Refusal to air it out does Panthers no favors

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- The Carolina Panthers have a problem at the moment, and it's bigger than any injury, and bigger than a 3-5 record.

The problem is they are taking half-steps, and that's an issue because those never really get you anywhere.

Two weeks ago, I wrote the prudent play was to sit quarterback Jake Delhomme prior to the Arizona game, primarily to let him collect himself. The idea wasn't built upon the populist “fire somebody” rants of the moment, rather the reality that he's the closest thing to an answer at quarterback that the team has, and they needed to protect him mostly from himself.

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Instead, the Panthers let him play — sort of.

Delhomme has been on the field the last two weeks in body only, because the game plans for those haven't reflected the spirit or the abilities he has brought to the position the last six years.

And while it got the Panthers a win in Arizona, and nearly one in New Orleans, it has really gotten them nowhere fast.

Save for about four throws, it's true what some say that Matt Moore, or A.J. Feeley, couldn't have done any worse. Because plans built to protect might suit some, but they run counter to what Delhomme has done his entire career.

You don't know any more now than two weeks ago whether Delhomme is going to push through this funk, or whether it's a symptom of a bigger disease. That's because the Panthers still haven't let him play his game, the one that has worked out pretty well in the past.

As bad as he looked in the first six games, you still can't dismiss the previous six years of evidence. Over his career, he has won a bunch of games, and he has been at worst an average to an above-average quarterback. He's a guy with a specific skill set (great leader, good arm on deep throws, no mobility) that fit perfectly with what they wanted to do.

Paired with a receiver whose skills were both transcendent and complementary, it was a good fit for a long time.

But at the moment, neither of them look good. And at least in the case of Steve Smith, you can see it. After all, Smith wasn't yelling at Delhomme after he was hit out of bounds in the second quarter Sunday, and it didn't take much of a lip reader to detect the nature of his anger.

You have a quarterback who throws deep, and a receiver who goes deep, and at the moment they're both being forced to wade in the shallow end.

For his career, Delhomme averages 7.29 yards per pass attempt. This year, it's 6.62. Doesn't sound like much, that two-thirds of a yard. But those two feet per attempt are the difference between a passing game with teeth and one without.

That's why the Panthers offense looks so out of sync. Statistically and thematically, it's beginning to resemble the full-blown dysfunction of 2006. You remember, when the addition of wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson looked good on the surface but never quite worked, and left no one smiling by the end of the year (except Johnson, who got some nice parting gifts).

It's similar in that respect to the body language of the moment, if not the spoken words.

Delhomme looks more and more confused as to what he's supposed to be doing, and that erodes his most valuable commodity, his leadership. Smith looks more and more detached — which with him is worse than angry — and that's good for nobody.

That's why the current offensive tip-toeing is death for the Panthers. They're not all the way anything, and as a result, they're nothing at all.

It's great that the coach can stand up in a press conference and declare that Delhomme is his guy, but the actions have to match the words.

Since the Buffalo loss, they haven't, to the benefit of no one.

The team is 3-5, on the verge of becoming completely irrelevant if it's not already. The best offensive player is moping, the lead dog looks neutered, and a not-long-ago-good offense is crumbling around them.

If you're going to go down, you should at least go down playing your game, and knowing that these safe little half-steps are more dangerous than anything you can do.