August 25, 2023 • 21 mins
When Jake Delhomme first arrived in Carolina, his teammates knew little about him, no one wanted his autograph, and no one expected much. One game into the 2003 regular season, all that changed. Relive the moment Jake Delhomme became a franchise QB and the moment Carolina Panthers became the Cardiac Cats.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on Cardiac, episode one revealed how a one in
fifteen season laid the foundation for a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I explained, nobody's that bad, nobody's one in fifteen in
the NFL, and we're not going to be that bad
moving forward. And I think they kind of understood and
kind of believed.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Me to be honest with yet.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
But the Panthers were still in search of a missing piece,
a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Generally, for your final regular season game, your pro scouts
are not on the road anymore scouting an upcoming opponent.
So our pro scouts went to New Orleans to scout
a particular player who wasn't even going to play in
the game.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
I think we all thought it was Dell Home for sure.
I'm not sure I heard the name Jack Dell Home.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I didn't know anything about taking the home. I'd never
heard of him. Nice guy.
Speaker 6 (00:57):
I didn't know if he was an athlete. I looked
at him, didn't have the the physique of a guy
that was an NFL athlete. Jake just looked like a
regular guy, right. He could have been a banker.
Speaker 7 (01:06):
Here in Charlotte, we did these Panther caravans, and we
would go down into a community in either North or
South Carolina and spend the day. We would meet with
the school kids at the school, players would sit at
different tables to sign autographs. And I'll never forget Jake
is sitting by himself. There isn't anybody walking up to
Jake Delone and I kind of looked over and I
(01:27):
kind of felt sorry for him, and thinking, well, you know,
we don't know anything about Jacob.
Speaker 8 (01:32):
Fyers for prolling the ends on.
Speaker 7 (01:34):
Take God, Touchdoe, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 9 (01:38):
He's gone, and the.
Speaker 6 (01:39):
Panthers are gonna pull another.
Speaker 9 (01:40):
One out of their head.
Speaker 8 (01:41):
That's Tortanza touchdown, Buyers over the medal?
Speaker 6 (01:44):
Is that intercepting?
Speaker 9 (01:45):
Yes, it is up, it is gone.
Speaker 8 (01:48):
Panthers have won in it over times head the forty
five to.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The forty and dog's right, Honey done touchdown.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a super.
Speaker 9 (01:59):
Bowl and where it Cardiac.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Jake Delom entered the two thousand and three season as
an afterthought. Carolina brought him in from New Orleans to
add depth to the quarterback room. Longtime Panthers broadcaster Jim
Zokie says at the time there was little to no
talk of any quarterback controversy.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Rodney Pete was viewed as the veteran guy who would
be the starter, so that was the focus. Chris Winky
had been brought in prior to that with George Steffert
and the disaster that was one in fifteen, so you
knew that Winky probably wasn't the next guy in the
pecking order, that Jake would be the first guy off
the bench if something were to happen there, and then
for Jacob would be just kind of having this younger
veteran guy that we'll have to see what we've got here.
(02:47):
And so really not not a lot stands out as
far as that preseason training camp.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
Panthers historian David Monroe.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I felt like there is a clear pecking order. Pete
had worn the job follow the two thousand and two
season and that he was going to be the main
going into the season. And as I remember the beginning
of that season, Rodney Pete was on the cover of
the game time program for the season opener against the Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Rodney Pete was coming off the best season of his
NFL career. Externally, he was viewed as the starting quarterback,
but as John Fox explains internally things were a bit
more fluid.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Jake for being a new guy and you know, learning
the new offense. Dan Henning was the coordinator then, and
you know we brought Rodney in because he knew Dan
system of the year before in the first year, and
you know, there was there was a feeling we were
kind of split on who was going to start that game.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Carolina opened the two thousand and three campaign at home
against Jacksonville. Rodney Pete started at quarterback. Former Panthers play
by play announcer Bill Razinski.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
You know, I go back to that first game and Rodney,
of course married to Holly Robinson Rolly Robinson Pete. I
remember she sang the national anthem before that game. Rodney
Peake comes in and we based, I mean, we stunk
the joint out. Nothing went on offensively in that first half.
Speaker 9 (04:05):
It was awful.
Speaker 8 (04:07):
Taylor and Edwards in the backfield behind Brunel. It's the
full back. Edwards straight ahead, parrels his way into the
end zone.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Touchdown Jacksonville. Third down.
Speaker 8 (04:16):
Brunell again rolls to the near sideline, looks, pumps, flows
it downfield, pats it's open, caught it end zone.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Touchdown.
Speaker 8 (04:24):
Oh, they burned the defense thirty three yards strike head.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
It's thirteen to nothing.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
I know, it's a sixteen game season, so you're not
ready to throw in the towel after we're in half,
but I'm thinking to myself, here we go again.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
The Panthers trailed the Jaguars fourteen to nothing at halftime.
To further muddy the optics, Jacksonville's head coach was former
Panthers decordinator Jack del Rio. With the team down, John
Fox felt he had no choice. So we made a
game changing and season altering change at quarterback.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I needed a little bit of a boost on offense,
you know.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We put Jake in.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
He's already learned the respect of his teammates fall through
camp in the off season, you know, And it was
kind of a fifty to fifty, you know, on the
decision to start rob But so it was it was
really kind of a pretty easy adjustment, even in the
middle of the game.
