Panthers legend Jake Delhomme on Bryce Young, X-Clown and how to beat the Rams

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme knows how to win in the playoffs.

Delhomme, in fact, has more playoff wins than every other Panthers QB put together. Of the team’s nine postseason victories all-time, Delhomme has five. Cam Newton has three. Kerry Collins has one, and no one else has any.

So I called up Delhomme this week and talked to him about the playoffs and how Bryce Young and the Panthers might succeed in them. We also spoke about the Panthers’ famous playoff win on Jan. 10, 2004, when Delhomme directed an upset win over the then-St. Louis Rams in double overtime.

Delhomme turned 29 years old that day in St. Louis. Now the current Panthers radio analyst is due for another big landmark. He turns 51 years old on Saturday, when he will call the 4:30 p.m. Panthers-L.A. Rams NFC playoff game in Charlotte, alongside Anish Shroff and Luke Kuechly.

This interview is available in full on our Panthers’ “Processing Blue” podcast, but several of the best excerpts are presented here. The conversation is edited for brevity and clarity.

Scott Fowler: What are your thoughts as the Panthers prepare for their first home playoff game since 2015?

Jake Delhomme: It’s been a while, and I’m so looking forward to it, no matter how it happened…. OK, yeah, we backed into it. I couldn’t care less. Ever since I started doing the radio in 2019, man, it’s been tough. It’s been some hard seasons. … And now we get rewarded with a home playoff game in Charlotte. ... The fans have been dying for it, right? And the stars — the Derrick Browns, the Jaycee Horns — they’ve been dying for that opportunity, too. So let’s see if we can go and make some noise.

SF: What would be the Panthers’ blueprint for winning Saturday?

JD: Listen, we’re gonna have to create some turnovers. Derrick Brown batting a ball in the air in the red zone and getting the pick — we’re gonna need that. We’re gonna need an interception. ... Mike Jackson had the pick-six in the first game — we’re going to need something like that, because this is a very difficult football team to stop. ... And there’s also going to be the fact that they truly believe that they gave us the game (on Nov. 30, when Carolina beat the Rams, 31-28). I don’t care how you say it. They believe they gifted us that win, to be very honest.

As an offense, we’ve got to get back to running the ball. I think we’re struggling finding our identity running the football right now. Maybe Robert Hunt (the Panthers guard, coming back to play Saturday after being sidelined the whole season with a torn biceps) could provide a spark for us. Running the football — I think that’s truly the best version of ourselves. ... We’ve got to protect Bryce (Young). I think we have the advantage against their secondary. I think their corners — they’re thinner guys. I think we have an advantage there. But you’ve got to be able to get the ball off.

I don’t want to say there’s a chip on this Panthers team’s shoulders, but no one is giving this team a chance in hell. Let’s be honest. I believe we’re double-digit underdogs (the Rams are favored by 10.5 points). ... But I think this team has a sense of purpose.

SF: What do you remember about the only other time the Panthers have played the Rams in the postseason — 29-23, double OT, winning at St. Louis on your 69-yard pass to Steve Smith?

JD: Well, certainly, I think we all remember the X-Clown play, right? That has gone down in Panthers history, especially because it was double overtime. We were playing “The Greatest Show on Turf,” in St. Louis. It was unbelievably loud. We lost (starting running back) Stephen Davis early when he pulled his quad.

But we were in control of the game (the Panthers led 23-12 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter). Our defense was playing lights out. It felt like we left points on the board. ... That Carolina Panther team believed that if we got you in a close game, we were winning. ... The Rams were very talented, and it was hard to keep them down. ... So in overtime, on X-Clown —(offensive coordinator) Dan Henning and the coaches put that play in that week, for that particular game. We ran it twice — once for a first down and once for the 69-yard walkoff to Smitty.

It was awesome, man. ... The euphoria in the locker room afterward and on the plane ride home and the bus ride to the airport.

Jan. 10, 2004 — I still remember the date.

And this game Saturday is on Jan. 10, 2026.

SF: I’m surprised you know the date of a game 22 years ago.

JD: Well, I know, because that’s my birthday. I played in two playoff games on my birthday. One is one of the greatest in Panther history, and one is one of the biggest duds in Panther history.

SF: That was the six-turnover game? (On Jan. 10, 2009, Delhomme committed six turnovers in a 33-13 home playoff loss to Arizona).

JD: (Laughs) I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re having a bad connection.

SF: Pretend you have one minute Saturday to talk to Bryce Young just before he walked onto the field. What advice would you give him?

JD: Hey — go play. Go play with all the confidence in the world. ... Let it hang out on the field. ...You make a first down, give a little (first-down symbol). This team follows you. He’s so mild-mannered and he’s so respectful, and that’s just him. But man, when he shows a little bit of emotion and things like that, this team feeds off of it. And I think the crowd feeds off of it.

One thing he’s going to do, he’s going to prepare. But you’ve got to go play, man. This is when it’s fun. This is when it means the most. There’s something about that playoff atmosphere. And it’s going to be electric at the stadium on Saturday afternoon. I know it. I can feel it. Guys are going to come out the tunnel different than they ever have. So go let it loose, and just play, man.

Make the guys feed off of you. ... I just love when he’s Houdini, and he is Houdini back there sometimes, in how he gets out of things and how he keeps that vision down the field. It’s pretty remarkable.

This story was originally published January 10, 2026 at 5:30 AM.

Scott Fowler

The Charlotte Observer

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Columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994 and has earned 26 APSE awards for his sportswriting. He hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated once named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler also conceived and hosted the online series and podcast “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” which featured 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons and was turned into a book. He occasionally writes about non-sports subjects, such as the 5-part series “9/11/74,” which chronicled the forgotten plane crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 in Charlotte on Sept. 11, 1974. Support my work with a digital subscription