Pro. Jake Delhomme

[studentfan]

I wonder what Leon has to say about that.

[NewsCopy]

NFL teams can pass on top college QBs and still go to head of class In the '90s, the route to the Super Bowl was clearly defined. Draft an elite college quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick and sit back and collect the rings. From 1992 through 1998, top picks Troy Aikman and John Elway led their teams to five Super Bowls. In the two years they missed, Hall-of-Fame bound Steve Young and Brett Favre passed their way to Lombardi Trophies. Before them, Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw and the Raiders' Jim Plunkett won six Super Bowls after being selected first in the draft. In the 21st century, the path is not so easily charted. Sixth-round pick Tom Brady already has won three Super Bowls in New England, and Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won Super Bowls without really even being key components of their teams. Sunday's conference championship games continue the departure from the accepted rule. There are no top-10 picks starting at quarterback in Denver or Seattle. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, the third quarterback drafted in 2004, is the only first-round pick. He goes against Jake Plummer, a second-round pick who spent six seasons in Arizona confirming doubts as to his arm strength and leadership. Only once in those six years did he throw more touchdown passes than interceptions, but working with Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has reshaped his career. In Seattle, a sixth-round pick of the Packers (Matt Hasselbeck) goes against an undrafted free agent and former Saint (Jake Delhomme). Hasselbeck spent three years watching Favre in Green Bay, which means he didn't get much playing time. He threw all of 29 passes in those years, but former Packers and current Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren had an idea as to his untapped talent. Now he's a Pro Bowler one step away from a Super Bowl. But the most bizarre tale of all is that of Delhomme, who is one victory from his second Super Bowl appearance. That's more Super Bowls than Dan Marino or Joe Namath or Young ever started. And that comes after six years in New Orleans in which Delhomme started two games. One of those was a victory over Dallas that helped get Chan Gailey fired. The rest of the story

[lxa656]

Who do you want leading your team in the playoffs? Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio is having that very discussion as I type. Cowherd and even the callers are giving Jake some love. Cowherd is putting him up there with some of the greats of all time and calling him clutch! Very interesting if anyone wants to tune in.

What are these NFL teams thinking? Why would they want a Sun Belt Qb over a mighty SEC Qb?


Oh, and finally, Aaron Brooks is still a better QB. Jake just got put into a better system!

[Cajun Express]

Oh, and finally, Aaron Brooks is still a better QB. Jake just got put into a better system!

You mean a system where a player instills confidence in his coaches and players and showers his teamates with all the glory. Yep that is our boy Jake.

[NewsCopy]

RALEIGH, N.C. (NYT) - There still are times, the Carolina Panthers' Jordan Gross says, when Jake Delhomme gets a little too excited in the huddle. Delhomme's Louisiana Cajun twang noticeably thickens. The words come out too quickly. It's hard for Gross, the starter at right tackle, and the others to understand everything flowing out of the quarterback's mouth. "He gets so fired up it makes you laugh," Gross said. "He can be such a passionate guy when it comes to football. "But one thing we know about Jake: He's a great leader. He's the kind when it's all on the line, with a big play to be made, you can rely on him because you know he's not going to crack under pressure. He thrives on it." That's the Panthers' point of view, of course. Carolina is in the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three years, and Delhomme is a huge part of it. Everyone in the Panthers' locker room will say much the same about their quarterback as they prepare for the Seattle Seahawks. But maybe it's also the best way to explain why Delhomme can sometimes look so average during the regular season, then almost unbeatable in the playoffs. The man from Breaux Bridge, is 5-1 in playoff games, the loss in the Super Bowl two years ago, and has the highest playoff passing rating of anyone who has ever played in the NFL. With 10 touchdowns and two interceptions, Delhomme has a rating of 108.4. Bart Starr, who led Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers to titles in the 1960s, had a 104.8 rating in 10 games. Joe Montana? The former San Francisco star was at 95.6 in 23 games with the 49ers and Kansas City. Only three quarterbacks have guided their teams to four playoff road wins: Delhomme, former Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson and former Cowboys star Roger Staubach. Not bad company. "Jake is playing with so much confidence," Seahawks defensive end Bryce Fisher said. "When you're in the playoffs, you don't have that grind of the regular season and can be at your best. He's doing a great job of breaking down the other team and he's making plays." The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

