Panthers Team Report
Inside Slant
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Jake Delhomme is well liked in the Carolina locker room.
That's why his teammates were quick to poke fun at him on the flight home from Oakland after last week's clunker against the Raiders in which Delhomme threw four interceptions and completed just 7-of-27 passes for 72 yards.
Some teammates joked that Delhomme should earn "AFC Defensive Player of the Week" after throwing four balls to the Raiders.
"It seemed like I could have won that award," Delhomme said matter-of-factly while poking fun at himself. "Hey, they're not afraid to tease me."
What made his performance a little easier to swallow - and allowed for the jokes to roll - is the Panthers managed to win pretty handily 17-6 behind a strong defensive effort led by defensive end Julius Peppers, the NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
"After you get a win it's easy to joke about stuff like that," Peppers said with a wide smile. "We can laugh about it now. Jake had a great day today (in practice). He's looking good, so we expect him back."
And, as tight end Jeff King said of Delhomme, who has a reputation as quite a chop-buster in the locker room, "He dishes it out a lot more than he takes it, so he can take it a little bit."
Delhomme isn't too concerned about what he calls "a rough day."
Nor is his head coach John Fox.
When Fox was told some fans are calling for Delhomme to be benched with the Panthers at 7-2 and on a three-game winning streak, he just smiled and said, "It never ceases to amaze me - all aspects. I think we are a much better team with Jake than without Jake at quarterback."
How soon people forget that Delhomme has won 49 of the 79 games he's started for the Panthers, including a 5-2 mark in the playoffs.
What's nice for Delhomme is this week the Panthers host the 0-9 Detroit Lions, a team that ranks 29th in the league in pass defense and is giving up nearly 31 points per game. Obviously he needs to play better than he did last week if the Panthers are to make any noise in the playoffs - and nobody knows that better than Delhomme.
He said the problem in the Raiders game wasn't a matter of poor decision-making on his part, but rather poor execution.
Of his four interceptions, he would have looked a different way on only one of those passes, a second-quarter interception where he missed tight end Dante Rosario coming free.
"There is one decision I wish I had back. One. The rest, I just didn't make good throws," said Delhomme. "If I felt like I was making some awful decisions, I would be like, 'What are you doing?'"
The bottom line is this: Delhomme had a bad day at the office, just like we all do from time to time.
The reason he's still starting is a testament to how well he's responded to those hiccups.
"Certainly it wasn't a good day," Delhomme said. "I can laugh about it now because we were able to win. But certainly you have to learn from it. And then you have to move on. There are other days when you feel like you can do a lot right -- and those are the days when you better not feel like you've arrived because you're going to get humbled."
And humbled he was last Sunday.
"I have been in a situation where I have played some bad games and you have to move on," Delhomme said. "You want to get back out there and play as quickly as possible. You want to get back out there and play ball and get a better taste in your mouth."
SERIES HISTORY: 5th regular-season meeting. Panthers lead series 3-1. In the last meeting on Oct. 16, 2005 at Ford Field, Chris Weinke came in for Jake Delhomme and threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl with 32 seconds left to give the Panthers a 21-20 win.
Notes and Quotes
--Defensive end Julius Peppers was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday for his performance this past Sunday in Carolina's 17-6 win over the Oakland Raiders.
Peppers had a remarkable game with seven tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and tipped pass.
"It feels good. It's a great honor," Peppers said. "It was a good week for me individually, but it speaks to what we're doing as a team. I was the one getting the sacks and the (big) plays, but it came off the other guys working and helping too."
As a team, the Panthers sacked the Raiders five times.
"We knew it was going to be a situation where we wanted to get most of our pressure with our front four - particularly our ends," head coach John Fox said. "I thought we had pretty steady pressure around the corner by everybody, but Julius is special."
Peppers, however, wasn't altogether pleased with the defense's effort.
"It was a good day production-wise for me individually," Peppers said. "As a team, I don't know - we gave up a lot of yards rushing and passing. We didn't give up a lot of points, and that's the main thing that counts, but as far as yards and getting off the field, we gave up a little bit more than we should."
The game was Peppers' first three-sack effort since Nov. 13, 2006 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when he had three sacks in a 24-10 win on Monday Night Football.
Peppers is the second Panthers defensive player to earn an honor from the league in the last 10 days. Linebacker and fellow defensive captain Jon Beason was selected as NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October.
--Middle linebacker Jon Beason is fourth in the league in tackles with 79 and Peppers called him a "lock" for the Pro Bowl.
