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Carolina Panthers' offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson walked off the practice field with perhaps even more of a steely eyed look than usual Thursday, while quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer remained on a far field working overtime with newly arrived backup A.J. Feeley.
Their week is full as they try to help starting quarterback Jake Delhomme and the Panthers' offense recover from a seven-turnover performance in last weekend's 38-10 loss to Philadelphia and prepare for Sunday's game at Atlanta.
Based on recent NFL history, it's not advisable for teams to start a season 0-2. Of the 160 teams who have lost their first two games since 1990, only 22 went on to make the playoffs, according to NFL.com.
Thus, there appears to be even more pressure on Delhomme and the Panthers than usual this week.
"It's got a possibility of putting more pressure on Week 2 if we allow it to, (but) the bottom line for us is we've just got to find a way to put that one behind us, and (get) each of us focusing on getting a little better this week," said Davidson.
Davidson and Scherer have the most hands-on involvement with Delhomme on the Panthers' coaching staff, including trying to help Delhomme be mentally sharp after consecutive poor performances against the Eagles and eight months ago in the Panthers' playoff loss to Arizona.
Delhomme had 11 turnovers in those two games - nine interceptions and two fumbles.
"We always work on the mental aspect," said Davidson. "That's the biggest part of the game for a guy who is leading your team and calling plays."
Davidson's method for helping Delhomme: "Putting in plays and working on ways to make us better to beat the Falcons."
Scherer is in his first season with the Panthers, and working with Delhomme, but said Delhomme has a proven record of overcoming adversity.
"The mental toughness, I don't worry about," said Scherer. "In football, as a coach, as a player, and as a quarterback in particular, you'd better not look in your rearview mirror very much. That's why your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror, because what lies ahead is a lot more important than what's behind you."
Delhomme admitted Wednesday that he didn't do as well as usual in the Eagles' game of preventing negative thoughts from affecting his play.
Asked if he thought Delhomme's frustrations might have been related to not playing well in his previous game against Arizona, Scherer said:
"We all have memories. That's why we have history books. I think he's human. He doesn't change clothes in a phone booth.
"That's a human instinct, but I also know he's a competitive guy and a tough-minded guy enough to transcend that and to learn from it, and know if he's in that situation (again) not to let those thoughts creep in there and just move on."
Scherer said quarterbacks almost need to have a "so what?" mentality to any previous play, positive or negative.
"Even as a veteran player, guys need to be reminded of that periodically," he said.
Scherer is also busy this week helping Feeley learn the Panthers' offense. Carolina signed Feeley on Tuesday after placing injured Josh McCown on injured reserve.
Feeley said Wednesday that the Panthers' offense seemed "foreign" because it's so different than the Philadelphia West Coast system he played in the previous three seasons.
"It's like a guy who knows Spanish and you're trying to teach him French," said Scherer. "They're similar, but they're different. You're just trying to correlate and teach him the language, teach him the verbiage. He has an understanding of the concepts. You've just got to transpose them into how he has known them before."
Scherer said his goal this week is for Feeley to have a group of plays he's confident in running Sunday should the Panthers need him to play against Atlanta.
As overseer of the Panthers' entire offense, Davidson also is responsible for helping line coach Dave Magazu get better play out of the offensive line. Carolina gave up five sacks against the Eagles and is preparing for a Falcons defense led by end John Abraham, who had two sacks last week against Miami after recording a career high 161/2 sacks last season.
"We've got to make sure we clean up our protections so everybody knows who they have, number one," said Davidson. "Part of that is technique and part of that is just understanding the scheme of the protections.
"The mark of a good offensive line is when you have five guys functioning as one. That was not always the case in that game (last week), which is not like us. So, we're working on making sure we get everybody on that proverbial same page. I have full confidence that we will."