Speaker 10 (05:17):
Seven and nine year I think Rodney Pete brought so
much stability and leadership. This guy knows football. He's won
a ton of games. But I think, like so many
of us, you kind of get to a point where
those diminishing skills to catch up with you and the
thing where a quarterback, it can happen really quick. And
Coach Fox, you know, it's got nothing to lose in
(05:37):
that situation. We got to get a win. We're favored
to beat the Jaguars, you know, new coach, with del
Rio being there, and it was a home game for us,
and coming off that seven nine season, we really thought
this is we're going to go out there and roll
over him in a halftime he got zero points and
he'd not really done a thing.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Defensive Back Mike Mintor recognized Dolom's energy right away.
Speaker 11 (05:57):
We wasn't really looking to Jake to be the guy
until he came into the game. And he came in
and the juice that he brought, that's when I knew
was a gamer.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly saw the energy too, even if
some of it was lost in translation.
Speaker 10 (06:14):
It was hard to hear him speak the thick Cajun accent.
He's talking a mile a minute. It's like he's got
a handful of quarters in his mouth. You fire, you know, yeah,
telling Jordan Gross he's a rookie, first game ever in
the NFL, and I'm looking at him trying to decipher
like I think he called a pass protection.
Speaker 12 (06:33):
I know you've seen the video when he came in
and Jake gave everybody a high five or a low
five or whatever went around the hud.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I was like, oh man, this is gonna be fun.
Speaker 10 (06:41):
It's all chaotic, but the one thing that resonated was
that energy and that positivity, and you're like, you got
to keep up with Jake. Jake's going one hundred miles
an hour.
Speaker 12 (06:49):
For me, I love that as a young guy who
was like, there was my first start ever in the NFL,
and I loved having some of that energy and that
confidence because I sure was looking for any of it
I could acquire through Austino because I could use it
as well.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
For Jake Delom, the journey to that Panthers huddle was
nothing short of an odyssey.
Speaker 13 (07:11):
My pro career would be described as a suitcase. It
was constantly packed, You never know where it was going
to spend the night. It was a wild journey. It
was six long, tiring, great years to finally get to Carolina.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
After a decorated college career at Louisiana, Delom was unsure
about his next opportunity.
Speaker 13 (07:36):
When I tell you it's crickets, it is crickets. I
have no teams contacted me. Didn't get invited to the
Senior Bowl, wasn't invited to the Combine, so obviously not
thinking a great deal about my prospects for the NFL.
Did have a couple of teams Miami wanted to work
me out. I went to a local workout in New
Orleans for the Saints. At that time, it was like
a fifty mile radius where guys could come from. Well,
(07:58):
I lived about one hundred and twenty miles away, so
we used my aunt and uncle's address in Metai, and
that's how I went to that workout. And I did
very well at that workout. I really truly did really well.
I was the only quarterback, which helped.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
But it was good.
Speaker 13 (08:11):
And the draft came and went, and there was no
preconceived ideas that I'd be drafted.
Speaker 9 (08:15):
It was just hopeful you get a free agent call.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
After going undrafted. The loan's prospects to play stateside were slim.
Speaker 9 (08:23):
At that time.
Speaker 13 (08:23):
I had a local agent, real good guy, but really
not well connected, and I was probably going to head
to the Canadian Football League and then lo and behold.
I get a call from Bruce Limmerman with the New
Orleans Saints. He was like director of pro personnel and whatnot,
and they were going to invite me for a weekend
mini camp on a tryout basis.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
The Saints invite kept Dolone close to home, but not
for long.
Speaker 13 (08:47):
I was with the Saints for six total years, but
my first year was with Mike Ditka and staff. So
go to training camp, get cut. They bring me back
the last six weeks of the season on practice squad,
and then I got allocated in that following spring, so
that was the fall of ninety seven. Spring of ninety eight,
I get allocated to go to the Amsterdam Admirals of
(09:08):
NFL Europe, which they would send young players there that
they either thought they had a chance to play and
give them growth opportunity.
Speaker 9 (09:16):
I guess you could.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Say training camp for the Amsterdam Admirals took place in Sewane, Georgia.
Speaker 13 (09:23):
You're there for a month when you developed a team,
and there was only two quarterbacks myself and another guy.
I found it odd that he had the playbook before
we got there, before we ever had a practice.
Speaker 9 (09:33):
You know, it is what it is. So we go
to camp.
Speaker 13 (09:35):
I guess you can say battle it out in camp
and I did well, and I would call home night Lee,
and I talked to my girlfriend who's not my wife,
or talk to my parents and everything was well.
Speaker 9 (09:46):
How to go? I did pretty well well. How'd the
other guy do well? He did pretty well too, And
he's a good guy.
Speaker 13 (09:52):
He's a quick release and he's accurate, and so it
just kind of went from there and we went to Amsterdam.
Speaker 9 (09:57):
We didn't know who the starter was. We practiced the
whole week.
Speaker 13 (10:00):
We are in the stadium in Dusseldorf, we're playing the
Ryan Fire and we find out an hour before the
game who's gonna be the starting quarterback.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Amsterdamn head coach Al Luganbill broke the news to Dolon
and the other.
Speaker 13 (10:14):
Guy sat me in the other quarterback down and he said, Hey,
we're gonna go with Kurt Kurt Warner. Kurt, We're gonna
start you, Jake, You're gonna play a good bit and
I'm not asking either one of you to win the
game for us. Just make sure y'all don't lose it.
I was shocked. I heard that, and I said, man,
did I hear that correctly? And then I have a
twenty six year old Kurt Warner sitting next to me
who looks at me and said, there's nothing like some confidence, Jake.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
And I mean I was like, I was still in shock.