"Just from an assignment standpoint, I'm making a lot less mistakes than last year," Beason said. "That's one good thing about it. For me, I just try to go out and play hard every down. I think as a unit we're doing that. We've got guys giving great effort."
--Mark Jones was originally signed by the Panthers as a stopgap at returner until Ryne Robinson returned from a knee injury.
But when Robinson wound up on injured reserve, Jones suddenly became permanent.
He's made the Panthers look like geniuses for picking him up off the scrap heap after he was cut by San Diego. Jones is now sixth in the NFL in punt return average (12.3) and would be third in kickoff return average (27.8) but he doesn't yet have enough attempts.
"That's what I like for it to be," Jones said. "Coming into this I was just returning punts and unfortunately Jon (Stewart) got hurt and allowed me to come in and I was just here to help out. That's how I came in, and I was told once you get your hand on the steering wheel, don't let go. That's my mentality right now."
--Coach John Fox is determined his team won't take the Lions lightly.
"As I'd remind everybody we don't look at records; we look at the tape and watch the matchups," Fox said. "Each week takes on its own different matchups and personalities, so we're going to have to play well to win just like last week we had to play well enough to win and we did. It wasn't in all three phases. This week is going to take on a whole different personality. Hopefully, we're just getting better as a football team and at the end of the day that's what we're concerned about."
BY THE NUMBERS: 5-0 - Panthers record at home this season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "You don't want to fall into that trap of looking at that 0-9 record. If you look at the tape, they've been in most of the games. They're playing good football, they're just not getting the wins. You've got to take them seriously and prepare for them like you would for anyone else." -- Panthers DE Julius Peppers on facing 0-9 Detroit.
Strategy and Personnel
Last week, coach John Fox chose D.J. Hackett over Dwayne Jarrett as his No. 3 receiver, which was a bit of a surprise given Jarrett had played better in recent weeks.
The Panthers regularly keep four receivers active - Steve Smith, Muhsin Muhammad, (returner) Mark Jones and either Jarrett or Hackett. Hackett missed three games before the bye week with a knee injury, but he returned last week to catch one ball for 13 yards. That play led to a touchdown. He didn't do much else in the game.
PLAYER NOTES
--RB Jonathan Stewart will play Sunday.
--C Ryan Kalil (ankle) wasn't able to play much Sunday against Oakland and had to leave the game. Look for him to miss this week's game. He might have rushed back too soon.
--C Geoff Hangartner will likely start this week in place of injured Ryan Kalil.
--WR D.J. Hackett remains the team's No. 3 receiver.
--DT Darwin Walker practiced on a limited basis Wednesday. He suffered a neck injury due to a car accident and has sat out the last two games.
GAME PLAN: Look for Carolina's offense to bounce back strong this week after a clunker last week in Oakland. They should be able to move the ball both through the air and on the ground. The Panthers will look to DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to run the football quite a bit against the league's 31st-ranked run defense. But don't rule out plenty of long passes either as the Lions are 29th in pass defense. Regardless, the Panthers should put up plenty of points at home against a team allowing 30.8 points per game.
Defensively, the Panthers plan to blitz Daunte Culpepper, who is only in his second week with the Lions.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH: Panthers RB DeAngelo Williams vs. Lions front seven -- Williams is coming off back-to-back 100-yard games, running for a career-high 140 yards and a touchdown last week against Oakland. He's done very well at home this season. In his last three games at Bank of America Stadium, Williams has run for 297 yards and three touchdowns. He should put up some good numbers against a Lions defense that enters the game ranked 31s in run defense (161.2 yards per game).
Panthers QB Jake Delhomme vs. Lions secondary -- Delhomme is coming off his worst day as a pro, posting a 13.2 passer rating against the Raiders. He should be raring to go. He's played much better at home this season where he's completed 68 of 101 passes for 973 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception for a quarterback rating of 120.6. In each of his last four home games, Delhomme has posted a quarterback rating of 110 or better.
INJURY IMPACT: Jonathan Stewart practiced full for Carolina on Wednesday and will play this week against Detroit. This could be a very good matchup for Stewart, who is in need of a big game.
--C Ryan Kalil will likely be out. He tried to play last week against Oakland but left the game in the first quarter after he couldn't push off his foot as well as he'd hoped.
--DT Darwin Walker returned to practice on a limited basis on Wednesday, so he might have a shot to get back on the field.
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