CSR Panthers 2009 Season in Review: Q2

This is the second in a series reviewing the Panthers 2009 season as it unfolded on this blog. I've clipped key quotes from each of post-game reviews from game numbers 5 to 8 plus what I considered 'prophetic' comments from CSR members. 

Panthers 28 Bucs 21

Starting with game 5 the Panthers strung together two victories in a row to get to 2-3 with a  victory over the suddenly hapless Bucs.

Jaxon: The Carolina Panthers displayed their 'Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde' offense in Tampa Bay today with RBs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combining for 262 yards and three touchdowns. The Carolina Panthers' passing offense was not all successful however, with an anemic game that only managed to gain 65 yards with QB Jake Delhomme throwing two interceptions and WR Steve Smith managing to catch just a single ball for four yards.

This game was clearly a victory for the Panthers running game as they continued their gashing of the Bucs run defense. This game essentially started the 'run and don't pass' mantra we adopted until Delhomme was injured. Member Southtunnell summed it up:

Southtunnell: To have a strong passing game you need

1. A star QB
or
2. A plethora of receiving options
or
3. A creative offensive mind calling plays

We have none of these. One star receiver isn't going to carry our passing game. I'm afraid this will be our achilles heel this year... leading to the end of the Fox/Delhomme era. Meaning next year we will probably have new coaches, QBs and possibly receiver(s).

The OL got my vote for game ball.

More from BigDavis:

BigDavis: But for their road grading on the last drive - a thing of beauty and a joy to behold - we couldn't have run up those gaudy rushing totals. BTW, wait til you see how we jump up in the league rankings of rushing yardage - from 28th up to #8. Great jobs by the OL!

In prior years this victory would have meant more but the Bucs struggled so much early they were clearly in a steep decline. So in the end despite winning this win did not instill any confidence the Panthers could turn their season around. That hopefully would come the following week when the only 2008 team with a losing record came to town. Instead though the Panthers played one of their worst games in a couple season as the Bills left with a 20-9 victory.

Bills 20 Panthers 9

Jaxon: The Buffalo Bills came into Charlotte and left with a gift-wrapped victory courtesy of  Panthers QB Jake Delhomme. I still can't come up with much to say about this game that doesn't lead back to Delhomme. All three of his INT's were the result of poor passes, in all cases the passes were overthrown, his signature error. If Delhomme is more careful with the ball the Bills put 6 points on the board today. Still enough for this impotent offense but that is not all Jake's fault. He is joined by OC Jeff Davidson who called a terrible game for the offense. Sure they did put up plenty of yards but I'm referring to some of the poor calls in key situations. The 4th down run up the middle that got stuffed comes to mind.

In addition to the continued poor play of QB Jake Delhomme this game also gave renewed criticism to OC Jeff Davidson who continued to call for deep throws that rookie S Jarius Byrd feasted on. Then there was the awful 4th and 1 call that essentially sealed the Panthers fate on this day. Tater sums it up:

Tater596: The 4th and 1 call was just bad. I agree we should have gone for it, but there should have been an off-tackle run, or maybe even an end-around. The moment you put Stewie in the backfield on 4th and 1, the defense knows we are going to try and pound it up the gut. Why not fake the handoff and force the big pile but then give the ball off on a reverse or end-around to Smitty?

We also started to hear more and more fans calling for 'more', that is back-up QB Matt Moore:

BWSmith25 : Worst case scenario - Moore comes in and plays just as poorly as Jake, and we still lose. But, at least we will know if Moore is ready and able to lead this team next season.

Put Moore in for the rest of the year and give him game experience - we play a lot of good teams this year, he can learn a lot from these games.

It's time to think long term, not 2009 season.

How prophetic was BW at this point? Hindsight is always 20-20 but I can't help but think if Moore had been inserted in this game the season might have turned for the better and that 'future' he mentions would instead have been 2009. As it stood the Panthers fell to 2-4 and 4 games back from the division lead.

Game 7 ended up being the highlight of the year for the Panther defense as they played arguably their best all around game of 2009 in a victory over the Cardinals:

Panthers 34 Cardinals 21    Highlights

James the Aussie: It was all just a little bit of history repeating, but not in the way most people would have thought. The Carolina Panthers intercepted Kurt Warner five times and forced him to fumble once in a performance that mirrored Jake Delhomme's playoff collapse in 2008.

In a game that wasn't truly as close as the score shows, the Panthers played like a team possessed, spurned by the embarrassment in the playoffs last season the team turned this game into a statement; making mockery of the #1 run defense in the NFL by rushing for a team total 270 yards and two touchdowns, after Arizona allowed a meager 67.5 yards average in their first six games.

