Delhomme enjoys hearing the roar one more time

Delhomme enjoys hearing the roar one more time

By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports columnist

POSTED: 11:22 p.m. EST, Nov 28, 2010

CLEVELAND: Jake Delhomme couldn't bear to watch John Kasay's final field-goal attempt, which tells you all you need to know about how much the game meant to him.

The 35-year-old Browns quarterback sat on the bench, unsure if coach Eric Mangini would use a timeout to ice the Panthers' kicker. Even when the 42-yard try hit the left upright and his teammates began celebrating a 24-23 victory, Delhomme waited to make sure.

He listened for the crowd reaction. The sound he heard might have been his last hurrah.

As he faced the team that cut him on March 5, so many emotions were rolling through Delhomme's mind. The obvious part was he still has close friends in Carolina, where he spent the previous seven years. He chided himself for not listening to defensive line coach Bryan Cox and going out to dinner with a couple of them on Saturday night because he feared he would lose his focus.

''[Cox] said, 'I don't believe in that. This game's too big. It's about relationships, that's important,' '' Delhomme said. ''I kick myself for not doing that.''

Delhomme said he slept well on Saturday as he always does before games, which might have surprised him.

It was the 11th game of the season and he'd played only one healthy half of football. That came in the Sept. 12 season opener against the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, when he suffered a high right ankle sprain. Relief duty in the second half Oct. 10 against the Atlanta Falcons when Seneca Wallace went down with the same injury proved to be a setback for Delhomme.

With he and Wallace out, rookie Colt McCoy's redshirt year was scrapped. Facing the meat of the Browns' schedule, McCoy, a third-round pick from Texas, went 2-3 as a starter, beating the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots. By the time he suffered a high left ankle sprain against the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Nov. 21, grittily finishing the game, some believe McCoy had proved his mettle.

That group includes Delhomme.

Delhomme told Carolina writers on a conference call last week that McCoy ''is going to be the future of the Cleveland Browns.'' Delhomme admitted he'd wondered if he'd played his last down.

Perhaps he thought Mangini was doing him a favor by starting him against the Panthers, with the built-in excuse that Delhomme knew more about the Panthers' defense and personnel than the Browns coaching staff. Mangini could have gone with Wallace, now healthy.

With three bad plays against the Panthers, Delhomme gave Mangini ammunition to do just that next weekend against the Dolphins in Miami. Delhomme suffered a mini-meltdown just before and after halftime.

On the last play of the second quarter, Delhomme fumbled after a sack, which right tackle John St. Clair recovered at the 29. After Peyton Hillis opened the third quarter with a run for no gain, Delhomme's pass for Mohamed Massaquoi was short over the middle and linebacker Jon Beason intercepted.

''I did not see Jon Beason,'' Delhomme said. ''We had a play-action fake on the weak side and I was concentrating on the safety and the linebacker. I faked and both of them bit. I went to throw and there was Beason.''

After Kasay's 46-yard field-goal try was wide right, Delhomme threw an interception on his next play, a pass intended for Massaquoi returned 37 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. Suddenly what had been a 21-7 lead was cut to 21-20.

''I was very disappointed,'' Delhomme said of the second interception. ''I tried to force it too much to Mo. It wasn't good.''

That was the kind of throw that got Delhomme cut by the Panthers even though they still owed him more than $12 million. That was the kind of throw that will not play well on Mangini's video screen as Mangini fights to save his job. That was the kind of throw that prompted Mangini to first mention McCoy when asked if he would continue with Delhomme at quarterback.

Delhomme going 5-for-5 for 63 yards to start the game in a first-quarter touchdown drive might not weigh as heavily. Delhomme's final line — 24-of-35 for 245 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions and a 64.6 rating — looked more like his eight-touchdown, 18-interception season in 2009.

''I thought I did OK . . . at best,'' Delhomme said. ''We got the win. I'm extremely excited about it. I don't think I enjoyed wins as much as I could have in Carolina. So I'm going to enjoy it.''

Delhomme's teammates said all the right things. Joshua Cribbs, who did not play receiver against the Panthers due to a foot injury, liked how Delhomme distributed the ball to eight different players. ''Everybody was eating,'' Cribbs said.

But that did not leave Mangini promising Delhomme more time.

''I want to see where Colt is tomorrow,'' Mangini said. ''He's going to be doing some more [workout] stuff. Jake did a lot of good things. Obviously the one thing we can't have is turnovers. That's not a secret, that's not a private conversation between he and I. He understands what we need offensively. It starts with us not having self-inflicted wounds.''

Even with the Browns snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, some excitement seemed missing without McCoy. He might not have played enough to prove to president Mike Holmgren that he's the franchise quarterback, but he might have convinced him not to spend a first-round pick on one next year. More than that, McCoy represents hope.

Sadly for Delhomme, his chance to be the bridge to the future was all too short. A 12-year veteran, Delhomme has come to grips with his NFL mortality. So he relished every second Sunday, even the ones he wouldn't allow himself to see.


Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at http://marla.ohio.com/. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MarlaRidenour.

CLEVELAND: Jake Delhomme couldn't bear to watch John Kasay's final field-goal attempt, which tells you all you need to know about how much the game meant to him.

The 35-year-old Browns quarterback sat on the bench, unsure if coach Eric Mangini would use a timeout to ice the Panthers' kicker. Even when the 42-yard try hit the left upright and his teammates began celebrating a 24-23 victory, Delhomme waited to make sure.

He listened for the crowd reaction. The sound he heard might have been his last hurrah.

As he faced the team that cut him on March 5, so many emotions were rolling through Delhomme's mind. The obvious part was he still has close friends in Carolina, where he spent the previous seven years. He chided himself for not listening to defensive line coach Bryan Cox and going out to dinner with a couple of them on Saturday night because he feared he would lose his focus.

''[Cox] said, 'I don't believe in that. This game's too big. It's about relationships, that's important,' '' Delhomme said. ''I kick myself for not doing that.''

Delhomme said he slept well on Saturday as he always does before games, which might have surprised him.

It was the 11th game of the season and he'd played only one healthy half of football. That came in the Sept. 12 season opener against the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, when he suffered a high right ankle sprain. Relief duty in the second half Oct. 10 against the Atlanta Falcons when Seneca Wallace went down with the same injury proved to be a setback for Delhomme.

With he and Wallace out, rookie Colt McCoy's redshirt year was scrapped. Facing the meat of the Browns' schedule, McCoy, a third-round pick from Texas, went 2-3 as a starter, beating the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots. By the time he suffered a high left ankle sprain against the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Nov. 21, grittily finishing the game, some believe McCoy had proved his mettle.

That group includes Delhomme.

Delhomme told Carolina writers on a conference call last week that McCoy ''is going to be the future of the Cleveland Browns.'' Delhomme admitted he'd wondered if he'd played his last down.

Perhaps he thought Mangini was doing him a favor by starting him against the Panthers, with the built-in excuse that Delhomme knew more about the Panthers' defense and personnel than the Browns coaching staff. Mangini could have gone with Wallace, now healthy.

With three bad plays against the Panthers, Delhomme gave Mangini ammunition to do just that next weekend against the Dolphins in Miami. Delhomme suffered a mini-meltdown just before and after halftime.

On the last play of the second quarter, Delhomme fumbled after a sack, which right tackle John St. Clair recovered at the 29. After Peyton Hillis opened the third quarter with a run for no gain, Delhomme's pass for Mohamed Massaquoi was short over the middle and linebacker Jon Beason intercepted.

''I did not see Jon Beason,'' Delhomme said. ''We had a play-action fake on the weak side and I was concentrating on the safety and the linebacker. I faked and both of them bit. I went to throw and there was Beason.''

After Kasay's 46-yard field-goal try was wide right, Delhomme threw an interception on his next play, a pass intended for Massaquoi returned 37 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. Suddenly what had been a 21-7 lead was cut to 21-20.

''I was very disappointed,'' Delhomme said of the second interception. ''I tried to force it too much to Mo. It wasn't good.''

That was the kind of throw that got Delhomme cut by the Panthers even though they still owed him more than $12 million. That was the kind of throw that will not play well on Mangini's video screen as Mangini fights to save his job. That was the kind of throw that prompted Mangini to first mention McCoy when asked if he would continue with Delhomme at quarterback.

Delhomme going 5-for-5 for 63 yards to start the game in a first-quarter touchdown drive might not weigh as heavily. Delhomme's final line — 24-of-35 for 245 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions and a 64.6 rating — looked more like his eight-touchdown, 18-interception season in 2009.

''I thought I did OK . . . at best,'' Delhomme said. ''We got the win. I'm extremely excited about it. I don't think I enjoyed wins as much as I could have in Carolina. So I'm going to enjoy it.''

Delhomme's teammates said all the right things. Joshua Cribbs, who did not play receiver against the Panthers due to a foot injury, liked how Delhomme distributed the ball to eight different players. ''Everybody was eating,'' Cribbs said.

But that did not leave Mangini promising Delhomme more time.

''I want to see where Colt is tomorrow,'' Mangini said. ''He's going to be doing some more [workout] stuff. Jake did a lot of good things. Obviously the one thing we can't have is turnovers. That's not a secret, that's not a private conversation between he and I. He understands what we need offensively. It starts with us not having self-inflicted wounds.''

Even with the Browns snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, some excitement seemed missing without McCoy. He might not have played enough to prove to president Mike Holmgren that he's the franchise quarterback, but he might have convinced him not to spend a first-round pick on one next year. More than that, McCoy represents hope.

Sadly for Delhomme, his chance to be the bridge to the future was all too short. A 12-year veteran, Delhomme has come to grips with his NFL mortality. So he relished every second Sunday, even the ones he wouldn't allow himself to see.

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