The Carolina Panthers are looking to rebound after coming up short in the post season in 2008. After finishing the regular season with a 12-4 record, things looked pretty good for the Cat Pack rolling into the post season.
When a team goes undefeated during the regular season at home, getting a home playoff game seemed like a sure win, especially against the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals, led by Kurt Warner, looked to shut down the Panthers.
All season, quarterback Jake Delhomme set the team’s morale, which was good, for most of the season, but when he had a bad game, the Panthers crumbled. In the final game of the season, Delhomme had only one touchdown pass to Steve Smith, late in the game, which limited the Panthers’ scoring ability.
For Delhomme, not finding the receivers wasn’t his only problem. The star QB had 6 turnovers, including five fumbles and an interception. The turnovers committed by Delhomme alone led to a 33-13 blowout Cardinals win, thwarting the Panthers’ quest for a trip to the Super Bowl.
In order for the Panthers to be a prime contender in the post-season, and make a return trip to the Super Bowl, Delhomme is going to have to take better care of the ball. After being with the Panthers for five seasons, “Jake the Snake” is looking to return for a more promising season.
With most of the starting line-up returning, there’s no shortage of talent to be found on the team. With Muhsin Muhammad and Steve Smith returning as wide receivers, and Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams, there certainly is enough talent on the field to complete the job.
The real task is getting Jake to set a good morale for team, and protecting the ball. When training camp begins, Delhomme will almost certainly be looking for better offensive coverage, as well as finding other ways to feed the ball to Smith and Muhammad.
With the mistakes of last year in mind, the Panthers are set to kickoff the pre-season on Monday, Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. against the New York Giants, and are surely hungry for that post-season brawl, the road to the Super Bowl.
-- Chris Siers
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment