, success soon follows.

And that is the major difference between the Jake Delhomme who arrived in Charlotte after years as a backup quarterback in New Orleans, and the cocksure quarterback now known as Mr. Charlotte.

"I felt that way last year, too," Delhomme said. "The reason I felt that way is that once you learn the system, once you get it, then you play a whole season. Whereas at New Orleans, I would run the offense all offseason and through training camp - and then I wouldn't run it again until the following spring.

"When you're running with the scout team, that's a big difference. That's a huge difference. When you're out there running plays week in and week out on the field, you just get comfortable. You see this and you're like, 'OK, keep your head looking to the left' but you know you're probably going to throw back over to the right. Little things like that.

"And going with the same guys most of the time, that's what makes it fun. You can try different things, but you just have a better feel for when things are going to happen. Your receivers, if you've played with them for a while especially, they just seem to have a better idea of where you're going with it, too."

One of Delhomme's receivers, Ricky Proehl, said that he sees parallels between where Delhomme appears to be headed now and where Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams was as a quarterback when Proehl played with Warner. During their time together, Warner twice was named most valuable player in the NFL and also was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV when the Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans.

"They both have taken the same paths," Proehl said. "They remember where they came from. The didn't just step in and start. They had to earn it. They both have done that. They've both gone to NFL Europe. Jake has earned his stripes, and he cherishes what it took to get there, and he remains humble."

There is another, simpler reason that Delhomme is so popular, according to Proehl.

"Fans love players who can play, and Jake makes plays," Proehl said. "He's the leader of this football team, and that is why he's such a popular guy in Charlotte. But the quarterback is always a popular guy as long as he's throwing touchdown passes and the team is winning more than it's losing. Kurt Warner, everyone loved him in St. Louis."

Correction. Everyone loved Warner in St. Louis as long as he was throwing touchdown passes and the team was winning. As soon as he started struggling, Warner was jettisoned from the starting lineup - and eventually from the team - in favor of Marc Bulger.

Delhomme seems to grasp that natural order of life in the NFL spotlight.

"I know you're cheered and put on a pedestal when you're doing well, especially when you're the quarterback," Delhomme said. "And I also know you can be booed just as quickly when things aren't going well. That's just the way it is."

Mangum insists that Delhomme brings more to the Panthers' franchise than merely completions, touchdowns and even wins. He brings credibility as a player and a person that was almost completely missing when Coach John Fox arrived in 2002 and only beginning to move in the right direction when Delhomme arrived as a free agent one year later.

"In the past, we've had problems here and there," Mangum said, alluding to the Panthers' many past off-the-field issues. "He's kind of brought stability to this franchise. We needed a face like that - a good family man, no problems, he shows up to work and plays hard. There's no flashiness to him. He just gets after it, and he plays good. That's the biggest thing. You can be Mr. Nice Guy and you can be the perfect role model, and if the game is on the line and you don't produce, they're not going to like you. Just like if you don't win, they won't support you.

"But he has stepped up and made big plays in big games. I think all of those things combined together have made him the icon that he is in Charlotte right now. He's as big as it gets in Charlotte right now."

Fullback Brad Hoover and defensive end Mike Rucker said that Delhomme's personality has permeated the roster, and that that's a good thing.

"He is a very popular guy," Hoover said. "The good thing is that it's almost like he's like everyone else, yet he's a superstar quarterback for us. I think people can relate to him, just because that's the kind of person he is.

"That's a credit to him and the way he carries himself. I think it's not only him. We have a lot of guys like that on this team. They're going to stay the same. They're not going to let fame and fortune change 'em. Unfortunately, a lot of guys do. But Jake hasn't changed since the day he got here."

Rucker added: "It's good to have a guy like Jake, because I think that's a position that gets a lot of the limelight, and without the right person it can go to their head and they could become an arrogant type of person. Jake's a good, down-to-earth guy who fits right into our system.

"I think we've got a whole team of Delhommes here, in a way - guys who are down-to-earth, don't get the big head, and fit right into our system."

Despite his popularity in Charlotte and possibly being on the brink of national stardom, Delhomme's name rarely comes up when elite quarterbacks in the NFL are mentioned. Mangum said he thinks that Delhomme's humility has much to do with that.