I said, I can't believe he just said that, and
I was it.
Speaker 13 (10:41):
So I backed up future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner
for that season.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Delone struggled to process the news.
Speaker 13 (10:48):
My confidence was shocked because I lost out to Arena
League quarterback.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
I mean, that's who I lost out to.
Speaker 13 (10:54):
I didn't know it was the guy at the time,
but I knew this guy was pretty darn good. And
I just left obviously a few months prior, and said, man,
he's better than the quarterbacks in New Orleans. But you're
not thinking that because the stigma of NFL Europe.
Speaker 9 (11:07):
You're not good enough.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
After NFL Europe, Delane returned to New Orleans as the
team's third string quarterback. He won his first NFL start
against Dallas in nineteen ninety nine. A Louisiana native, Jake
quickly became a fan favorite, but opportunities remained limited.
Speaker 13 (11:25):
I wasn't given a chance. Very simple listen the three
years with Mike Dick. That was just kind of we
weren't a good football team. It just it wasn't right.
And then when Jim Haslet came in, he hired Mike
McCarthy as oft asive coordinator, and that's when my football
eyes opened to the NFL. I truly learned what it
was like to study and prepare and be ready to
play week in and week out. And so at that
(11:46):
point just really and truly didn't get an opportunity. Jeff
Blake was brought in to be the starter and did
extremely well, was having the best statistical year of his career.
Gets Elist Frank injury and Aaron Brooks they traded for
him in training camp, gave up a second round pick,
so I knew I was going to be you know,
I was the third guy, and Aaron came in and
did well.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
With Brooks entrenched as the starter in New Orleans, the
loam had to go elsewhere to get a chance. He
hit free agency following the two thousand and two season.
Speaker 13 (12:13):
My options to possibly compete were Carolina in Dallas.
Speaker 9 (12:17):
Very simple.
Speaker 13 (12:17):
There was multiple teams that contacted my agent to be
a backup. One GM at the time, he was in
Chicago and my agents were out of Chicago, and basically
he said, yeah, he'll never be more than a backup.
So when we went up there in two thousand and
six and beat them with the other number one seed,
that was pretty That was pretty gratifying on my part.
Speaker 9 (12:37):
That's the backup, just since you pack it.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
The Loam grew up rooting for the Cowboys, but being
wanted mattered.
Speaker 13 (12:46):
I knew Carolina had some interest. We had a pro
personnel guy in the Saints that in essence, he didn't
have any legs and what I mean by that he
wasn't given.
Speaker 9 (12:56):
Up voice pretty much anymore.
Speaker 13 (12:58):
And it was the Friday after Thanksgiving and it's I'm
eating lunch, and it was a little later. Everybody kind
of left and he was there and we were sitting
down talking and he said, hey, so I'm really proud
of you the whay you've handled yourself. He said, you're
gonna get an opportunity next year. No, I'll put the
word out you'll get an opportunity. And I truly believe
Carolina is gonna be one of those teams.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
The Panthers brass had scouted to Loam during warm ups
when the Panthers played the Saints in the two thousand
and two regular season finale.
Speaker 13 (13:27):
I go out there to warm up, and I swear
I'm floating on air, running out there, and I'm watching
you just you kind of see things, and I never forget.
John Fox was on the fifty yard line standing there
talking to Jim Hazlet and Wesley Walls. Now, Wesley was
member of the Panthers prior Saint but Wesley wasn't dressed.
Speaker 9 (13:44):
He was hurt.
Speaker 13 (13:45):
So Jim has it and Wesley had a relationship and
they're watching, Well, Foxy is staring a hole through me.
Speaker 9 (13:51):
I can just feel it, and I can see it.
Speaker 13 (13:53):
I'm making sure every drop is perfect and I'm humming it.
And so as they go goes on, they watch we
warm up and everything, and the game we lose ten
to six, and it's a frustrating game. The whole crowd,
the whole second half basically is channing, we want Jake,
we want Jake.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Delombe's decision ultimately came down to Carolina and to Dallas.
It was close, to be honest, it was very close.
I will say this.
Speaker 13 (14:17):
I wholeheartedly listened to my agents because Dallas was intriguing
to me. Bill Parcell's head coach six hours from home,
Dallas Cowboys. But Sean Payton was a quarterback coach, and
there was something about it. I spent most of my
time with him that was just you just knew. And
he loved John Fox as they were both coordinators with
the Giants together, so there was a big mutual respect.
(14:38):
I love my time here in Carolina. On my visit
and my agent just said, hey, listen, if you're ever
gonna trust me, you gotta Carolina is ready.
Speaker 9 (14:46):
They're ready to go. Now to Dallas is not. They're not, said, Carolina.
Speaker 13 (14:50):
They Marty Herney has built this team, he said, and
I'm just telling you this is your best opportunity.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
That opportunity came midway through the third quarter of the
season opener, with Carolina trailing Jacksonville seventeen to nothing.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
Jake dellone in a quarterback for Carolina and the Panthers
are trailing Jacksonville eight and a half minutes to go
third quarter, seventeen to nothing. Firston ten for delone play
action back to throw fires.
Speaker 9 (15:17):
Over the metal most touchdown.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Every magic trick has three acts, the pledge, the turn,
and the prestige. The prestige made Steve Smith a believer.
