Un-Super ending sideswiped us

Un-Super ending sideswiped us
January 12
Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler
"It feels weird around here.

If you're like me, the Carolina Panthers have consumed large chunks of your weekends for the past five months. You've talked about them. Watched them. Anticipated what came next.

And now, just like that, they're gone - clobbered into oblivion by Arizona, 33-13 on Saturday night.

So all around the Carolinas, it feels like Dec.26 when you were 7 years old and none of your presents were quite as good as they had looked on TV.

People kept gathering in twos and threes Sunday and talking about the Arizona game in hushed tones, the way you speak right after a funeral. They said things like "It seemed so sudden" and "Wasn't it a shock?"

And while the end of a sports season is nowhere near as significant as a loved one's death - I don't mean to imply that, because sports simply aren't that important - January does feel a lot grayer.

The NFL's playoff system is both cool and cruel.

If things had worked out differently Saturday night, we'd be talking today about Philadelphia coming to Charlotte in six days to play at Carolina in the first NFC Championship Game to ever be held here.

Instead, the Panthers cleared out their lockers Sunday. Steve Smith planned to take his kids to school this morning. John Fox talked about looking forward to a few days off. Julius Peppers strode into an uncertain future, sounding ready to cut the cord with Carolina if necessary.

And Jake Delhomme? As I think more about Delhomme's news conference late Saturday night, following his excruciating, six-turnover performance in the loss, I keep going back to one word:

Numb.

That's what Delhomme seemed like afterward.

If you've ever been in a car wreck, do you remember how you felt just after you got out of the car?

That's what Delhomme sounded like.

Usually brimming with emotion, his voice was detached as he labeled his performance "inexcusable." Which it was.

Although that doesn't mean Delhomme should be replaced as Carolina's quarterback - he should be their starter again in September.

Delhomme laid the biggest egg of his professional life on his 34th birthday. His five interceptions constituted a historically bad performance. It wasn't just Delhomme's worst game ever. It was one of the worst playoff games ever played by any NFL quarterback.

Of course, the New York Giants' Eli Manning didn't play much better than Delhomme Sunday against Philadelphia, and suddenly the reigning Super Bowl champions were gone."
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