But the only place you can lead your team when you miss receivers, throw off your back foot and fail to adjust to a rush you know is coming is to a loss.
Delhomme threw five interceptions last January in a 33-13 playoff loss to Arizona that has yet to wash off.
Yesterday was like January all over again except the score was not as close. Delhomme threw four interceptions and lost a fumble the Eagles converted into an easy touchdown in a 38-10 rout.
Delhomme was asked if he thinks about that Arizona game. "It's so easy for me to say no," he said. "But I really haven't thought about that. I really haven't, and that's the truth . . . It wasn't something on my mind this week, last week, the week before that and the week before that.''
But Delhomme was as bad in back-to-back games 8 months apart as a starting NFL quarterback can be. Every time Delhomme entered the game after his second intereception, fans booed as if they didn't want him on the field, in the stadium, in Charlotte, the Carolinas or the United States.
In Delhomme's defense, he often had little time to throw.
When he found time, he threw behind Steve Smith and underthrew Smith and failed to throw outside to Smith and even had a screen pass picked off. He went 7-for- 17 for 73 yards, was sacked three times and regularly hit after he released the ball.
If Delhomme plays poorly again next week in Atlanta and the week after that at Dallas, the Panthers might have to run the wishbone. Backup Josh McCown, 30, hurt his left knee and foot; we don't know how badly. Matt Moore, 24, throws a nice spiral and looks like an athlete. In the 10 games he has played for Carolina, he has looked more like an athlete than a quarterback.
Delhomme is asked if his eventual heir, or replacement, is on the roster.
"The best way I can answer that is that I hope not," he said. "And I don't mean that against anyone else. But I believe in me."
