FanHouse Carolina Panthers

It's often said that a team with two quarterbacks really doesn't have any. With that spirit in mind, FanHouse will keep you updated weekly on NFL teams facing potential quarterback controversies.

Stubbornness sometimes pays off. The Carolina Panthers found this out on Sunday.

One week after giving up on the run way too easily in a loss to Buffalo, the Panthers mercilessly pounded Arizona's run defense into the ground, and their reward was an easy win. Of course, it doesn't mean Jake Delhomme has magically turned his season around. It just means the Panthers have found a way to hide him, while keeping him on the field. Delhomme is off our magical list for now, but other shaky starters aren't so lucky.

Blame it on the $42.5 million contract extension he signed in the offseason, but whatever the reason, Jake Delhomme just can't get himself benched.

Delhomme threw three interceptions in Carolina's 20-9 home loss to Buffalo last season, upping his season turnover total to 15 -- which is more than 29 teams through seven weeks of the NFL season. But with 2-4 Carolina on the verge of becoming a team playing for draft position, Panthers coach John Fox announced Wednesday that Delhomme would start at Arizona this week.

It's often said that a team with two quarterbacks really doesn't have any. With that spirit in mind, FanHouse will keep you updated weekly on NFL teams facing potential quarterback controversies.

Some teams are entirely too stubborn. Not only will they leave bad quarterbacks in to take mental and physical beatings, but they'll insist on running offensive plays that don't seem to take the team's strengths into account, oftentimes leaning way too much on a struggling quarterback to make plays. As the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns (among others) have now learned, this is a recipe for disaster.

---

---

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

In light of their recent faux pas, it'd be easy to make JaMarcus Russell or Larry Johnson the Coach Killer of the week. After getting benched in a loss to the Jets, Russell explained that he wasn't Oakland's problem, proving that he's as aware of himself as he is of a blitz. Or how to line up for the first play of the game, despite practicing it all week.

Larry Johnson, well, we know that story by now. Johnson added insult to ineffectiveness in the wake of the Chiefs' 37-7 loss to the Chargers, making life harder on a first-year coach trying to retain any shred of credibility with a terrible roster.

But Russell is not an NFL-capable player, and Johnson is a headcase. They haven't fooled us into believing otherwise. Jake Delhomme, however, had us all believing he was an NFL quarterback. A gambler, sure, but one who came through more often than not. ... D'oh.

---

---

As we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

If you're a reasonably diligent football fan, it's pretty easy to follow which running backs, quarterbacks and wide receivers are living up to their reputations -- you just check the stats. It's not as easy, but you can also get a pretty good sense of which pass rushers are having big years, by checking out the sacks.

But when it comes to evaluating offensive linemen, it's a lot tougher to know which blockers are starring and which ones are living off reputation.

After logging 401 sacks this season, it's time to start diving into the numbers to try to get a better sense of who has stood out this year.

It's often said that a team with two quarterbacks really doesn't have any. With that spirit in mind, FanHouse will keep you updated weekly on NFL teams facing potential quarterback controversies.

Give Derek Anderson credit. He got better. He put that "15 incompletions in 17 attempts" disaster behind him with a much more quarterback-like effort against Pittsburgh Sunday. It wasn't enough to take the Browns off this list for the first time this season, but there are indications that Cleveland has settled on their guy, no matter how many of his passes bounce off the grass.

Zebra Report is FanHouse's analysis of actual NFL rules and how they are to be applied ... because most fans think they could do a better job than the NFL officials, yet definitely could not. Click here for an introduction as to how we do things.

I'll agree with the defenders of Dante Wesley on one front, but just one: he hasn't made a career out of being a dirty player. Sunday, though, he was. What Wesley did, whether intentional or not, was one of the most egregious things I've ever seen done on a football field. Honestly, I didn't even think I'd have to cover it for Zebra Report, but I've seen so many absolutely appalling arguments in defense of Wesley on comment boards across the internet, that I feel I have to. It's simply mind-boggling (and, as a football fan, a bit embarrassing) that some people seriously think his hit was, or should have been, legal.

Carolina Panthers defensive back Dante Wesley has been suspended one game for a cheap shot on Buccaneers return man Clifton Smith, the NFL announced on Monday.

Dante Wesley isn't typically a big part of the Carolina Panthers' game plan, although he made some noticeable news Sunday. And while the Panthers didn't exactly look like world-beaters against Tampa Bay, they won for the second straight week (albeit against another shoddy opponent), and that's what's important. Also important, if you like brawls in football games, is what Wesley did while covering a punt, which was about as cool as filming a trash-talking YouTube in a bowtie.

---

---

Zebra Report is FanHouse's analysis of actual NFL rules and how they are to be applied ... because most fans think they could do a better job than the NFL officials, yet definitely could not. Click here for an introduction as to how we do things.

One week later and we know now that the league is mandating the roughing the passer calls we discussed last week. This past week, we also learned that the league admitted error on the Mike Sims-Walker touchdown we discussed, which should help to relieve some of the tension fans are carrying about a perceived lack of accountability. I was pleased to see the league's admission. Let's get to the reviews for this week.