Speaker 14 (15:30):
What's funny is I didn't think it was anything special
about Jake in the beginning, but then when we got
in the game, when Jake replaced Rodney p it clicked.
It was like, oh, he is different. Something is different.
He was very confident in what he knew, and if
he didn't know, he would tell you.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Floats it up for STEVEE. Smith up for grabs it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
He's in the end.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
No I got a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Delon provided a second half spark, but the game still
hung in the balance. Carolina trailed by five with three
and a half minutes to go. Panther's historian David Monroe
recalls the birth of the Cardiac Cats.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Jake came in and put together some scoring drives for us,
and we got the ball at the end of the game,
and Jake drives us down the field.
Speaker 8 (16:19):
The Looman the shotgun first and ten from the Jacksonville
twenty two. He's back to throw, steps up over the
middle court. It's Mangam at the eleven to the ten.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
It'll be first and goal.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
He got twelve forty seconds to go.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
The Looman, the shotgun.
Speaker 8 (16:34):
Back to throw, pumps the fires caught goings at the five,
you'll step out of bound. So it's come down to this.
From the twelve yard line, fourth down, Carolina one time out,
twenty two seconds on the clock. They trailed Jackson j Goe
by five. Dolom has his team at the line of scrimmage.
Ricky Froll goes in motion far side left. Here's the
loan back to throw. Looks looks fires.
Speaker 12 (16:56):
For prolling the end zone.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
He got it.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Dutch dadutsdown, rocking bro.
Speaker 14 (17:05):
I don't believe it.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
We worn and it was amazing finish. They've kind of
set the stage for the Cardiac Cats. This last minute wins.
Different people making big plays at big times.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
Guys, the way this Panther team is built, it's gonna
be like this every week. We're not gonna blow people out,
and we've got the defense to keep us in a
lot of games. And I know one of the big
questions after this game is what's your quarterback situation, coach,
because Jake Dolom.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
Has come in and lit the fire here.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Delone threw three second half touchdown passes and in the
eyes of his head coach, he was the clear number
one quarterback.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I mean he did a tremendous job. I mean it's
not easy to come in as a new player, you know,
especially a quarterback, and be able to gather everything that
you need to know to go into a game, and Jake.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Had really done that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I thought it was a pretty smooth transition, and really
the way the game finished, it was a pretty easy
nod going forward.
Speaker 13 (18:03):
One it's confidence because I mean, like in my mind,
I always thought I know I belonged. I even my
first practice as a rookie with the Saints, I'm like, Okay,
I'm just as tall, if not taller, way more than
these guys.
Speaker 9 (18:15):
I think I got a stronger arm than these guys.
Speaker 13 (18:17):
I think I'm just as accurate, if not more in
my mind, but I just didn't have the repetition.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
So I always believed I could do it.
Speaker 13 (18:23):
And then yet you have the bump in the road
with NFL Europe, and then the confidence comes back because
the guy you battled with till the end is now
a former MVP of the league and Super Bowl champs.
So it's just it's a great feeling. We won the game,
but it's a great feeling.
Speaker 9 (18:37):
That when your team. They believe in you. There's nothing
like it.
Speaker 13 (18:41):
And I remember running off the field and my wife
was in the stands, no one else. We had no
family because I was the backup Lauren, who's our nine
month old at the time.
Speaker 9 (18:50):
She's at home in the apartment with a babysitter.
Speaker 13 (18:52):
And it was just it was awesome, you know, Carrie
and I we left and we moved here by our sale,
you know, with a child in tow, and it was
just fitting our first game by ourself, you know, and
driving home like, Okay, we did it, and now is
the start of something.
Speaker 9 (19:08):
That's That's kind of what it felt like.
Speaker 13 (19:09):
And I got a phone call the next morning by
Dan Henning driving in and it was like, hey, okay,
things have changed. You're the starter, and he was just
preparing me like things are different now.
Speaker 9 (19:20):
And that was it.
Speaker 13 (19:21):
Because they had made of their mind, the staff, everybody
had made their mind. I was the guy going forward,
and so it wasn't like I was gonna have a
bad series get pulled. It was like, Okay, things are
gonna change. It's big bar time.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
When Jake Delom came to the Panthers, his teammates knew
little about him, no one wanted his autograph, and no
one expected much. One game into the two thousand and
three season, all that changed.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
The Jaguar game changed everything because you needed a spark.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
We was like something was missing.
Speaker 12 (19:54):
I mean, I felt like we probably have to go
in that direction the way a way and that you know,
everybody he was so pumped up, and I don't I
didn't you.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I don't even remember there even being any.
Speaker 12 (20:04):
Thought about a quarterback controversy at that point. It seemed
like Rodney stepped aside willingly and was happy to be
the backup guy, and Jake just got rolling.
Speaker 10 (20:12):
I think personally everybody inside though this this, this is the.
Speaker 14 (20:16):
Guy got interesting real quick. We knew we had something special,
but we just we didn't know exactly.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
When you've got a quarterback come off the bench and
lead a dramatic rally in the last sixteen seconds for
a fourth down touchdown to Ricky Prol, there's no question
who's going to start Week two at that point to
any of us.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
I always credit Jake the loan for saving this franchise
and saving John Fox, because if he doesn't play the
way he plays over that time stretch, I don't know
where anybody is. After the two or three years of
the John Fox run, it was his ability to somehow
make plays and his rapport with Steve Smith that carried
this team. But that first game, you know, and then
(20:54):
Jake comes in and lights a fire under this offense,
and that fire continued for the rest of the sea.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
The Panthers now had a difference maker at the most
important position, But for Dilom and the Cats, a flag
of piracy hung on the horizon.
