Jake Delhomme On His Playoff Flameout Last Year: ‘I think it will always bother me. In ten years from now, when I’m not playing, it’s going to bother me.’
August 17, 2009 – 6:30 am by Michael Bean
Is there anyone in the entire National Football League who must be more eager to get things going in 2009 than Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme? I mean, the last time we saw Delhomme on the field, he was single-handedly killing his team’s chances at home against the Arizona Cardinals. Delhomme threw 5 interceptions in the embarrassing home loss to the Cardinals, ending what had been a solid season for the Panthers. Delhomme joined WFNZ in Charlotte to talk about the abhorrent game he turned in last year in the playoffs, what he’s done to erase it from his memory, how he’s feeling heading in to the 2009 season and what he sees out of some of the young guys at Panthers camp.
On if the Panthers offense can be even better than it was last year:
I think we can do some very good things. With our running game, certainly the way it came on, especially the second half of the year, I think that was the big thing. We made a big emphasis after the first Arizona game about the run game. Man, we really picked up from that point on. It really did a great job the second half of the season. But I think this offense can do some good things. Certainly in the passing game with Steve and Moose and Dwayne really looks good. It’s always easy to say, everybody has somebody in camp, oh he looks good. But he looks different. And this is his third year and really looks in shape, and he’s doing a lot of good things.”
On his injured star wide receiver, Steve Smith, and whether it may not be such a bad thing that he’s unable to play or practice until at least the season opener:
“I don’t know. Knowing Steve the way that I do, he’ll come on the field in a good mood and walk off in a bad mood because he’s not out there competing. That’s just kind of the way he is. He goes out there and doesn’t kind of shy away from anything on the field. And you get hurt if you play scared. If you’re playing not to get hurt, that’s when you get hurt. So, him and Chris got tangled up, he bruised his shoulder, he’ll be just fine.”
And of course, Delhomme was asked to comment on his clunker performance in last year’s NFC Divisional Round loss to the Cardinals:
“I think it will always bother me. In ten years from now, when I’m not playing, it’s going to bother me. Because those games you don’t play well in, to me – as a competitor, as a teammate – as a teammate first, you just feel bad because you didn’t give your team a chance to win. And to me, that crushes me inside more than anything else. I’ve always prided myself on being prepared, ready to go. When I’m called upon, I’m going to come through for my guys. And that’s something that means more to me than anything in the world. And for whatever reason that night, it just didn’t happen. I would love to say I didn’t prepare for the game. Maybe I did too much? I don’t know. We had a BYE week, we started watching which teams you might play and what not. And just, I don’t know. I felt so ready to play. And obviously not. It was bad.”
Listen here to Delhomme on WFNZ in Charlotte
Tags: 2008 playoffs, Carolina Panthers, Jake Delhomme, NFC South, WFNZ, worst playoff performances in NFL history
