Jake Delhomme is hoping to pick back up where he left off during his lone healthy half of the season in the opener in Tampa.
View full sizeJake Delhomme, finally healthy after missing most of the season with a high ankle sprain, is eager to get back on the field Sunday for the Browns. "I'm looking forward to doing whatever this team needs to help us win," he said.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jake Delhomme is pumped to face his former Panthers Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
But more than anything, he wants to pick up where he left off in the first half of the opener in Tampa, where he had the Browns up, 14-3, before suffering the high ankle sprain that changed the course of the season -- and probably the future of the franchise.
"I just want to go out and try to play good football to help us win," said Delhomme. "That's the honest to God truth. It was so fun this off-season, this preseason just being out there. Even in the Tampa game, we were having a lot of fun and then had to deal with [the injury]. It did affect me playing-wise. I'm looking forward to doing whatever this team needs to help us win."
Delhomme, who looked like a kid in preseason and early on in Tampa, engineered two touchdown drives in the first half of the opener, one that ended in a 41-yard TD pass to Mohamed Massaquoi and the other, a 10-yard run by Peyton Hillis. He completed 11 of 18 attempts in the first half, and things didn't go south until defensive lineman Stylez White and another defender converged on him from the left side to crunch the ankle.
Delhomme was picked off on the play by Ronde Barber, who returned it 64 yards to set up a Bucs TD. Delhomme stayed in, but was hobbled. The Browns never scored again and lost, 17-14.
Delhomme missed the next three games and then played too soon Oct. 10 against Atlanta, re-spraining it high and low during a half of work.
Now, the Browns will never know what might've been if he hadn't gotten hurt. They probably also wouldn't have gotten a good look at Colt McCoy, whom Delhomme this week called "the future of the Cleveland Browns."
"When we started [Delhomme] in the opener, we felt [he was over his struggles from last season in Carolina]," said Eric Mangini. "We really felt that way throughout preseason. I was excited about the things he'd done. It's just unfortunate that he got hurt when he did. We'd have liked to have seen more of where he was and where we were."
Embattled offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who has worked with three different starters this season, also wondered what if.
"You just wish you had [Delhomme]," he said. "He's a tough son of a gun, but he's only played a half of healthy football for us."
Delhomme, who returned to practice last week, admitted he'll be rusty.
"But I've stayed involved heavily in what we've done," he said. "I'll just try to go out there and just be me and not anybody else."
Delhomme said he knows the Panthers' 14th-ranked defense well enough not to be fooled by their 1-9 record. It's a 4-4-3 scheme, same as the Browns struggled against last week.
"I know how talented they are on defense," he said. "I know they're led by one of the best linebackers in football in Jon Beason. Ever since he was a rookie three years ago, he came in and he took over that team. He's back in the middle where he belongs and where he kind of runs things.
"There are a lot of young guys in the secondary that they drafted for this, the two young safeties who can run and I'm very familiar with their corners. Chris Gamble is extremely talented, we were teammates for a long time, for six seasons, so I know what they can do defensively.
"They have some new guys up front. They're doing a great job of sending pressure like a lot of stunts and things like that. We're going to have to be on our Ps and Qs."
He also knows the Panthers aren't going to lay down despite their woeful record and lame-duck coach John Fox.
"I can promise you one thing: if there's anybody feeling sorry for John, it's not him," said Delhomme. "He's going to coach that team until he's blue in the face. There won't be any quit or lack of fight in that team."
The rest of the Browns were disappointed to see McCoy get hurt, but thrilled to get Delhomme back.
"We're in a good situation," said tight end Evan Moore. "We've got a good veteran quarterback coming back to play against his old team. Jake understands the Carolina defense better than anybody. It's pretty fortuitous to have a guy like Jake waiting in the wings."
Massaquoi cautioned that the Panthers know Delhomme as well as they know him.
"We don't know what's going to be thrown at us," said Massaquoi. "They might attack the game plan a little differently than we expect because of the familiarity between the two sides."
Massaquoi is hoping that he'll get more chances with Delhomme, "but it's just however the course of the game goes."
Delhomme returns to an offense that scored only three points off five takeaways last week in Jacksonville.
"But Jake has a way of getting everyone on the same page," said tight end Robert Royal. "He's very vocal whether things are going right or wrong. Fans didn't really get a chance to see what Jake's capable of. Hopefully they'll see that [Sunday)."