NFL Week 9 Status Report: The Future Is Now |

this is a first-loss face

Smokey: This morning I was sent an email entitled “A Tale of 2 QBs” simply showing how eerily similar the stats are for Jake Delhomme and Matt Stafford this season. And it’s true, they are remarkably close in several categories. I jokingly responded by predicting the Panthers would get him in three years, a la the David Carr experiment. The frightening aspect is that without a regime change, this isn’t outside of the realm of possibility. The silver lining is that after yesterday’s heartbreaker of a loss to the Saints, we are one loss closer to the end of the Fox/Delhomme Era. That sounds worse than I mean it to be.

When the Cats snuck out a win in the desert I spent the week walking on air, psyching myself up for this past Sunday’s duel. Factoids of Jake and John’s record in the Superdome as player/coach (7-0 before Sunday) and Jake’s success in the Dome in college (2 wins over Tulane) fueled the fire of my enthusiasm.

My mom was visiting and we were having a glorious time catching up, talking about the future, shopping, and, mainly, eating. She had a more “realistic” view of how the game would play out, but none of that would dampen my excitement. As the game started, I was impressed to see my own mother splitting her attention evenly between the game on tv and her Blackberry, as she followed several Panthers sources on Twitter. Mom’s consumption of media was spookily 2.0y (when does 3.0 start?) and the flow of information she had coming to her was more than we were able to get out of the play by play crew squawking out of the speaker box.

The rollercoaster ride came to an end and the Saints’ undefeated record remained intact. I wasn’t too downtrodden, though. The rest of the season feels a little like a lame duck period. Word came down this afternoon that Thomas Davis is lost for the season, and with it any realistic hopes for success in the 2009-2010 campaign. If every game is an adrenaline-fueled loss like Sundays, I’m fine with that. At the end of the day, all that matters is mom bought me a slow cooker and we made chili yesterday.

Mickey: As I watched the Saints wrestle away yesterday’s game from the Panthers, I couldn’t help but think about how the difference between 3-5 and 4-4 seems insurmountable. The more I reflect on that loss, the more I just can’t get around that we played well enough to win but didn’t — and the result of that is being 2 games under .500. Seeing the stat that the Panthers have the 2nd-toughest schedule for the rest of the year, according to opponent’s winning percentage, flash up on the TV non-stop in the second half didn’t help either.

Even still, while Smokey is openly throwing in the towel and cheering for the end of the Fox/Delhomme Era, I’m not so sure that’s the best course of action. I have a difficult time believing the grass truly is greener on the other side, and I really don’t believe BIll Cowher is walking through that door this offseason. I also know our first-round draft pick is going to San Francisco so there’s no help in tanking.

I suppose I still have faith in this team, and I’m not willing to think we can’t go on a tear through the second half of our season. A minimum 6-2 is needed over the last 8 games to even sniff the playoffs; I recognize those odds are long, and I recognize fans are tired of seeing a stubborn John Fox team not live up to its potential.

I just can’t throw away the season yet. Which most likely just means a lot of long Sunday afternoons for November and December. Le sigh.

Other thoughts from around our beloved League:
- You’re damn right I was rooting for Marmalard to come back and beat the Gints in that 4 o’clock game. The Yankees had just won, I was bitter over the Panthers losing, and any loss from an NFC Wild Card contender is good news for the Panthers.

- There really aren’t many teams ahead of the Panthers in the win-loss column that I don’t think we can get past for the Wild Card. It starts with beating the Falcons (5-3) this weekend in Charlotte, but I’m not particularly shaking in my space booties looking at Philly (5-3), the G-Men (5-4), Green Bay (4-4), Chicago (4-4) or even San Fran (3-5). We can’t give away winning opportunities though, and that’s what makes this past weekend (and the Bills game) so difficult to swallow.

- Do I love the Bucs’ old-school orange unis and the Pats’ white/red throwbacks because they’re awesomely bad? Or is it because I’m naturally a nostalgic guy? Those just make me really happy to see.

- Dear Lord, Large Benjamin holds on to the ball forever sometimes. Dude has never learned to just throw the ball away.

- I enjoyed FOX’s move on the early-game broadcasts: since the G-Men were on CBS, we had the national NFC game of choice. And because the Cards rediscovered themselves (after the Panthers knocked them around) against the Bears, FOX pulled the old, “We’re taking you over to the Green Bay-Tampa Bay game…because we obviously were wrong about which game was going to be most competitive” move in the third quarter. Always nice to see networks man up and adapt.

- Florida-Bama, in the 2009 SEC Championship game. All is right in the world of college football.