Previously on Cardiac, episode one revealed how a one in
fifteen season laid the foundation for a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I explained, nobody's that bad, nobody's one in fifteen in
the NFL, and we're not going to be that bad
moving forward. And I think they kind of understood and
kind of believed.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Me to be honest with yet.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
But the Panthers were still in search of a missing piece,
a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Generally, for your final regular season game, your pro scouts
are not on the road anymore scouting an upcoming opponent.
So our pro scouts went to New Orleans to scout
a particular player who wasn't even going to play in
the game.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
I think we all thought it was Dell Home for sure.
I'm not sure I heard the name Jack Dell Home.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I didn't know anything about taking the home. I'd never
heard of him. Nice guy.
Speaker 6 (00:57):
I didn't know if he was an athlete. I looked
at him, didn't have the the physique of a guy
that was an NFL athlete. Jake just looked like a
regular guy, right. He could have been a banker.
Speaker 7 (01:06):
Here in Charlotte, we did these Panther caravans, and we
would go down into a community in either North or
South Carolina and spend the day. We would meet with
the school kids at the school, players would sit at
different tables to sign autographs. And I'll never forget Jake
is sitting by himself. There isn't anybody walking up to
Jake Delone and I kind of looked over and I
(01:27):
kind of felt sorry for him, and thinking, well, you know,
we don't know anything about Jacob.
Speaker 8 (01:32):
Fyers for prolling the ends on.
Speaker 7 (01:34):
Take God, Touchdoe, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 9 (01:38):
He's gone, and the.
Speaker 6 (01:39):
Panthers are gonna pull another.
Speaker 9 (01:40):
One out of their head.
Speaker 8 (01:41):
That's Tortanza touchdown, Buyers over the medal?
Speaker 6 (01:44):
Is that intercepting?
Speaker 9 (01:45):
Yes, it is up, it is gone.
Speaker 8 (01:48):
Panthers have won in it over times head the forty
five to.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The forty and dog's right, Honey done touchdown.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a super.
Speaker 9 (01:59):
Bowl and where it Cardiac.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Jake Delom entered the two thousand and three season as
an afterthought. Carolina brought him in from New Orleans to
add depth to the quarterback room. Longtime Panthers broadcaster Jim
Zokie says at the time there was little to no
talk of any quarterback controversy.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Rodney Pete was viewed as the veteran guy who would
be the starter, so that was the focus. Chris Winky
had been brought in prior to that with George Steffert
and the disaster that was one in fifteen, so you
knew that Winky probably wasn't the next guy in the
pecking order, that Jake would be the first guy off
the bench if something were to happen there, and then
for Jacob would be just kind of having this younger
veteran guy that we'll have to see what we've got here.
(02:47):
And so really not not a lot stands out as
far as that preseason training camp.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
Panthers historian David Monroe.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I felt like there is a clear pecking order. Pete
had worn the job follow the two thousand and two
season and that he was going to be the main
going into the season. And as I remember the beginning
of that season, Rodney Pete was on the cover of
the game time program for the season opener against the Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Rodney Pete was coming off the best season of his
NFL career. Externally, he was viewed as the starting quarterback,
but as John Fox explains internally things were a bit
more fluid.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Jake for being a new guy and you know, learning
the new offense. Dan Henning was the coordinator then, and
you know we brought Rodney in because he knew Dan
system of the year before in the first year, and
you know, there was there was a feeling we were
kind of split on who was going to start that game.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Carolina opened the two thousand and three campaign at home
against Jacksonville. Rodney Pete started at quarterback. Former Panthers play
by play announcer Bill Razinski.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
You know, I go back to that first game and Rodney,
of course married to Holly Robinson Rolly Robinson Pete. I
remember she sang the national anthem before that game. Rodney
Peake comes in and we based, I mean, we stunk
the joint out. Nothing went on offensively in that first half.
Speaker 9 (04:05):
It was awful.
Speaker 8 (04:07):
Taylor and Edwards in the backfield behind Brunel. It's the
full back. Edwards straight ahead, parrels his way into the
end zone.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Touchdown Jacksonville. Third down.
Speaker 8 (04:16):
Brunell again rolls to the near sideline, looks, pumps, flows
it downfield, pats it's open, caught it end zone.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Touchdown.
Speaker 8 (04:24):
Oh, they burned the defense thirty three yards strike head.
Speaker 6 (04:28):
It's thirteen to nothing.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
I know, it's a sixteen game season, so you're not
ready to throw in the towel after we're in half,
but I'm thinking to myself, here we go again.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
The Panthers trailed the Jaguars fourteen to nothing at halftime.
To further muddy the optics, Jacksonville's head coach was former
Panthers decordinator Jack del Rio. With the team down, John
Fox felt he had no choice. So we made a
game changing and season altering change at quarterback.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I needed a little bit of a boost on offense,
you know.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We put Jake in.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
He's already learned the respect of his teammates fall through
camp in the off season, you know, And it was
kind of a fifty to fifty, you know, on the
decision to start rob But so it was it was
really kind of a pretty easy adjustment, even in the
middle of the game.
