Sunday Snippets: Delhomme Is Bad, Even in His Good Minute

It got so bad for Jake Delhomme Sunday that, even when he was good, he was bad.

Was he ever good in Carolina's 38-10 loss to the Eagles, in which he threw four interceptions and lost a fumble that was returned by a touchdown? Well, the Panthers took the opening kickoff and moved 70 yards for a score of their own to take a 7-0 lead on DeAngelo Williams' 11-yard run. But it was ugly -- two plays before the TD, the Panthers had a first down at the Eagles 1, but Ryan Kalil jumped on the first play and Jeff Otah on the second.

Williams took care of the rest, but those two penalties -- probably some sort of messed-up count by Delhomme, since it was that kind of day -- simply were a precursor of what was to come. Worse, the same thing happened in Delhomme's last game, when Carolina was upset at home by Arizona in its first playoff game last season.

OK, not quite as bad -- Delhomme had six turnovers in that one, five INTs and a fumble. In any case, he now has nine interceptions in his last 51 passes and 11 turnovers in his last two games.

And he got a five-year contract extension worth $42 million in the offseason. Actually, it's probably more like $25 million up front, but it means they're saddled with him until 2012, when he'll be 37. He'll probably play next week -- his backup, Josh McCown, left with knee and foot injuries."I hope so," Delhomme said when asked about it. "I'm not looking for the easy way out."


Delhomme got company in the Sunday night game from Jay Cutler, who threw four interceptions in his regular-season debut for Chicago. Three came in the first half, when both teams struggled. The fourth came on a play that started with 1:11 left after Green Bay had taken a 21-15 lead.

In the first half, Cutler was clearly uncomfortable with Dom Capers' 3-4 defensive schemes, which are more aggressive than most. Next Sunday, he gets to see another difficult 3-4 -- Pittsburgh's -- when the Steelers visit Soldier Field

QUARTERBACKS (a few of them): Delhomme was lucky in a way. Donovan McNabb broke his ribs in the same game, taking some attention away from his disastrous day and raising questions -- facetious ones -- about whether Roger Goodell might let Michael Vick come back a week early. No, of course Goodell won't, so Kevin Kolb will almost surely be the QB when the Eagles play host to the Saints next week.

Kolb may do OK -- the Saints don't play much defense. On the other hand, the Philly defense, which was handed all those gifts by Delhomme, will meet a very different guy -- New Orleans QB Drew Brees, who had six TD passes against Detroit. Of course, the Detroit and Philadelphia defenses are at opposite ends of the spectrum. (No pun intended, although the Spectrum parking lot is next to Lincoln Financial Field)

Brees was so good Sunday in a 45-28 win that Jeremy Shockey actually caught two TD passes, his first since November, 2007. Shockey says there are more to come. We sort of believe it, although the Saints don't get to play the Lions anymore.

Brett Favre played his first game for the Vikings, who beat the Browns 34-20. Brett was -- horrible phrase -- a "game manager.'' Stats: 14 of 21 for 110 yards while Adrian Peterson was rushing for 180. That's likely to be Minnesota's way all season.

Then there are the rookie QBs,

Mark Sanchez, the fifth-overall pick, threw for 272 yards and an a touchdown in New York's 24-7 win, but it was easy because Rex Ryan's defense held what was supposed to be a high-powered Houston offense to 183 yards. Houston had one shot at getting in the game, but Donald Strickland knocked the ball away from Steve Slaton on an 18-yard pass completion, the Jets recovered and that was it.

Matthew Stafford, No. 1 overall, demonstrated why he should be watching and letting Daunte Culpepper absorb the punishment. As Detroit lost its 18th straight, 45-27 in New Orleans, Stafford was a 16 of 37 for 205 yards and was intercepted three times. "Some of those balls I was throwing, I was just trying to get rid of it and not take a sack.,'' he said.

That's life with the Lions.

NEW PHILOSOPHY?: Jim Caldwell, who replaced Tony Dungy, as the Colts' coach, obviously trusts his defense (and his special teams).

With the Colts leading 14-12 with 7:42 left, they had a fourth-and-1 at the Jaguars 44. Caldwell elected to kick it away and rookie punter Pat McAfee dropped the ball on the 1.

The Jags never got out of the hole. A decision like Caldwell's wouldn't have always been the right one with a team that's depended so heavily on Peyton Manning and the offense, which lost receiver Anthony Gonzalez to a knee sprain that will probably cost him four-to-six weeks. Defensive coordinator Larry Coyer also showed some new wrinkles -- blitzing middle linebacker Gary Brackett a couple of times to disrupt David Garrard late in the game.

The Colts rarely blitzed when Dungy was the head coach and Ron Meeks the defensive coordinator and the bend-but-don't break Tampa Two was the defense of choice. On the final Jacksonville possession, Brackett broke through twice, forcing an incomplete pass and then letting Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney clean up.

Other notables: The play of the day, of course, was the game-winning TD for Denver in Cincinnati, when the Bengals' Leon Hall deflected a desperation pass with 28 seconds left into the air, only to see it come down to Brandon Stokley. Stokley completed an 87-yard TD play to give the Broncos a 12-7 win after the Bengals had scored with 38 seconds left to seemingly win it.

It was the first win for Josh McDaniels, who is a smart guy. Stokley is a smart guy too -- he wasted an extra five or six seconds running parallel to the goal line before stepping into the end zone.

"I've played football since I was 7 or 8 and I never saw anything like that,'' said Carson Palmer.

Actually, he's played for the Bengals since 2003, so he's seen a lot of odd things.

• Kansas City, with Matt Cassel out with a knee injury, started Brodie Croyle at QB, replaced him with Tyler Thigpen and then brought back Croyle when Thigpen was hurt. The Chiefs went without a first down until just over two minutes was left in the half, but trailed just 10-7 at that point because they scored on a blocked punt.

For the game, the Chiefs were outgained 501-188, although they were tied at 24-all when the Ravens finally scored with 2:06 left.