Age: 30
7th
season in pro football (5th active), 3rd with Panthers
College: Louisiana
- Lafayette
Height: 6’2” Weight: 215
Prelude:
Delhomme
passed for 9216 yards and 64 TDs in college but went undrafted by the NFL in
1997. He was signed as a free agent by the New Orleans Saints and spent his
first two seasons on the practice squad while being farmed out to the WLAF. He
backed up Kurt Warner with the Amsterdam Admirals in 1998 and split the
starting job with Pat Barnes for the Frankfurt Galaxy in ’99, passing for 1410
yards and 12 touchdowns with only five interceptions. Delhomme continued to be
a backup with the Saints, seeing limited action, before moving on to Carolina
as a free agent in 2003 where he became the starter and had surprising success.
He passed for 3219 yards and 19 TDs and did remarkably well under pressure,
engineering eight come-from-behind wins. The Panthers won the NFC Championship
and narrowly lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl, with Delhomme performing
capably. He followed up by passing for 3886 yards and 29 TDs in ’04, which was
otherwise a down year for the team. Lacking mobility and a strong arm, Delhomme
made up for it by being intelligent and a good leader, well-suited to
Carolina’s conservative offense.
2005 Season Summary
Appeared and
started in all 16 games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 435
[15]
Most
attempts, game – 38 at Chicago 11/20
Completions –
262 [13, tied with Mark Brunell]
Most
completions, game – 22 at Chicago 11/20
Yards – 3421
[11]
Most yards,
game – 341 vs. Minnesota 10/30
Completion
percentage – 60.2
Yards per
attempt – 7.9 [4]
TD passes – 24
[4, tied with Matt Hasselbeck, Drew Brees & Eli Manning, 1st in
NFC]
Most TD
passes, game – 3 at Miami 9/25, vs. Minnesota 10/30
Interceptions
– 16 [5]
Most
interceptions, game – 3 at Detroit 10/16
Passer rating
– 88.1 [12]
300-yard
passing games – 1
200-yard
passing games – 10
Rushing
Attempts – 24
Most
attempts, game – 4 (for 1 yd.) vs. Atlanta 12/4
Yards – 31
Most yards,
game – 17 yards (on 2 carries) vs. New Orleans 9/11
Average gain
– 1.3
TDs – 1
Scoring
TDs – 1
Points – 6
Postseason: 3
G
Pass attempts
– 90
Most pass
attempts, game – 35 at Seattle, NFC Championship
Pass
completions – 54
Most pass
completions, game – 24 at Chicago, NFC Divisional playoff
Passing
yardage – 655
Most passing
yards, game – 319 at Chicago, NFC Divisional playoff
TD passes – 5
Most TD
passes, game – 3 at Chicago, NFC Divisional playoff
Interceptions
– 4
Most
interceptions, game – 3 at Seattle, NFC Championship
Rushing
attempts – 5
Most rushing
attempts, game – 3 at Seattle, NFC Championship
Rushing yards
– 24
Most rushing
yards, game – 15 at Seattle, NFC Championship
Average gain
rushing – 4.8
Rushing TDs –
0
Awards & Honors:
Pro Bowl
Panthers went
11-5 to finish second in the NFC South while qualifying for the postseason as a
Wild Card entry. Won NFC Wild Card playoff over New York Giants (23-0) and NFC
Divisional playoff over Chicago Bears (29-21). Lost NFC Championship to Seattle
Seahawks (34-14).
Aftermath:
Delhomme
suffered through an inconsistent year in 2006, with a thumb injury causing him
to miss three late-season games, and he was limited to three games in ’07 due
to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He came back strong in
2008 to pass for 3288 yards and 15 touchdowns as the team improved to 12-4, but
faltered badly in a five-interception loss to the Cardinals in the postseason.
A poor 2009 season brought an end to Delhomme’s tenure with the Panthers and he
finished up with the Browns and Texans, who signed him during the 2011 season
after injuries depleted the quarterback corps. Overall, Delhomme threw for
20,975 yards and 126 TDs in the NFL, with 19,258 of those yards and 120
touchdowns coming with Carolina.
--
Highlighted Years features players who were consensus
first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the
following statistical categories:
Rushing:
Yards, TDs (min. 10)
Passing:
Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating
Receiving:
Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)
Scoring: TDs,
Points, Field Goals (min. 5)
All-Purpose:
Total Yards
Defense:
Interceptions, Sacks
Kickoff
Returns: Average
Punt Returns:
Average
Punting:
Average
*Leagues
include NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL
(1960-69), WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)
**NFC/AFC
since 1970
