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On the Ledge - Panthers might face precipitous fall if they don't turn around in a hurry
ANOTHER SHOT: AFTER UGLY LOSS, CAROLINA HEADS TO ATLANTA
AP Photo
The Panthers’ Jake Delhomme is hit by the Eagles’ Juqua Parker as he attempts to pass, a typical play on Carolina’s opening day.
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Published: September 18, 2009
CHARLOTTE -- The construction crane rises beyond the rim of the Carolina Panthers' football palace, looming over downtown Charlotte like a steel exclamation point for a recession-driven primal scream.
The crane sits idle, and so does the 50-story condo project named The Vue. Work stopped two weeks ago because developers stopped paying the general contractor while talking to lenders.
With more than half the condos completed and six skeletal stories left, the crane operator lowered toilets from the upper floors to the dirt. While everyone waits for the next move, including customers paying $300,000 to $2 million a unit, the crane becomes a silent symbol of unfinished business for all urban dwellers, including the Panthers.
Especially the Panthers.
The football project, a perpetual work in progress, has experienced the peaks and valleys typically associated with NFL competition cycles. Carolina lost conference championship games in 1996 and 2005. The Panthers came up a field goal short against New England in the Super Bowl after the 2003 season. The prospects for a return trip shimmered last year until Arizona abruptly slammed the door 33-13.
Hope springs eternal, even with builders and banks and backs in disarray, but four straight preseason defeats and an opening-day fiasco landed on Panthers hopes like a toilet dropped from the fifth floor. Philadelphia hammered Carolina 38-10, feeding on seven turnovers overall, five by quarterback Jake Delhomme.
The stats -- 11 Delhomme turnovers in his past seven quarters -- inspired widespread panic yet told only part of the story. Carolina's veteran line didn't protect him, nor did the tailbacks. Philadelphia torched the defense, returned a punt 85 yards and flashed the instincts of a playoff contender.
Carolina didn't, which depresses the paying fans and triggers suspicions of a sub-mediocre season followed by massive overhaul. Coach John Fox and General Manager Marty Hurney look as vulnerable as Delhomme, given the labor-pool reality that quality quarterbacks are harder to find.
Owner Jerry Richardson seems naturally averse to turmoil, but if the pattern continues, why not shake things up? Richardson, back on the case with a transplanted heart, recently cut his two sons from the executive roster. For his new president, he chose a Wofford brother, Danny Morrison, the former Southern Conference commissioner and Texas Christian athletics director.
Richardson's dire health probably precluded major moves last year, and the 12-4 record argued strongly against change despite the playoff pratfall. Other than dumping defensive back Ken Lucas, the Panthers basically stood pat, a dangerous strategy in the organic athletics world.
They locked up Delhomme with a contract extension, and then they locked their own financial handcuffs by retaining defensive end Julius Peppers. The North Carolina alumnus from Bailey delivered a career-best 14½ sacks and a virtual let-me-go ultimatum, insisting that he was "maxed out" in his backyard.
After the agent wrangling and Peppers' no-show policy for voluntary workouts, Carolina tagged him the franchise player under league rules. The upshot: Outsiders shied away, unwilling to cough up two first-round draft slots, and Peppers signed one of the largest single-season contracts in NFL history, $16.7 million.
He smiled again, and management frowned on the inside. The $16.7 million gobbled up any maneuvering room under the salary cap. When Maake Kemoeatu, a defensive tackle roughly the size of a bus, blew a tire in the training-camp opener, the Panthers slammed into the cap consequences. Other ailments -- backup tailback Jonathan Stewart's sore Achilles tendon, middle linebacker Jon Beason's nagging knee -- raise doubts about two central elements of the Fox style, ground control and defense.
Delhomme's incendiary wildness promotes downright paranoia and second-guessing about the call to ride his horse after elbow surgery two years ago. He deserves another shot Sunday at Atlanta, of course, if for no other reason than the wobbly alternatives: third-teamer Matt Moore and just-signed backup A.J. Feeley.
Those first eight NFL years on Feeley's resume produced 27 touchdown passes and 29 interceptions in 15 starts. He's a journeyman journeyman.
Delhomme promises yet another rally. "I will be back to me," he said.
Tight end Jeff King insists that Carolina will return from the opening-day ledge. "I don't think we're broken," he said, citing the 15 shots left on the schedule. Those include at Dallas next weekend and a possibly brutal closing month (at New England, Minnesota, at the New York Giants and New Orleans).
Atlanta naturally would prefer to break the Panthers' spirit at the Georgia Dome, where the Carolina franchise debuted in 1995. Amid a flurry of false starts, the Panthers lost. They're 4-10 under the roof.
Last season, with rookie superstar Matt Ryan replacing Michael Vick at quarterback, the Falcons lost the NFC South by a game to the Panthers. They brought in linebacker Mike Peterson and tight end Tony Gonzalez, who rolled past 11,000 career receiving yards during Sunday's 19-7 romp over Miami.
The building Falcons see 2009 as their year. The staggering Panthers hope the year isn't almost over.
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