Week 2 Matchup in Atlanta a Make-Or-Break Game For Delhomme, Panthers

It’s not often you can say a game played in the second week of the NFL season could be a make-or-break game for a team or a player.

However that’s exactly the case for Jake Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers.

No matter how you look at it, the outcome of their matchup with the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome could determine their fate for 2009 and beyond.

Delhomme has what plenty of Panthers fans never wanted him to have after his opening-day performance against the Eagles, a second chance. What he does with that second chance could define his career, for better or for worse. 

Delhomme has been known as a fiery, gritty player who in the past, has led his team to plenty of come-from-behind victories in the final seconds of the game, when the pressure is on him to deliver.

A lot of Panthers fans can barely remember what the old Jake looked like after his last two meaningful performances, but he has yet another chance to deliver when the odds are stacked against him and his team.

If Jake comes out and has another turnover-laden performance, it will be almost impossible to label his past few games an “aberration ” and avoid calling it a “trend.”

He very well may not get another chance after another terrible outing, and so either the A.J. Feeley or Matt Moore era will begin in Carolina, as the front office scrambles to find a solution in the search for their future starting signal-caller.

While there is always a chance the Delhomme era could end much in the same way it began, with an unheralded quarterback stepping in and leading his team deep into the playoffs, the chances of this happening are slim. 

Uncertainty at the the quarterback position almost never equals success in the NFL. If Delhomme goes, that could also spell the end for head coach John Fox and general manager Marty Hurney, the ones responsible for granting Jake a contract extension after his playoff meltdown against the Cardinals.

Also, since Fox and Hurney have mortgaged their future for the present in the past two drafts, we could be looking at dark days ahead in Charlotte for the 2010 season unless the front office can put together a package to trade up for a first-round pick.

Of course none of this would be nearly as important if Delhomme comes out and redeems himself against the Falcons. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean he would have to throw three or four touchdown passes or even come out of Atlanta with a win. He just needs to show he is capable of playing mistake-free football and not putting his defense or his team in a tough position, the way he has in his past two games. 

If he can do this, it will at least be a glimmer of hope that all is not lost for the Panthers in 2009, and that Delhomme’s performances of late aren’t becoming a weekly routine.

Pretty much everyone who knows Delhomme knows that he is a great guy, one of the best in the NFL, who has never placed blame on anyone’s shoulders but his own, and never hid from criticism of the media after a terrible performance. 

We hate to see something like this happen to a great teammate and a true class act.  This isn’t how franchise quarterbacks are supposed to go out. You would like to think a guy who led the Panthers to the most success they’ve ever had would be able to go out on his own terms. 

There’s no question that Delhomme is down right now. He has pretty much lost the trust of the majority of the Panthers’ fan base, and he has already put a damper on their high hopes for back-to-back winning seasons. 

However, Delhomme has been down before, and with the trust of his teammates and coaching staff still intact, his performance against the Falcons will potentially be his greatest comeback ever.

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Michael Vick at Quarterback? No Thanks

I am having a hard time understanding most people’s perspective on Michael Vick’s imminent return to the NFL.

Countless times, I’ve heard people make such statements as: “His performance on the field will make everyone forget about his off-the-field troubles,” or “All the teams that pass on Vick will regret it midway through the season.”

After Vick participated in a private workout with the New England Patriots, and the organization stated that they were already set at the QB position, I heard one local radio personality questioning this claim; “Are they sure about that? They’re gonna be lining up to get him around Week Six.”

I couldn’t believe it, am I missing something? Is Michael Vick that good? Would I risk the potential backlash/protesting/media circus that would come with him playing quarterback for my team?

Is he worth it?

Let’s pretend for a second that the dogfighting thing didn’t happen, because that’s not what this article is about. I am not arguing or even talking about whether or not Michael Vick should be given a second chance in the NFL, this is about Vick as a football player and what he can bring to an NFL team. However, even though we are ignoring the off-the-field issues, we can’t ignore the fact that he hasn’t played football since the ’06-’07 season.

You have to take that into consideration when talking about his value and what he has to offer at this point in time.

What I really don’t understand is the talk of him returning to the league as a quarterback. What has he really done at the quarterback position throughout his career?

Great quarterbacks are ultimately measured by the win-loss column, and he led the Falcons to two winning seasons out of six and had an overall record of 23-43. He currently has a career quarterback rating of 75.5, and it has never topped 82.0 in a single season.

His highest single-season completion percentage was 56.4 percent, and for his career he has thrown 71 touchdowns to 52 interceptions, not exactly the model of efficiency.

The classic argument for Vick is that he isn’t the greatest passer but his strength is running outside of the pocket and using his speed, explosiveness, etc…I get it. It was fun to watch sometimes, and if they gave out trophies for “most fun to watch” he would have probably won his fair share.

The best rushing season of his career was the ’06-’07 season, with 1,039 yards rushing, averaging almost 65 yards a game. Pretty impressive except for the fact that he guided his team to a not so impressive 7-9 record. He’s also put the ball on the ground 55 times in his career, more than one out of every 10 times he carried the ball.

I believe ultimately Michael Vick was a “single-threat” quarterback disguised as a “dual-threat.” Once teams realized that if you could get an early lead on the Falcons, they could never climb out of the hole because Vick couldn’t carry the team down the field with his arm.

He could run all over the field, but everyone knows running the ball when you’re already down a couple touchdowns is not how you win football games. Plus, Vick always lacked the real qualities any truly successful quarterbacks should have: intensity, toughness, leadership, killer instinct, the ability to put the team on his back, etc…

Keep in mind all of this was BEFORE he took two years off from the NFL. You’re telling me that a player whose career was based on athleticism, explosiveness, speed, agility, and quickness is gonna take two years off from the grind of an NFL season and come back just as effective?

I’ll believe it when I see it.

All signs point to Vick getting signed to an NFL team in the very near future, and I think he will. I think he’ll make a decent return man or a second or third option at receiver. He may even do well in the Wildcat offense or some variation of it. 

However, if Vick returns as a quarterback, and plays just as effectively as he did two years ago (which is a long-shot) that’s still nothing to get excited about.

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