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Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

It's pretty rare when a sports montage doesn't result in some sort of superhuman level of energy and performance boosting. (See: Darch, Stan.) But there's somehow already a montage relating to Jake Delhomme's performance against the Cardinals on Saturday night. And it's awkwardly set to Beck's "Loser."



I suppose "thanks" goes to Black Sports Online for putting this together, although I reckon Jake might have a different reaction. Like, say, "Soy un perdador"?

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

It's an easily arguable point that Larry Fitzgerald was the main reason why the Arizona Cardinals are headed to their first NFC Championship game in franchise history. (You could also say "Jake Delhomme is the real answer, but there's no need to be a jerkstore.) Fitzy put on a masterful first-half show, compiling a franchise record for receiving yards before the Panthers even had time to make adjustments.

Usually he compiles these stats quietly. But the word from he and his teammates is that Larry changed his normal behavior on the sidelines and amped up his attitude.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Jake Delhomme just had a pretty rough birthday. You would excuse him if he didn't want to talk to the media after the game and just decided to take off for whatever the hell he's planning on doing for the next week, simply in order to try and forget that the past 60 minutes of football just happened.

But he didn't do that, of course, because, as bad as Jake was tonight, he's still the type of guy to own up for his mistakes.

I'm at a loss for words. For one reason or another, I didn't give us a chance tonight.

[...] We'd get something going, we ran the bootleg and I throw a pick there. It just started snowballing.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Darnell Dockett's had a pretty pricey week; you most likely recall the $20,000 fine the NFL stuck him with after his celebratory actions against the Atlanta Falcons. Surely, he would come into this Panthers game a with a little more humility this week, right?

Um, wrong. Dockett not only decided the post-game presser was a perfect time to call out Warren Sapp (as well as everyone at FanHouse except Shane Bacon, technically), but he also decided to "give Carolina all the credit" for the Cardinals win today.

Julius Peppers is one of the most well-known and popular players on the Carolina Panthers. There are many reasons for this, his 2007 season aside.

First of all, he's a former North Carolina Tar Heel star. Secondly, he's repped the Panthers in the Pro Bowl four times. And finally, because -- and this is true even if you refuse to pull for Tar Heels -- he just feels like a significant part of the Carolina Panthers franchise.

However, it's pretty odd that the Panthers made no effort to re-sign Julius at any point this year, considering his improved play (it's no shock at all that they wanted to make sure he wasn't totally fading before giving him a huge contract). And that makes Peppers' statement to the media after the game about his future in Carolina:

Q: Do you want to be [in Carolina], Julius?
A: Do I want to be here? I want to be in the best situation possible for me.

Peppers also mentioned that he had no interest in discussing the upcoming offseason.

Jake Delhomme's best throw of the evening*. Keyshawn = not impressed.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Keyshawn Johnson said, as the Panthers were closing out their season, that he didn't trust Jake Delhomme as a quarterback. Well, after Delhomme's performance tonight against the Cardinals, it's pretty hard to argue that he's wrong.

Delhomme threw five interceptions and fumbled once -- ALL ON HIS FREAKING BIRTHDAY, NO LESS -- and generally stunk up the joint in Carolina. With three minutes remaining (and very few fans left), he's actually being forced to take the field again with the possibility of matching an NFL playoff-record six interceptions 34 years to the day after he was born.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

I've had some great birthdays in my 27 years on this planet. And I've had some bad ones. And I've had some really bad ones (which I won't discuss you with you, sorry). But I'm pretty sure that none of them will compare with how Jake Delhomme spent his 34th birthday.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Jake Delhomme hasn't had that fantastic a season, at least in the second half of the year, so expecting him to totally dominant the Cardinals tonight would have been just a flat-out mistake. But at the very least, you would think that the term "halftime adjustment" might mean something to the Panthers' coaching staff.

Apparently it didn't, because on second and 16, after Kurt Warner gave the Panthers a free red zone opportunity, Delhomme again forced a pass into tight coverage that got double-tipped and resulted in his third interception (fourth turnover) of the evening, as well as a 41-yard interception return that set up a Neil Rackers field goal and set the score at 30-7.

Delhomme just overthrew his receiver on fourth and five at the 40 in a fashion that could best be described as "embarrassing," and a good number of Panthers fans -- at least the ones not leaving the stadium -- started booing him. Or perhaps booing the coaching staff. Both have been completely ineffective tonight.

Bonus: Matthew Stafford can't fall far enough to land in Carolina at the draft.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Larry Fitzgerald averaged 89.4 yards over the course of the regular season. Roy Green previously set the Arizona Cardinals playoff receiving yards record on Jan. 8, 1983, with 113 yards against Green Bay. These two facts are important because, with 5:30 to go in the first half against the Panthers, Fitz has already set a new franchise record, tallying 151 total receiving yards and a touchdown.

The Panthers are now down 20 points (27-7) after coming out white hot. This is a direct result of two things: Jake Delhomme continues to stink the joint up like no Panthers quarterback since David Carr, and the Panthers seem entirely content with not bothering to cover Fitzy.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Jake Delhomme's job tonight was two-fold: don't turn the ball over and occasionally hit Steve Smith on deep play-action passes. So far tonight, he hasn't really done either quite well. In fact, aside from the one deep throw (that he didn't complete), it's pretty safe to say he looks more like David Carr.

Granted, Delhomme did get a ball deep to Smith at the end of the first quarter that drew 14 penalty flags in .01 seconds, so I suppose he deserves some credit there. But the fact of the matter is that the Cardinals have 14 points and are driving, and the last 10 points are nothing but gifts from Delhomme and unnecessary wastes of red zone opportunities.