Even PETA Would Shoot Those Panthers

An NFL season that heard the Carolina Panthers growl ferociously all year long ended with a hardly a meow Saturday night. Those vicious, punishing, so-talented-it's-sick Arizona Cardinals (sarcasm?) came into Charlotte and intercepted the Panthers on their way to hosting the NFC Championship (get it? Intercepted. See how I did that?). In the most recent entry here on The Blue Team, I mentioned the Cardinals not being a great matchup for the Panthers because of a weakness in the secondary, but thought the Carolina defense would be motivated and the home team would prevail if they took care of the ball and were not overhyped. Instead, all of those contingencies were violated.

The seconday was horrendous, the defensive front produced little pressure, and the linebackers looked typically lost in coverage. More in-depth in my worry was that Arizona would move Fitzgerald around pre-snap (check), try and get him matched up on Richard Marshall (check), and cross him through the middle on our linebackers (and check). Warner had all day to throw the ball, which was a schematic error of collosal proportions. Pressuring a quarterback as prone to sacks, turnovers, and injury as Warner is might be the only way to beat him. I can assure you that letting him sit back and wait for a receiver to come open is not effective. This just goes to show you that the Panthers' coaches do not have a lot of confidence in the secondary in man-to-man coverage, or even just Cover 1. The few blitzes that were run when the game was still in doubt ended up with a toasted DB.

On the other side of the ball, the offense got away very quickly from running the football. Then again, it did not really have the football for much of the second quarter. Jake was just awful. Dreadful. Ghastly. Deplorable. Really all of these things. Delhomme is this type of quarterback: at the end of the year, his numbers look decent. Plus, you cannot measure his intangibles and leadership. Each year, he has 3-4 really good games (270, 2 TDs, clutch throws, etc); each year, he has 2-3 really bad games (170, 3 INTs, missing open guys). In those really good games, he leads the team to victory more often than not; in the really bad ones, he gives you NO CHANCE to win. Saturday night was one of those games that most decent NFL quarterbacks have once a year or so. Unfortunately, it was on the biggest stage thus far. He is known for trying to force the ball into coverage and locking onto a wide receiver (Smith) and he did both all night. Of course, the naysayers and Debbie Downers will spend the entire off-season whining about Delhomme, saying he needs to go. While I'm all for drafting and developing a quality quarterback, I am not for getting rid of Delhomme. Remember last year? David Carr and the white gloves? How bad the team was without its leader at QB? Until there is clearly a better/younger option, then keep Delhomme and learn to hand the ball off 40 times a game.

In closing, this game and season ended in incredibly disappointing fashion. Not to take away from the good things, but the lingering feeling is definitely "what might have been". This is the NFL, not college football, meaning two major differences exist: 1) a real champion is crowned; and 2) winning is the only expectation. And the Panthers did not win. Hopefully next season will begin, and end, with a roar.