He’s decent. Given the salary cap, the Panthers were not going to be able to make enough of a move to be a difference. A team cannot have a superstar WR, a great running game, an exceptional Defense, good Special Teams AND a top-end QB – at least not for long. I’d take an improvement in Defense.

As for Jake – put a copy of Madden in his hands, and teach him pre-snap and post-snap reads, what a TE looks like.

After a season in which we had one of the easier schedules in the league, we now are faced with the 2nd hardest schedule in the league. Jake cannot possibly have games like he had against Oakland and Kansas City and expect us to win again. If after facing this schedule we still win and make it to the playoffs then Jake will have answered a lot of his detractors. If, however, despite an elite running game and hopefully improved defense we miss the playoffs with, say, another 7-9 record once again, what are the Panthers going to do? We still will have Jake locked away for another 4 or 5 years and he’s only getting older. Will we just hope for easier schedules and go back to the winning record one year, losing record the next? IF Jake proves to be the major defeciency in our team, I see no way of us being able to rectify it for a few years.

And if people think that playing a hard schedule is an excuse for a mediocre season, let me say that the schedule doesn’t get any easier in the playoffs. So how can you possibly expect to win the Super Bowl if you can’t beat elite teams in the regular season. The Steelers had the hardest schedule in the NFL and practically waltzed there way to another Super Bowl championship.

I hope MP is right, and Jake’s play will improve after another year removed from surgery.

…I still think he deserves another chance to show what he has or no longer has. Jake has been a solid player for the Panthers and an excellent teammate to his peers. He gave/gives it his best whether his best turned out good or bad.

Jake had an awful game against the Raiders last season, but the Raiders had a pretty good secondary. He then had a worse game against the Cards in the playoffs, it happened to be his last game, giving fans a bad taste in their mouth that was to linger on, which is why I believe he has taken so much heat. If that game wasn’t his last game, if he had played a few more good ones after, he would have still taken some heat over it, but not nearly as much.

Contrary to what many Panther fans believe, Jake didn’t play that poorly last season. He had a few bad games, one extremely terrible, but he had good games too. Jake’s QB rating for last season was 84.7, that was better than his 2003 season where it was 80.6. Jake’s QB rating last season was almost as good as Donovan McNabbs’ whose was 86.4. As a matter of fact, Jake and McNabb have similar career QB ratings. Jake’s career QB rating is 85.1 and McNabb’s is 85.9.

 I’m not suggesting Jake is almost as good as McNabb, McNabb is far better in other categories, most notable in his amount of TDs compared to Ints, but Jake is comparable in many other areas.

Jake did play awful in his last game, but I think it’s being blown out propotion because it was the last game he played and a playoff game. I still believe in Jake, at least more than I don’t, but I could understand how some fans have lost confidence in him too. Even if I didn’t believe in Jake anymore like some fans, I would still be giving him my support this season because I believe he has earned it.

This is the time that Panther fans can show Jake and his teammates what they are made of. Every fan I know wants his team to sign loyal players to their team, I imagine these players would also like some loyal fans too. I’m not suggesting that this loyalty has to be shown year after year when a player isn’t playing good enough to keep, but at least longer than a couple of bad games followed by a terrible one, especially when that player has given his team as much as Jake has.

…as the sole reason why the panthers lost against the Cards in the playoffs, this following article explains it better than I could.

“That was no more evident than in Carolina’s embarrassing 33-13 home loss to Arizona in the divisional round of the playoffs.

In that game, Larry Fitzgerald burned the Panthers for 166 yards and a 29-yard touchdown, while the Cardinals amassed 145 yards on the ground. Yes, Jake Delhomme had a terrible game, but it wasn’t helped any by the fact that the Cardinals could do whatever they wanted to when they had the ball.

The defensive unit is lucky Jake petered out like he did, because that shifted much of the blame off of their shotty performance."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/188151-panthers-playbook-plans-for-consistency-on-offense-overhaul-on-defense

Jakes fault. Our team is and has been notorious for not showing up for games. Seriously. How many times has there been a game we could have won, but some players forgot that it was a game instead of a scrim. I can think of the first Tampa game, the games vs Detroit and Oakland, the last game vs the Cards. The first half of the Atlanta game is a prime example. We didn’t show up and spotted them 17 points. We ended up losing by 17.

Only 5 teams had fewer receptions by TE’s. My contention is that Jake’s INT rate would drop if he forced it to Smith less, and actively looked to the other options. Maybe that’s the difference of a game or two.

Was Jake’s performance good enough that the Panthers missed the top NFC seed by a wind-blown missed Field Goal? Absolutely!

Do I think that they can repeat that performance without some improvement from Jake (and a lot from the Defense)? No.

If I wasn’t drooling maybe I could do better. : D But one thing I’d like to say is, most of the time, when Delhomme forces it to Smith, Smith makes the play. Whenever I play backyard football, I’m the best guy out there. At receiver, whoever is at QB knows if they put it close to me, I will make a play. Now sometimes, they throw it bad, or the defender just makes a great play. It’s like that with Jake and Steve. Steve can and will get the ball a majority of the time, the Green Bay catch, the TD vs New Orleans the first time, 38 yard catch to put us in field goal range the last NO game, TD in the second TB game. both TD’s vs Arizona, the list goes on and on. Now the one hole in my analogy is I’m a six foot guy playing with guys that only come up to my shoulders. But the result is generally the same.

The Panthers should actually let the other QBs on the team compete for the starting spot. This anointing Jake the starter before the season ever starts is annoying and quite frankly just stupid. Matt Moore had a pretty decent stretch when given the opportunity at the end of the ‘07 season. Even if he is better than Jake I don’t think we would ever know because he won’t get a chance as long as Fox is in love with Jake.

Also, Steve Smith is an absolute beast of a receiver but come on man. Jake hardly gives the other guys a second thought. Yes, he has come down with some incredible catches but stop throwing in triple coverage. Take the 4 yard dump to the TE and give him a chance to do something with the ball. Remember Rasario? Yeah, he actually plays and can catch the ball. Why are we content with 3 or 4 yards and a pile of dust from the running game but regularly going for the bomb in the passing game (or so it seems anyway)? I know you have to stretch the field but geeze, if they’re playing bracket coverage with a third DB on that side of the field there is probably someone else on the field wide freaking open.

I’m not saying get rid of Jake but at least make him battle it out in camp. Give the other guys a shot. Heck, if all else the backups hopefully get better in case Jake does go down.

I know some of this was already stated but just felt like ranting once I saw this going. Ahhh, I feel better now.

I have to whole heartedly agree with Tater596, Jake’s inconsistency kills us. And we never know which Jake we will get. The Detroit game was a prime example of the Panthers winning despite Jake. It’s hard for a wideout to be productive(aside from Smitty) if they have to chase almost every one of the few balls that come their way. Jake is an average quarterback with an average arm. With that said, we are stuck for now. The backups are just that, backups. I don’t see either one winning over the starting spot. I just hope that our running game and our defense will be good enough to keep Jake from having to make plays this season. Besides it is tough to be above average at all aspects of the game, right. So let’s go Panthers!