We were using Jamal Robertson, a career special teamer, as our primary RB by the 10:00 mark in the game. Brady and Manning aren’t winning a game like that either.

And this isn’t college. You don’t just put in your youngest player to get him experience.

…he just doesn’t have the potential of a “dynasty”-level superstar QB. Thus, he’s not a Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Tom Brady, Steve Young, or even Terry Bradshaw (if you want to go that far back). He’s also a step behind (in terms of talent) to Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, and probably Drew Brees and possibly even Donovan McNabb. You also can’t compare him to John Elway or even Brett Favre (though people do call them both gunslingers).

Regardless, Jake does have the potential to be a Superbowl QB as a game manager. Someone along the lines of a Ben Roethlisberger or even Trent Dilfer. He just won’t be inducted into the Hall of Fame when his career’s over. But he has helped take us to a Superbowl. He’s a proven winner…especially in the postseason (despite the Arizona game). And he deserves to keep his starting job…for now.

However, Jake is probably on the downside of his career now. I think he’ll bounce back okay from the Tommy John surgery this season. But even so, the Panthers need to start laying out some long-term plans regarding their future franchise QB. That’s going to take 2-3 years…which is about as long as Jake’s contract will likely last (unless he agrees to less money and a backup role mentoring a new guy).

I don’t think Matt Moore (or even Josh McCown) are the long-term answer either. The Panthers either need to spend a high draft pick on a really good QB 2 or 3 years from now. Or, they need to find themselves a proven free agent QB with veteran experience who won’t break the salary cap. Or, they need to raid another team’s roster to find a promising backup entering free agency and see if they can turn him into a starter…which is exactly what we did with acquring Jake Delhomme all those years ago.

But for now, stay the course…

Jake is proven. He’s far more reliable than unreliable. His stats and the Panthers’ success over Coach Fox’s tenure demonstrate it. So, ride him a bit further until a viable replacement is available. And that last part’s important, because even as people wanted us to chase Jay Cutler or “some mystery QB who was supposedly going to save us from Jake”…the truth is that we never had a chance at landing Cutler for what Denver would have required…and there really isn’t any other QB out there who’s going to help us as much as Jake still can.

My two-cents,
—Neil

Sorry, I couldn’t vote for either of those options. Coming off a 12-4 season the Panthers are challengers int he NFC, I don’t care how last season ended. Replacing Delhomme with Moore in my opinion reduce those chances of making it to the SB. I bet if you polled the 21 other starters on the team who they want and trust to QB them they would pick Delhomme. Now is not the time to give a younger QB experience snaps beyond the preseason.