Panthers pass game suffers without big plays

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- Though it has been a sore spot all season long, Carolina Panthers coach John Fox said Monday he didn't think his passing game was a problem during the 30-20 loss at New Orleans on Sunday.

Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme got through his second straight game without an interception, but there weren't many dynamic plays in that phase, at least until the desperate and too-late march downfield in the waning moments. It's the latest in a constant struggle for the Panthers in the air, but Fox said he didn't think it was hopeless.

“The same things we did a month ago to get better in our running game,” Fox said when asked what could be done. “Just continue to work at it, and do everything we can do get better. We had some big plays — obviously not enough — but we had some big run plays. We just weren't able to capitalize when we got down there (in the red zone).”

Delhomme finished 17-of-30 for 201 yards, but he was 9-of-18 for 139 yards in the fourth quarter. That left receivers Steve Smith (four catches for 64 yards) and Dwayne Jarrett (4-30) nonfactors for most of the game, which allowed the Saints to slow the Panthers by loading up the box to stop the run.

“We need to get more dangerous on offense,” left tackle Jordan Gross said after the game. “It's kind of the same song,” Gross said. “We need to do better in the passing game. I know people are preparing for our running game and we need to counter it up with our passing game. We need to get Steve the ball more and D.J. and our tight ends.”

Running the ball is fine, it's what the offense is built upon. But the play-action threat has clearly diminished. Any way you slice it, the Panthers simply aren't getting the ball downfield the way they need to.

The Panthers averaged just 4.47 yards per first-down play, which ranks 29th in the league. While that number includes both run and pass plays, it also indicates that they're not airing it out much on early downs.

Delhomme has just 17 pass plays of 20 yards or longer, which is on pace for the second-lowest total of his career. Other than the 30 he had in the dysfunctional 2006 campaign, he has had at least 44 such plays each season he has started.

Also, he's 21st in the NFL in yards per pass attempt (6.62 yards per), usually one of the most true indicators of his success.

A year ago, he was fourth in the league at 7.94 yards per attempt. The difference doesn't sound like much, but over the course of a season, it points to the lack of downfield opportunities which allow teams to collapse their defense to stop the run the way the Saints did Sunday.

After all, 130 rushing yards in the first half gave way to a 52-yard slumber in the second in part because the Saints never honored the passing game.

“I'm confident that we can get better,” Fox said. “We've got the personnel we've got. That's not any kind of a negative comment, it's just the way it is. New Orleans has got who they've got, and Atlanta's got who they've got. So we've just got to get better.

“I think we had a good formula and a good plan. At the end of the day we had three fumbles that we lost — one in the passing game and two in the run game. I thought that was probably the difference in a close game. It really didn't have a whole lot to do with the pass game.”

NO LONGER BEST — The Panthers dropped from first to ninth in pass defense. Funny what allowing 330 yards through the air will do for you.

Of that total, the Saints threw for 190 in the second half, and 117 of those on two plays in the third quarter which turned the game around. Cornerback Chris Gamble was in the vicinity on both, but didn't come up with a play on either.

Asked what the Saints did in particular on those plays, Fox shrugged.

“No, other than we played a pretty good offense that had a lot of big plays against a lot of people,” Fox said. “We needed to eliminate them, and we weren't quite able to.”

Asked specifically about Gamble's involvement, Fox said: “There were a lot of people around. People rushing the passer, people covering the receivers. Overall, it just didn't work out for our side.”

SMALL WONDER — Even though the Panthers lacked a fullback yesterday (and the Mackenzy Bernardeau experiment blew up in their faces), Fox said he was pleased with the job 5-foot-8 Tyrell Sutton did filling in. Fox began his discussion of the rookie running back's work by calling it “terrific,” but then tempered his words.

“I thought he had a decent run, caught a decent pass out of the backfield, and blocked well,” Fox said. “He's a guy that works hard and knew what he was doing. He looked to be dependable and reliable. I'm not saying he would ideally be our every-down fullback. I'm saying he was adequate (Sunday).”

EXTRA POINT — Fox was looking for silver linings when asked to assess his team midway through the season.

“We're halfway. We've got half the season left,” he said. “We were 1-3 in the first quarter; we were 2-2 in the second quarter. The upside of that is there is improvement. There is no question to get to that record we'll take a one-game-at-a-time approach.

“We've got a very good Atlanta team coming to town. Then we've got to turn around and play the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night shortly after that. No different than any team right now. The team we played yesterday is kind of out in front of everybody and then there is the rest.

“We've got half the season left, half the race left. We'll define where the body of work is after 16 (games). Nobody comes and rescues you. We've got to man up and get better.”