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New Carolina Panthers backup quarterback A.J. Feeley is working overtime to learn the team's offensive system, which he described Wednesday as being “foreign” to him.
“Obviously, there are different philosophies, the verbage, different routes, different schools of thought,” Feeley said after his first practice with the team.
“I'm on a little information overload right now, but it'll come as the days progress.”
Feeley spent six of his eight previous NFL seasons, including the past three, in Philadelphia's West Coast offense.
He said he put in a 14-hour day at Bank of American Stadium on Tuesday – 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. – poring into the playbook to get acclimated as soon as possible.
The Panthers signed Feeley to a one-year contract Tuesday after placing Josh McCown on injured reserve. McCown suffered a sprained left knee and foot late in a 38-10 season-opening loss to the Eagles after starter Jake Delhomme was benched because he committed five turnovers.
Feeley received a minimum veteran's salary of just under $702,000 for the remainder of the season. However, he'll count slightly under $433,000 against the Panthers' salary cap, with the balance covered by an NFL system designed to help older players get work while providing teams with cap relief.
Feeley said he preferred to play for the Panthers over returning to Philadelphia despite his history with the Eagles. Philadelphia instead signed another of its former quarterbacks, Jeff Garcia, who was recently released by Oakland.
Philadelphia's need for a quarterback is expeced to be much more short-term than the Panthers because Michael Vick will be available to play for Philadelphia in a week after his suspension expires. The Eagles were looking for temporary help after starter Donovan McNabb suffered a rib injury at Carolina.
“The writing was on the wall there with Philadelphia,” said Feeley. “I owe those guys a lot and I love the place, but it was just time to move on.”
Feeley said he's known Delhomme for several years and arrived in Charlotte expressing full support for Delhomme's starting role. He said he expects Delhomme to play better starting Sunday at Atlanta.
“All quarterbacks go through a situation like that where you go through a funk,” said Feeley. “He's a savvy veteran. He's been in this system for a while. Guys on the team know what to expect from him. I don't see it keeping him down. I think he's going to bounce back from it and be ready to go next week.”
Feeley sounded in no hurry to be called into action.
“Hopefully I don't have to play this year,” said Feeley. “That's kind of the plan, that things will go the way everyone wants it to go with Jake playing. But for me, it's going to take a couple of weeks. There's a learning curve with learning a new offense.
“If you have to play, you have to play, but hopefully that's not the case.”
Coach John Fox declined to say whether Feeley or Matt Moore would be the No.2 quarterback against the Falcons.
Feeley, 32, has 15 career starts, with 27 touchdown passes and 29 interceptions.
He had a successful stint as McNabb's backup in 2002 and was traded to Miami for a second-round pick in 2004. Feeley had a short, unsuccessful stay with the Dolphins. He started the first three games of the '04 season, all losses, then split starts with Jay Fiedler en route to a 4-12 season.
After Nick Saban took over as Miami's coach in 2005, Feeley was traded to San Diego and eventually returned to the Eagles.
Feeley said Wednesday of the Miami experience: “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. There were some tough times down there. It was a difficult situation. I guess, if anything, (what) I've learned from being in that situation is to be patient.”
Delhomme was glad to return to practice Wednesday after starting out the season so similarly to how he played in the Panthers' 33-13 playoff loss to Arizona in January, when he threw five interceptions and fumbled once.
Delhomme admitted he uncharacteristically dwelled on his mistakes during the loss to the Eagles.
“You can't let a negative thought or what not creep into your mind, like, ‘Oh gosh, something bad's going to happen,'” he said. “If you think that, something will happen.
“To say I did that great on Sunday, probably not. I probably let a couple of things hang with me, and that kind of wasn't me.”
Delhomme vowed it wouldn't happen again against the Falcons.
“It will be fixed, I promise you,” he said.
“I'll be back to me.”
Delhomme supported the Panthers' decision to sign Feeley, but made it clear he intends to keep his job.
“Whoever the best guy is who needs to play,” he said, “and I'm going to work my tail off to always try to be the best guy.”
