Delhomme Injury Worst Case Scenario

I have mixed feelings about this.  Jake's stats are misleading.  Steve Smith made two incredible plays in the Houston game that resulted in two TDs in Jake's stat column, but he did very little.  One was Steve's tip in the end zone that he caught.  The other was when he broke free from five tacklers and dashed 77 yards for a score.  I don't know what Jake's QB rating would be if it wasn't for those two plays, but last year his QB rating was only .5 higher than David Carr.  I am fully confident that David Carr can outplay last year's Delhomme, but the game against the Falcons showed Jake spreading the ball around and looking at other receivers besides Smith.  If our safeties don't play better, then it's all irrelevant anyway.  We'll see how these guys do against Garcia (who destroyed us last year with Philly) and Galloway.  Hopefully David Carr lives up to his draft-day hype of years ago.

This was the headline on a story by Darin Gantt in The Herald, Rock Hill, SC.  Below are excerpts from this article:

Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme's officially doubtful for Sunday's game against Tampa Bay, and there are doubts in some quarters about his status for the coming weeks.
When initially discussing the injury, coach John Fox said the injury "won't require surgery, it's a rehab situation."

However, one source with knowledge of the situation said the possibility of surgery down the line may be more real than the team's stance might indicate, and that there are concerns coming back too quickly could put Delhomme at risk of a greater injury.

When first discussing his elbow Monday, Delhomme referred to a problem he experienced in 2006, saying: "In camp, I strained a muscle in my forearm that bothered me a little bit. It could be something like that."

That brings into question whether the current situation is related to previous problems.

Delhomme's agent said earlier this week he wasn't commenting on the injury, referring all questions to the team.

Delhomme didn't practice Friday, the third straight day of not working, and hasn't tried to throw a football since last week's game.

I had posted a comment several days ago that I would not be surprised if Jake was basically out for the season.  Why would he come back in when not 100% and hurt the team's chances to make the playoffs?  Jake does not have the strongest throwing arm in the first place.  I think he has more class than that, as he showed in last week's game when he took himself out of the game.

Though a Carr fan, it is a shame for Jake to have to bow out because of an injury, especially when Jake was putting together the best season that he had had for a while.  Being the competitiors that both of them are, I am sure they would rather see a changing of the guard based on their play on the field.