PATRICK SCHNEIDER/CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Quarterback Jake Delhomme, who began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent, will play in his second NFC title game in three years Sunday. Super Bowls, NFC championships and Pro Bowls – the whole thing boggles Jake Delhomme’s mind. That an undrafted free agent out of Louisiana-Lafayette, a castoff of the New Orleans Saints, and a veteran of NFL Europe could be on the verge of a second Super Bowl is really hard to believe. “Never did I ever dream when I signed here that we were going to go to the Super Bowl our first year and the NFC Championship Game two of my first three years,” said Delhomme, the Carolina Panthers quarterback “My big thing was simply to come in and, if given the opportunity, I felt I could be a productive starter in the NFL.” Delhomme has surpassed his – and everyone else’s – expectations. In his third season with the Panthers, he has cemented his status as the starter. If he can lead Carolina past the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at Qwest Field, he’ll become the 17th quarterback to start in at least two Super Bowls. It’s no fairy tale but it’s close. Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is one of the few people who not only appreciates what Delhomme has gone through, but has lived it. Hasselbeck, as a sixth-round draft choice, was buried on the depth chart of the Green Bay Packers just like Delhomme was with the Saints. Hasselbeck knows what it’s like to be sentenced to the practice squad and to spend fall afternoons on the sideline with a clipboard in his hands and a baseball cap on his head. And come February, Hasselbeck will join Delhomme in Hawaii. Hasselbeck is supposed to start this year’s Pro Bowl; Delhomme was picked as the backup. “I think he is a great quarterback,” Hasselbeck said. “I think he has had a great year. “He is a guy you definitely root for. I am happy that he has had success.” This season, Delhomme posted a career-high passer rating of 88.1. He threw for 3,421 yards with 24 touchdowns and 16 interceptions while completing 60.2 percent of his passes. Then the playoffs started and he did even better. In two games, he’s hit on 70.9 percent of his passes with four TDs and one interception. More importantly, the Panthers beat the Giants in New York and the Bears in Chicago with the fired-up Delhomme leading the way. “What they’ve done, gone on the road and won, you know he’s a tough guy,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “He’s a good football player. I think both John Fox and Mike Holmgren are happy with their quarterbacks right now.” Fox, the Panthers’ coach, said the passing game is better this season than in 2003 when the Panthers advanced to the Super Bowl. The rest of the story DARRIN BEENE; The News Tribune

[NewsCopy]

One win away from the Super Bowl, Jake Delhomme is like one of his prize Louisiana racehorses. Down the stretch he comes — frisky, nostrils flaring at the sight of the competition. He's a gamer with a lot of giddyap, retaining the same unbridled spirit he had as a young'un in Beaux Bridge, La., where he hung a poster of Joe Montana in his bedroom and dared to daydream. Like a victorious 50-1 long shot, Delhomme has slain the odds. The tools of NFL scouting, imprecise a "science" as it is, can quantify many things: size, strength, speed, agility, aptitude. But they still haven't figured out a way to wrap a tape measure around a guy's heart. They missed the sound of a big ticker in a big ol' country-raised thoroughbred passer. Delhomme remains all the rage down in Cajun country this week ("Geaux Jake!"), where he raises horses with his dad and brother. And he's pretty popular in Charlotte, too, where Panther faithful wear "Got Jake?" T-shirts heading into the NFC Championship Game on Sunday in Seattle. With all the hoopla, Jake remains Jake. Back in 2004, he took a portion of his signing bonus money and bought a new vehicle. Not a Hummer or a Rover or a Viper or some other highfalutin gas-guzzler. He bought a tractor. Yep, to mow the yard. "That is one thing we know how to do in Louisiana — we can grow grass with the best of them," he told reporters this week. This guy mows 'em down with the best of them during the playoffs, particularly when he has to pack his bags. Last week, in Chicago, the animated quarterback won his fourth postseason start on the road in as many attempts — an NFL record — while beating the ferocious Bears with a bayou-wide smile on his face (thanks, in part, to Steve Smith, of course). Watch Delhomme this weekend. He'll look more wired than a tech geek on six cups of Seattle's Best. The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

WTH TONY DUNGY, Gary Brackett and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts eliminated and pulling up chairs today, the field of men easy to support is reduced to two. There is Jake Delhomme, the criminally under-sung Carolina quarterback who brims with country-boy moxie and competes even after the lights are turned off. And Jerome Bettis, the Pittsburgh running back who is the father, the son and the holy bus in one of the NFL's most passionate football towns. It's not that Seattle and Denver, the home teams in today's conference championship games, don't have their charms. I'm sure they do. Somewhere. But I can't find it. I can't help but feel the charm and likability of Delhomme and Bettis. One guy, Delhomme, radiates pluck and perseverance. He's the small-town boy who got little attention out of high school, settled for his hometown college, Louisiana-Lafayette, and was ignored in the draft. He took the back door to the NFL, signing as a free agent with the hometown New Orleans Saints, in June 1997. Delhomme was cut in August, and spent the better part of the next five years wearing a team jacket as the Saints' inactive third quarterback. Consider this: Jake waswaived every year for three seasons by the Saints — the Saints! — and he kept coming back. The Panthers, desperate for quarterback help with the sun setting on Rodney Peete's career, signed Delhomme as a free agent in 2003. He took over in the second half of the opening game. Five months later, Carolina was in the Super Bowl. Seven years removed from being Kurt Warner's backup with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, Delhomme has evolved into the perceptive fan's version of what Brett Favre used to be — a guy whose courage and resourcefulness inspires teammates and scares the chin straps off opponents. How can anyone summon a healthy dislike for a guy like that? The rest of the story

[PantherCanada]

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