This game also again featured the Panthers running game as they shredded the Cardinals then-#1 ranked rush defense:

This was a true Carolina Panthers' football game. Running the ball 44 times and attempting only 15 passes allowed the Panthers' strengths to flourish while minimizing their weakest points. It's tough to know who a game ball deserves to go to with Julius Peppers, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart all having stellar games, but in reality they performed up to the level we're accustomed to from these players. In this writer's mind the game ball belongs to FS Sherrod Martin who stepped into the game and made a major impact with two interceptions.

Bleed in Blue gave a nice summary:

Bleed_in_Blue:  I voted D. Will for the game ball, man asked for the ball (quoting the commentators here) in meetings so he could take pressure off of Jake and he delivered. Its not too often a player comes in makes a statement like that and delivers.

Peppers comes in with a real strong if not even performance to D. Will, I mean he played like the beast he is, showcasing skills that are well worth the cool million he played for tonight. I think he may have been serious about stepping up and playing like man, and I don't think he's done.

Martin should get the starting job and that would be better then a game ball, he out played Godfrey by a landslide the spot is now open if nothing else.

Stewart was a machine tonight great play from a great back. (did I miss it or was the "matrix dance" missing?)

An "other" the O-Line great running, good pass protection, and not too many false starts.

Lastly I was rough on Delhomme this week (as with most every week this season) and I questioned Fox's "evaluation" of him for starting this week. And I couldn't be happier to eat some crow right now. I still believe that if Moore isn't the answer then we need to address the QB position in the offseason, and that Delhomme needs to be pushed for the job. Hopefully the coaches don't change the game plan, and we may just get end the season with a winning record.

Bleed rightfully called for a QB evaluation that finally resolved itself this month. With the Panthers now sitting at 3-4 they had a chance to right the ship with a victory over the Saints. All seemed good after the Panthers staked a 17-6 lead at the half but then the wheels fell off:

Saints 30 Panthers 20 

The Carolina Panthers looked like a team not ready to be leading 17-6 going into halftime in Sunday's game at the New Orleans Superdome. A dynamic Panthers offense looked aenimic in the second period failing to muster anything more than a field goal as the Saints scored 24 unanswered points on the hapless Panthers...

Even after a Jake Delhomme fumble the Panthers remained in the game for one final two minute drill starting at the Carolina two yard line. On the first play of the drive DeAngelo Williams fumbled the ball and it was recovered for a touchdown. This play sealed the Panthers fate on Sunday. The Panthers were two different teams on Sunday, there was the first half team who was dynamic, opportunistic and hungry, much like the Panthers were against Arizona, then there were the second half Panthers who looked remarkably similar to the Panthers who played Buffalo; it was tough to watch.

This game again featured questionable play-calling when it matter most:

Bwsmith25: No way we lose this game had he called run plays with D-Will when it was 2nd & 8 with 4:00 to go in the game on the NO 43. Throwing deep two straight times and setting up a 4th & 8 killed momentum. We were down by 3 points then - sensible play calling could have led to us tying or taking the lead, but once again Forrest Gump calls stupid plays, and it killed us.

Though many were berating the defense for giving up 30 points in hindsight that turned out to be pretty good against a potent, SB winning Saints offense.

D-Ranged: I for one think our defense played very well.. In the second half, when Davidson was ruining our offense, they kept us in the game by holding the Saints to field goals with few touchdowns. That;s a task in itself when you to consider what the Saints have been hailed as lately.

I lay the blame squarely upon one man, that being Jeff Davidson. I don't care if we win every single game from here on out, I want to see that man go. He is an absolute horror to Carolina fans. Why on earth he tried for those deep balls I don't know. It defies any logic that I can muster up.

At that point I honestly thought we were in position to win, and I still believe such. DeAngelo Williams was having a great day, not every play was a huge gain but he was gaining enough that, over all, he was moving chains. Averaging over 7 yards per carry, how do you only give Williams the ball 21 times when Delhomme is passing 30? Stewart wasn't having a great day but Sutton did well on the three carries he got, averaging 5 yards per carry, why not utilize him more so then they did?

Point being Delhommme should have never attempted 30 passes. Of course, it's easy to say now that the game is over but, Panther fans have been saying that for far too long now.

I still believe that Carolina could have easily chewed the clock down to well within one minute on the ground and punched in the TD to go up by four, instead of wasting multiple deep balls with Delhomme. All our defense would have had to do then is prevent a long ball from New Orleans as the clock killed itself. If I remember correctly, they were nearly out of time outs as was.

Why the continued deep balls that were not working? Looking for a miracle that never came? As it was the Panthers fell to 3-5 and dug a hole they could not recover from.

Highlights can be found here.