Speaker 10 (05:17):
Seven and nine year I think Rodney Pete brought so
much stability and leadership. This guy knows football. He's won
a ton of games. But I think, like so many
of us, you kind of get to a point where
those diminishing skills to catch up with you and the
thing where a quarterback, it can happen really quick. And
Coach Fox, you know, it's got nothing to lose in
(05:37):
that situation. We got to get a win. We're favored
to beat the Jaguars, you know, new coach, with del
Rio being there, and it was a home game for us,
and coming off that seven nine season, we really thought
this is we're going to go out there and roll
over him in a halftime he got zero points and
he'd not really done a thing.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Defensive Back Mike Mintor recognized Dolom's energy right away.
Speaker 11 (05:57):
We wasn't really looking to Jake to be the guy
until he came into the game. And he came in
and the juice that he brought, that's when I knew
was a gamer.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly saw the energy too, even if
some of it was lost in translation.
Speaker 10 (06:14):
It was hard to hear him speak the thick Cajun accent.
He's talking a mile a minute. It's like he's got
a handful of quarters in his mouth. You fire, you know, yeah,
telling Jordan Gross he's a rookie, first game ever in
the NFL, and I'm looking at him trying to decipher
like I think he called a pass protection.
Speaker 12 (06:33):
I know you've seen the video when he came in
and Jake gave everybody a high five or a low
five or whatever went around the hud.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I was like, oh man, this is gonna be fun.
Speaker 10 (06:41):
It's all chaotic, but the one thing that resonated was
that energy and that positivity, and you're like, you got
to keep up with Jake. Jake's going one hundred miles
an hour.
Speaker 12 (06:49):
For me, I love that as a young guy who
was like, there was my first start ever in the NFL,
and I loved having some of that energy and that
confidence because I sure was looking for any of it
I could acquire through Austino because I could use it
as well.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
For Jake Delom, the journey to that Panthers huddle was
nothing short of an odyssey.
Speaker 13 (07:11):
My pro career would be described as a suitcase. It
was constantly packed, You never know where it was going
to spend the night. It was a wild journey. It
was six long, tiring, great years to finally get to Carolina.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
After a decorated college career at Louisiana, Delom was unsure
about his next opportunity.
Speaker 13 (07:36):
When I tell you it's crickets, it is crickets. I
have no teams contacted me. Didn't get invited to the
Senior Bowl, wasn't invited to the Combine, so obviously not
thinking a great deal about my prospects for the NFL.
Did have a couple of teams Miami wanted to work
me out. I went to a local workout in New
Orleans for the Saints. At that time, it was like
a fifty mile radius where guys could come from. Well,
(07:58):
I lived about one hundred and twenty miles away, so
we used my aunt and uncle's address in Metai, and
that's how I went to that workout. And I did
very well at that workout. I really truly did really well.
I was the only quarterback, which helped.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
But it was good.
Speaker 13 (08:11):
And the draft came and went, and there was no
preconceived ideas that I'd be drafted.
Speaker 9 (08:15):
It was just hopeful you get a free agent call.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
After going undrafted. The loan's prospects to play stateside were slim.
Speaker 9 (08:23):
At that time.
Speaker 13 (08:23):
I had a local agent, real good guy, but really
not well connected, and I was probably going to head
to the Canadian Football League and then lo and behold.
I get a call from Bruce Limmerman with the New
Orleans Saints. He was like director of pro personnel and whatnot,
and they were going to invite me for a weekend
mini camp on a tryout basis.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
The Saints invite kept Dolone close to home, but not
for long.
Speaker 13 (08:47):
I was with the Saints for six total years, but
my first year was with Mike Ditka and staff. So
go to training camp, get cut. They bring me back
the last six weeks of the season on practice squad,
and then I got allocated in that following spring, so
that was the fall of ninety seven. Spring of ninety eight,
I get allocated to go to the Amsterdam Admirals of
(09:08):
NFL Europe, which they would send young players there that
they either thought they had a chance to play and
give them growth opportunity.
Speaker 9 (09:16):
I guess you could.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Say training camp for the Amsterdam Admirals took place in Sewane, Georgia.
Speaker 13 (09:23):
You're there for a month when you developed a team,
and there was only two quarterbacks myself and another guy.
I found it odd that he had the playbook before
we got there, before we ever had a practice.
Speaker 9 (09:33):
You know, it is what it is. So we go
to camp.
Speaker 13 (09:35):
I guess you can say battle it out in camp
and I did well, and I would call home night Lee,
and I talked to my girlfriend who's not my wife,
or talk to my parents and everything was well.
Speaker 9 (09:46):
How to go? I did pretty well well. How'd the
other guy do well? He did pretty well too, And
he's a good guy.
Speaker 13 (09:52):
He's a quick release and he's accurate, and so it
just kind of went from there and we went to Amsterdam.
Speaker 9 (09:57):
We didn't know who the starter was. We practiced the
whole week.
Speaker 13 (10:00):
We are in the stadium in Dusseldorf, we're playing the
Ryan Fire and we find out an hour before the
game who's gonna be the starting quarterback.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Amsterdamn head coach Al Luganbill broke the news to Dolon
and the other.
Speaker 13 (10:14):
Guy sat me in the other quarterback down and he said, Hey,
we're gonna go with Kurt Kurt Warner. Kurt, We're gonna
start you, Jake, You're gonna play a good bit and
I'm not asking either one of you to win the
game for us. Just make sure y'all don't lose it.
I was shocked. I heard that, and I said, man,
did I hear that correctly? And then I have a
twenty six year old Kurt Warner sitting next to me
who looks at me and said, there's nothing like some confidence, Jake.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
And I mean I was like, I was still in shock.
I said, I can't believe he just said that, and
I was it.
