When I was a kid, my dad didn’t like to repeat himself. If he ever had to do that, then.jpg?resize=90%2C68)
usually something bad followed – and “timeout” wasn’t an option.
I kind of feel like my dad at this point, having to repeat myself behind the (4-7) Carolina Panthers’ 17-6 loss to the (5-6) New York Jets.
After the Miami game, I mentioned that running back DeAngelo Williams, the best offensive weapon for the Panthers, needed more carries. Technically he got more against the Jets, but only an additional three carries for a total of 16 rushing opportunities.
Sure Williams struggled in the first half (11 carries for 29 yards) behind a reconfigured offensive line (left tackle Jordan Gross went down against Miami last week), but you knew at some point he was going to pop one if the Panthers kept pounding the ball.
Carolina was down only 11 points through the end of the third quarter, yet Williams got only five more carries in the second half while the game was put in the hands of quarterback Jake Delhomme once again. And no one should have been surprised by the results – four picks (a career high 18 total interceptions) and no touchdowns.
You had to know it was going to be one of those games when the fluke play happened on Carolina’s opening drive. You know the play where Steve Smith decided to zig while Delhomme thought he was going to zag and threw a pass that hit Smith’s foot and it bounced into the sure hands of Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, who ran it back 67 yards for a touchdown.
That play alone set the tone for how this game would go.
With the Tampa Bay Bucs coming to the Qcity next Sunday it would be a great time for coach John Fox to shake some things up. He is considering a quarterback change, according to media reports. But just in case Delhomme is back under center (and no one should be surprised if he is) maybe coach Fox could take a play out of the Jets playbook and devise a secret coach-quarterback code to better manage Delhomme’s passing problems.
The results of this system between Jets coach Rex Ryan and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez weren’t great, but they weren’t terrible either. Sanchez still threw an interception, but the Panthers got only 3 points out of it. For the game he was an efficient 13-17 for 154 yards and a quarterback rating of 79. More importantly, New York won the game.
Delhomme, on the other hand, was 14-34 passing for 130 yards and a horrible 12.7 quarterback rating. Think about it coach Fox…well, please think about changing quarterbacks first.
Damon Ford is a public relations professional who has worked in the public and private sectors in Charlotte. He is 5-6 in predicting Panthers games.
