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Admitting his team's confidence in its passing game is in dire need of a boost, Carolina Panthers coach John Fox said Monday he's considering replacing Jake Delhomme as the team's starting quarterback.
Less than a month after expressing his support of Delhomme's status as the starter with a "capital Y" for yes, Fox is on the verge of changing that to a billboard-sized N-O.
"The reality is we're not operating very well there, and I don't know if status quo is necessarily the answer or not," said Fox.
"We definitely need to do whatever it takes to get better. If that entails a quarterback change, that's what it'll entail."
It's an unprecedented position for Fox, who never before in seven years has shown even the slightest inclination to go into a game with a quarterback other than Delhomme (when healthy).
But Delhomme has given Fox ample reason to make a switch for Sunday's game at Arizona. Delhomme ranks 32nd in the NFL in passing and leads the league with 13 interceptions, seven of which have resulted in opponents' touchdowns.
Fox's dilemma is that he doesn't have a palatable alternative. His best, most seasoned backup - Josh McCown (31 career starts) - is on injured reserve and unavailable.
That leaves Matt Moore, who's in his third season and has three starts, and journeyman A.J. Feeley, who has 15 starts in nine seasons with four teams.
Moore said he'll be ready to play if called upon, but that he supports Delhomme.
Feeley expressed similar sentiment, but sounded concerned about his limited grasp of the offense since he's only been with the Panthers for six weeks.
"The bottom line is, can I go out there and manage the game and play? Yes," said Feeley. "Do I have a grasp of the offense like the other guys? That's obviously not the case."
Fox declined to say when he'd announce his decision, but he'll need to have a plan in place when the team reports for practice Wednesday after having their weekly day off today.
Delhomme has thrown just four touchdown passes, none to wide receivers Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad
"I don't know that there's a lot of confidence in that part of our offense, whether it's by the offensive players or what-not," Fox said of the passing game.
"As an offense, your job is to score points. When you kind of travel quite a few yards and get no points, it doesn't do a lot for your confidence. We have to get over that, plain and simple. Nobody's going to come rescue us. We have to fix it."
Delhomme's hold on the job has been slipping all season, but especially after two of his three interceptions against Buffalo led to 14 of the Bills' points in a 20-9 win at Bank of America Stadium.
The turnovers, combined with two missed field goals by John Kasay, resulted in Carolina falling to 2-4 despite outgaining the Bills in yardage 425-167 and 20-9 in first downs.
"You put your defense in such an awful, awful situation," Delhomme said of his interceptions that were returned to the Carolina 7 and 27 prior to the Bills scoring.
There was a subdued atmosphere in the Carolina locker room Monday, one day after the Panthers lost a prime opportunity to improve their record to 3-3 after an 0-3 start.
No one was heard clamoring for Delhomme to keep his job. Running back DeAngelo Williams wanted nothing to do with the issue.
"All quarterbacks, to me, hand the ball off the same," he said. "Whatever quarterback (Fox) decides to go with, whether it be Jake or any other quarterback, we've got an offense to run."
Wide receiver Steve Smith said matter-of-factly that changes are part of the business.
"The day is going to come where everybody at some point in this locker room may be worked out, or let go, or retired, whatever word you want to put on it," said Smith.
Left tackle Jordan Gross, a staunch and long-standing Delhomme supporter, said if there's a change, he hopes the team is given ample time to prepare for their new starter.
"The earlier the better," said Gross. "There's a lot of coordinating that needs to be done with a new quarterback and the offensive line and the whole offense. It would be better to have as many reps as possible with him."
Gross didn't have a preference between Moore and Feeley.
"I'm glad I don't have to decide," said Gross. "I just show up and block."
