Carolina Growl
Should John Fox be fired?
 
Fox says he'll evaluate Delhomme's play before making decision on next week's starter E-mail
Written by Steve Reed   
Sunday, October 25, 2009 6:56 pm
John Fox

Panthers coach John Fox has a decision to make. (Photo by John Clark)

   CHARLOTTE -- Carolina Panthers coach John Fox didn't commit to a change at quarterback, but wouldn't rule it out either after Sunday's 20-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Starter Jake Delhomme threw three interceptions, two of which led to Buffalo touchdowns and raised his interception total to a league-leading 13 on the season.

    "Like all positions we’ll evaluate it and whatever changes we need to make, we’ll make,” Fox said.

   When asked if his intention is for Delhomme to remain the starter, Fox replied, “We just got off the field and we’ve not evaluated the thing. He played the whole game and I thought we moved the ball well, but the turnovers were critical.” The Panthers outgained the Bills 425-167, but Delhomme's turnovers simply killed them.

   In the past, Fox has been adamant he wouldn't make a quarterback change even after some rough outings by Delhomme, but today he seemed at least open to the idea. Delhomme was 27 of 44 for 325 yards with three interceptions on Sunday. He's on pace to throw 39 interceptions, which would be a new modern-day league record. He's thrown only four touchdowns is six games this season, all of those to tight ends.

   If Fox makes a change he could choose from Matt Moore or A.J. Feeley, although Moore seems like the more logical option since he's been in the system longer and has been the backup quarterback ever since Josh McCown went down for the season.

   Fox agreed that Delhomme throw a few balls high on Sunday.

   “There was no question on the first one it looked that way,” Fox said. “The second one got tipped. The last one he was just trying to make a play.”

   Delhomme said nobody has talked to him about getting benched, but he seemed to sense it's a possibility.

   "I'm not a dummy," Delhomme said. "When you're not playing well offensively, you always have to look at the quarterback. I don't think there's any doubt. I'm certainly not looking to give it up by any stretch of the imagination, but let's be real here. Two big turnovers today really affected us."

   Tackle Jordan Gross believes benching Delhomme would be a mistake.

   "I went up to him at the end and told him he's our guy," Gross said. "We've been down the road of the quarterback shuffle a few years ago that didn't work out too well. There's a lot of time to evaluate quarterbacks in the spring all the way through camp and it's not like there is some magic hidden gem. I've got faith in our backups, but that seems like kind of break-glass, pull-the-handle sort of thing. That's not my call, but Jake is my guy. I have faith in him."