General

Delhomme Strives for Favre-Levels of Awfulness

Jan 12, 2009, 4:48 PM UTC

As I was watching the Panthers -- a team I believed would be playing in Tampa -- being dismantled Saturday night by the Cardinals -- a team we all believed was the worst of the contenders -- I kept going back to one thought: This has to be the single worst playoff performance by a quarterback, ever. â†µâ†µJake Delhomme started a tidy 2-2 for nine yards on the Panthers’ first drive, which went for a TD thanks to great starting field position and Carolina’s typically powerful run game. Then, Delhomme fumbled on his own 13, which led to six for Arizona. From there, he was just awful, which slowly regressed into embarrassing, to unwatchable and finally -- five interceptions later -- he arrived at a level of suck so outstanding that only one quarterback could rival it: Brett Favre. â†µ

â†µâ†µI should’ve known on Saturday night that no matter how many times Delhomme was picked off, there was a Favre-ian playoff performance to rival it. And, naturally, there is one. This was Favre’s stat line from a 45-17 divisional round loss to the Rams in January ’02:â†µ

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â†µ53.5 passer rating; 6 INTs; 2 TDs; 281 yards.â†µâ†µ

â†µâ†µNow, let’s compare that to Delhomme’s disaster over the weekend:â†µ

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â†µ39.1 passer rating; 5 INTs; 1 TD; 205 yards.â†µâ†µ

â†µâ†µI hate to disrespect the man who sets the bar for throwing to the wrong team -- and this might have something to do with the fact that I don’t clearly recall Favre’s game back in ’02 -- but the nod here must go to Jake for what With Leather has called the “Award for Worst Playoff Performance by a Quarterback in Modern History.” The stats alone would suggest Delhomme had the worse game of the two, but we must also consider this: The Panthers were playing at home (where they were previously undefeated) against an nine-win team. Favre’s Packers were on the road against a 14-win St. Louis squad.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut let’s put it to a vote. Favre vs. Delhomme: Who was worse? (Or, if you’d like to nominate someone else for this prestigious honor, simply vote “other” and leave your candidate in the comments.)â†µ

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â†µWhose playoff performance was worse? â†µ

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