"I don't think it bothers him," Mangum said. "You know what? He's not afraid to give the credit to someone else. If we don't run the football in this offense, we're not going to be successful. And that starts up front. That starts with our line, our tight ends, our running backs. He understands that. It's not like he's out there saying, 'This is my team.' He understands that we have to run the football first, and then he makes plays off of that.

"But if we get behind, we know that in the two-minute drill, I'd rather have him running the two-minute drill than anybody else in the NFL."

Running two-minute drills in the season, and cutting his own grass in the offseason? Delhomme figures life can't get any better than this - unless he helps the Panthers win a Super Bowl.

But he said that even that wouldn't change Mr. Charlotte.

"I've always been the same guy," he said. "I enjoy practicing. I enjoy football. I enjoy what I do. I'm going to have fun. I'm going to pick on everybody. That's just the way I am. I believe in having enthusiasm. Things may have changed based on the success we had as a team, but that's a good thing for all of us."

Link

[NewsCopy]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - No one can relate more to the New Orleans Saints' current situation than Panthers quarterback and Breaux Bridge native Jake Delhomme, and a former backup in New Orleans. Although his hometown escaped serious damage from Katrina, New Orleans was like a second home to Delhomme. "I know these areas you see on TV well, it hits you right in the heart," Delhomme said. "You do what you can. You give money or give clothes, things of that nature, to try to help these people. "Hearing what some of their guys are saying about how they're visiting refugees who are displaced and how the refugees are telling them they will be watching them Sunday, these guys are going to come ready to play. We have to be ready to play, too. "That's just how this world goes. Sometimes you don't understand why, but we have to go out and do our job. We have to go and play a child's game." That's what both teams will do today, looking for a first victory that will move them to the front in the race for the division title. For the Panthers, who are predicted to be a very good team, the game will be their first shot at redemption against a Saints team that knocked them out of playoff contention last season. The rest of the story

[RaginFan]

Did anyone catch how Jake referred to the university? He said 'Louisiana Lafayette.' I wished he would have used 'University of Louisiana.'

[Turbine]

Did anyone catch how Jake referred to the university? He said 'Louisiana Lafayette.' I wished he would have used 'University of Louisiana.'

I'm with you.

Every grad from the Univertisy of Louisiana "System" is a Univertisy of Louisiana graduate. Let credit fall where it may.

[UL_Cajuns]

Did anyone catch how Jake referred to the university? He said 'Louisiana Lafayette.' I wished he would have used 'University of Louisiana.'

Does he know of the name battle?

Im sure he does?

He could say Louisiana's Ragin Cajuns,
and everyone will be satisfied!

[RaginFan]

I was mearly pointing out his use of a name. I am of the opinion that different people will always use different names for the University. The generally accepted term will work itself out over time.

[shof]

I was mearly pointing out his use of a name. I am of the opinion that different people will always use different names for the University. The generally accepted term will work itself out over time.

Seems like we had this same discussion last year. I wish Jake, Peanut, Ike, Brandon, etc., could get together and agree to say, "Louisiana Ragin Cajuns". Don't have to say "University of........." But, we'll probably have this discussion again next year too.

[Turbine]

Don't have to say "University of........." But, . . .

Little known fact; The law only applies if you say "University of . . . "

[Rebel02]

Little known fact; The law only applies if you say "University of . . . "

How about we get them to do what Ohio State players do

(emphasis on) THE university of Louisiana

[ShowDog]

My favorite UL player of recent years, had better get his head on straight or he will be watching from the bench. Jake needs to quit forcing things on the field and making poor decisions or injury or no injury, he will be watching from the sidelines like all of us.

I heard T. Bradshaw say "My man Jake threw 4 first half TD's today" then he explained that two were interceptions for TD's by Detroit. 3 in all. I think he's trying too hard.

Come on Jake get it together so we don't have to watch some ex FSU guy taking your place.

[Zeebart21]

My favorite UL player of recent years, had better get his head on straight or he will be watching from the bench. Jake needs to quit forcing things on the field and making poor decisions or injury or no injury, he will be watching from the sidelines like all of us.

I heard T. Bradshaw say "My man Jake threw 4 first half TD's today" then he explained that two were interceptions for TD's by Detroit. 3 in all. I think he's trying too hard.

Come on Jake get it together so we don't have to watch some ex FSU guy taking your place.

The "Jake Karma" won the game.... Weinke had the mojo..

JD took a vicious hit.

Z.