Speaker 13 (10:41):
So I backed up future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner
for that season.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Delone struggled to process the news.
Speaker 13 (10:48):
My confidence was shocked because I lost out to Arena
League quarterback.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
I mean, that's who I lost out to.
Speaker 13 (10:54):
I didn't know it was the guy at the time,
but I knew this guy was pretty darn good. And
I just left obviously a few months prior, and said, man,
he's better than the quarterbacks in New Orleans. But you're
not thinking that because the stigma of NFL Europe.
Speaker 9 (11:07):
You're not good enough.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
After NFL Europe, Delane returned to New Orleans as the
team's third string quarterback. He won his first NFL start
against Dallas in nineteen ninety nine. A Louisiana native, Jake
quickly became a fan favorite, but opportunities remained limited.
Speaker 13 (11:25):
I wasn't given a chance. Very simple listen the three
years with Mike Dick. That was just kind of we
weren't a good football team. It just it wasn't right.
And then when Jim Haslet came in, he hired Mike
McCarthy as oft asive coordinator, and that's when my football
eyes opened to the NFL. I truly learned what it
was like to study and prepare and be ready to
play week in and week out. And so at that
(11:46):
point just really and truly didn't get an opportunity. Jeff
Blake was brought in to be the starter and did
extremely well, was having the best statistical year of his career.
Gets Elist Frank injury and Aaron Brooks they traded for
him in training camp, gave up a second round pick,
so I knew I was going to be you know,
I was the third guy, and Aaron came in and
did well.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
With Brooks entrenched as the starter in New Orleans, the
loam had to go elsewhere to get a chance. He
hit free agency following the two thousand and two season.
Speaker 13 (12:13):
My options to possibly compete were Carolina in Dallas.
Speaker 9 (12:17):
Very simple.
Speaker 13 (12:17):
There was multiple teams that contacted my agent to be
a backup. One GM at the time, he was in
Chicago and my agents were out of Chicago, and basically
he said, yeah, he'll never be more than a backup.
So when we went up there in two thousand and
six and beat them with the other number one seed,
that was pretty That was pretty gratifying on my part.
Speaker 9 (12:37):
That's the backup, just since you pack it.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
The Loam grew up rooting for the Cowboys, but being
wanted mattered.
Speaker 13 (12:46):
I knew Carolina had some interest. We had a pro
personnel guy in the Saints that in essence, he didn't
have any legs and what I mean by that he
wasn't given.
Speaker 9 (12:56):
Up voice pretty much anymore.
Speaker 13 (12:58):
And it was the Friday after Thanksgiving and it's I'm
eating lunch, and it was a little later. Everybody kind
of left and he was there and we were sitting
down talking and he said, hey, so I'm really proud
of you the whay you've handled yourself. He said, you're
gonna get an opportunity next year. No, I'll put the
word out you'll get an opportunity. And I truly believe
Carolina is gonna be one of those teams.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
The Panthers brass had scouted to Loam during warm ups
when the Panthers played the Saints in the two thousand
and two regular season finale.
Speaker 13 (13:27):
I go out there to warm up, and I swear
I'm floating on air, running out there, and I'm watching
you just you kind of see things, and I never forget.
John Fox was on the fifty yard line standing there
talking to Jim Hazlet and Wesley Walls. Now, Wesley was
member of the Panthers prior Saint but Wesley wasn't dressed.
Speaker 9 (13:44):
He was hurt.
Speaker 13 (13:45):
So Jim has it and Wesley had a relationship and
they're watching, Well, Foxy is staring a hole through me.
Speaker 9 (13:51):
I can just feel it, and I can see it.
Speaker 13 (13:53):
I'm making sure every drop is perfect and I'm humming it.
And so as they go goes on, they watch we
warm up and everything, and the game we lose ten
to six, and it's a frustrating game. The whole crowd,
the whole second half basically is channing, we want Jake,
we want Jake.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Delombe's decision ultimately came down to Carolina and to Dallas.
It was close, to be honest, it was very close.
I will say this.
Speaker 13 (14:17):
I wholeheartedly listened to my agents because Dallas was intriguing
to me. Bill Parcell's head coach six hours from home,
Dallas Cowboys. But Sean Payton was a quarterback coach, and
there was something about it. I spent most of my
time with him that was just you just knew. And
he loved John Fox as they were both coordinators with
the Giants together, so there was a big mutual respect.
(14:38):
I love my time here in Carolina. On my visit
and my agent just said, hey, listen, if you're ever
gonna trust me, you gotta Carolina is ready.
Speaker 9 (14:46):
They're ready to go. Now to Dallas is not. They're not, said, Carolina.
Speaker 13 (14:50):
They Marty Herney has built this team, he said, and
I'm just telling you this is your best opportunity.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
That opportunity came midway through the third quarter of the
season opener, with Carolina trailing Jacksonville seventeen to nothing.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
Jake dellone in a quarterback for Carolina and the Panthers
are trailing Jacksonville eight and a half minutes to go
third quarter, seventeen to nothing. Firston ten for delone play
action back to throw fires.
Speaker 9 (15:17):
Over the metal most touchdown.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Every magic trick has three acts, the pledge, the turn,
and the prestige. The prestige made Steve Smith a believer.
Speaker 14 (15:30):
What's funny is I didn't think it was anything special
about Jake in the beginning, but then when we got
in the game, when Jake replaced Rodney p it clicked.
It was like, oh, he is different. Something is different.
