Published: Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 / Updated: Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 07:26 AM

Delhomme helps lead Panthers to victory with effective no-huddle attack

CHARLOTTE -- Sometimes, when you don't know what else to do, you just offer one up and hope for the best.

So needing a win to save their season, the Carolina Panthers went to the air.

Amazingly, it worked.

The guy who spent the first six weeks firing Scud missiles had laser-guided precision all of a sudden, as quarterback Jake Delhomme threw for two touchdowns and no interceptions in the Panthers' 28-19 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

Delhomme was 15 of 24 for 195 yards and the two scores to Steve Smith (Delhomme's second and third touchdowns of the year to wide receivers), and the Panthers ran enough and held on late to even the season series with the Falcons.

Not bad for a quarterback and a team that looked lost, sitting 2-4 after losing at home to Buffalo, when the coach openly questioned Delhomme's hold on the job.

Since then, the Panthers have played their best three games of football all year, and Delhomme hasn't had an interception in any of them.

“I had fun; I've had fun the last three weeks,” a relieved Delhomme said.

“I had to say ‘the heck with it' and keep swinging. The last few weeks have really been fun —fun on the practice field. That was nice out there today.”

The mood was darkened only by the fact that left tackle Jordan Gross was lost — almost certainly for the season, although the team won't say — with a broken right ankle. It is the second high-profile injury in as many weeks, after linebacker Thomas Davis blew out his knee last week.

But the fact that the Panthers found their passing game overshadowed that loss for a moment.

Not only did the coaches let Delhomme throw — unlike the last two weeks when he walked in with one in the chamber and none to spare — they let him make his own decisions.

Starting with their second possession, the Panthers went to a rare no-huddle look, and the results were immediate.

It put the play-calling in Delhomme's hands, and the onus on a passing game that has done nothing to inspire confidence this season.

“I think some of those things are starting to work their way through, and we felt a comfort level today,” Panthers coach John Fox said. “It's always been there. Dropping back to pass was pretty interesting a month ago.”

Asked if Delhomme was simply more comfortable in that setting, Fox replied: “Jake has operated a lot better over the last three weeks.”

Delhomme's passer rating as a Panther was 83.7 entering Sunday, but he had only been over that number once this year. That was in Arizona, when he threw just one long pass, then began the recent trend of playing not to lose with leads. On Sunday, his 115.8 rating was his highest since last year's regular-season finale, when his nightmare slide began with a five-pick day in the playoffs against Arizona and continued through the first six games of this year.

That stretch included 13 picks. “I couldn't blame them,” Delhomme said of his doubters, which included many co-workers. “Pretty much every time I was touching it, I was turning it over.”

But the confidence that was eroding — his own and that of those around him — was the bigger problem.

“I think it's very important,” Smith said when asked about the game's effect on Delhomme. “We all can have a nice smile and mask on, but we all want to do well and be a part of the solution, a part of helping whatever it may be, whatever your job is.

“For a guy to come out here and contribute in a positive way, I think anybody would be lying saying it doesn't matter, because it does. It builds confidence.”

Delhomme mentioned several to the strategy, but getting veteran wideout Muhsin Muhammad back after a two-week absence with a knee injury was among them. Muhammad finished with six catches for 91 yards, again looking like a guy who could be a factor.

Along with Smith, that gave Delhomme two wideouts who know both the X and Y positions, meaning they could run either one. Along with interchangeable tight ends — who could plug in as fullbacks on the fly — it gave the Panthers a set of personnel who knew what to do and when to do it.