He was very confident in what he knew, and if
he didn't know, he would tell you.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Floats it up for STEVEE. Smith up for grabs it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
He's in the end.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
No I got a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Delon provided a second half spark, but the game still
hung in the balance. Carolina trailed by five with three
and a half minutes to go. Panther's historian David Monroe
recalls the birth of the Cardiac Cats.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Jake came in and put together some scoring drives for us,
and we got the ball at the end of the game,
and Jake drives us down the field.
Speaker 8 (16:19):
The Looman the shotgun first and ten from the Jacksonville
twenty two. He's back to throw, steps up over the
middle court. It's Mangam at the eleven to the ten.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
It'll be first and goal.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
He got twelve forty seconds to go.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
The Looman, the shotgun.
Speaker 8 (16:34):
Back to throw, pumps the fires caught goings at the five,
you'll step out of bound. So it's come down to this.
From the twelve yard line, fourth down, Carolina one time out,
twenty two seconds on the clock. They trailed Jackson j Goe
by five. Dolom has his team at the line of scrimmage.
Ricky Froll goes in motion far side left. Here's the
loan back to throw. Looks looks fires.
Speaker 12 (16:56):
For prolling the end zone.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
He got it.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Dutch dadutsdown, rocking bro.
Speaker 14 (17:05):
I don't believe it.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
We worn and it was amazing finish. They've kind of
set the stage for the Cardiac Cats. This last minute wins.
Different people making big plays at big times.
Speaker 8 (17:19):
Guys, the way this Panther team is built, it's gonna
be like this every week. We're not gonna blow people out,
and we've got the defense to keep us in a
lot of games. And I know one of the big
questions after this game is what's your quarterback situation, coach,
because Jake Dolom.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
Has come in and lit the fire here.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Delone threw three second half touchdown passes and in the
eyes of his head coach, he was the clear number
one quarterback.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
I mean he did a tremendous job. I mean it's
not easy to come in as a new player, you know,
especially a quarterback, and be able to gather everything that
you need to know to go into a game, and Jake.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Had really done that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I thought it was a pretty smooth transition, and really
the way the game finished, it was a pretty easy
nod going forward.
Speaker 13 (18:03):
One it's confidence because I mean, like in my mind,
I always thought I know I belonged. I even my
first practice as a rookie with the Saints, I'm like, Okay,
I'm just as tall, if not taller, way more than
these guys.
Speaker 9 (18:15):
I think I got a stronger arm than these guys.
Speaker 13 (18:17):
I think I'm just as accurate, if not more in
my mind, but I just didn't have the repetition.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
So I always believed I could do it.
Speaker 13 (18:23):
And then yet you have the bump in the road
with NFL Europe, and then the confidence comes back because
the guy you battled with till the end is now
a former MVP of the league and Super Bowl champs.
So it's just it's a great feeling. We won the game,
but it's a great feeling.
Speaker 9 (18:37):
That when your team. They believe in you. There's nothing
like it.
Speaker 13 (18:41):
And I remember running off the field and my wife
was in the stands, no one else. We had no
family because I was the backup Lauren, who's our nine
month old at the time.
Speaker 9 (18:50):
She's at home in the apartment with a babysitter.
Speaker 13 (18:52):
And it was just it was awesome, you know, Carrie
and I we left and we moved here by our sale,
you know, with a child in tow, and it was
just fitting our first game by ourself, you know, and
driving home like, Okay, we did it, and now is
the start of something.
Speaker 9 (19:08):
That's That's kind of what it felt like.
Speaker 13 (19:09):
And I got a phone call the next morning by
Dan Henning driving in and it was like, hey, okay,
things have changed. You're the starter, and he was just
preparing me like things are different now.
Speaker 9 (19:20):
And that was it.
Speaker 13 (19:21):
Because they had made of their mind, the staff, everybody
had made their mind. I was the guy going forward,
and so it wasn't like I was gonna have a
bad series get pulled. It was like, Okay, things are
gonna change. It's big bar time.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
When Jake Delom came to the Panthers, his teammates knew
little about him, no one wanted his autograph, and no
one expected much. One game into the two thousand and
three season, all that changed.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
The Jaguar game changed everything because you needed a spark.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
We was like something was missing.
Speaker 12 (19:54):
I mean, I felt like we probably have to go
in that direction the way a way and that you know,
everybody he was so pumped up, and I don't I
didn't you.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I don't even remember there even being any.
Speaker 12 (20:04):
Thought about a quarterback controversy at that point. It seemed
like Rodney stepped aside willingly and was happy to be
the backup guy, and Jake just got rolling.
Speaker 10 (20:12):
I think personally everybody inside though this this, this is the.
Speaker 14 (20:16):
Guy got interesting real quick. We knew we had something special,
but we just we didn't know exactly.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
When you've got a quarterback come off the bench and
lead a dramatic rally in the last sixteen seconds for
a fourth down touchdown to Ricky Prol, there's no question
who's going to start Week two at that point to
any of us.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
I always credit Jake the loan for saving this franchise
and saving John Fox, because if he doesn't play the
way he plays over that time stretch, I don't know
where anybody is. After the two or three years of
the John Fox run, it was his ability to somehow
make plays and his rapport with Steve Smith that carried
this team. But that first game, you know, and then
(20:54):
Jake comes in and lights a fire under this offense,
and that fire continued for the rest of the sea.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
The Panthers now had a difference maker at the most
important position, But for Dilom and the Cats, a flag
of piracy hung on the horizon.
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