Despite 245 yards passing and a win in his first start in 11 weeks, Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme is still hearing about his interceptions.
Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme was called for intentional grounding on this play Sunday against Carolina and Charles Johnson. Coach Eric Mangini, however, would prefer that penalty to an interception returned for a touchdown, which Delhomme threw Sunday against Carolina. His two interceptions did nothing to convince people he can take care of the football.Yes, he threw two more interceptions in his first game back in seven weeks.
They tripped the Jake Delhomme INT meter to inglorious levels -- six in 2 1/2 games with the Browns, 29 in his last 15 games.
But do gunslingers keep close tabs of the throws that go awry? Is it possible too much is being made of Delhomme's interceptions, especially after a win?
"As a quarterback, I think it would be easy for me to say, 'Oh, absolutely,' " Delhomme said Wednesday. "But they are what they are. It's a critical mistake.
"But on the flip side of it, to me, if you're Charlie Checkdown, yeah, your stats are going to look great at the end of the game. But those 13 points, I don't know how many wins you're going to get with that."
It's not that Delhomme treats those interceptions in the 24-23 win over Carolina cavalierly. Every quarterback who's played for coach Eric Mangini knows quite early in their time together that being careless with the ball is a ticket to the bench.
That's not going to happen this week. With Colt McCoy out with a high ankle sprain, Mangini said that Delhomme would get the bulk of the reps in the practice week ahead of Seneca Wallace. It's as close as the coach will come to naming his starting quarterback on Wednesday.
Against Carolina, the first Delhomme interception to start the third quarter was made on a leaping grab by linebacker Jon Beason. The second one, on Delhomme's next pass, hung up in the right flat and was returned for a touchdown by Captain Munnerlyn. It shaved the Browns' lead to 21-20.
"When I let it go, I was like, 'Oh, gosh, that's not a good one,' " Delhomme said.
"I apologized to (Mangini) after the game. I felt we would not have been in that situation, shouldn't have been, if I hadn't forced it a little too much."
Delhomme would go five-for-five on a series late in the fourth quarter that stood as the game-winning drive, thanks to Carolina kicker John Kasay's last-second miss.
Jake Delhomme pumps his fist as he leaves the field after Sunday's win over Carolina. While many are focusing on his two second-half interceptions, he also was 5-for-5 on what turned out to be the game-winning drive.
But it seems as if the interceptions undid that winning drive and all the good Delhomme had done in his first home start for the Browns. No matter that he finally got the Browns' wideouts involved in a game and kept the Panthers on their heels with a quick-paced, no-huddle attack. Delhomme's going to hear about interceptions as long as he keeps throwing them.
"We have to avoid those things," Mangini said. "Sometimes the best throws are the ones that go into the stands."
Delhomme said he needed to get in a full four quarters of game action to shake off the rust accumulated in virtually 11 weeks without playing. He did hobble around for two quarters on Oct. 10, but this was his first full game since the season opener on Sept. 12.
"Watching the film on Monday, for someone like myself, you could just see, I think, physically you get a little tired," he said. "You can practice all you want, but you don't make all the throws in all the awkward positions in practice like you do in a game. I think you have to watch with a critical eye. I was a little sloppy with footwork in the second half."
Miami coach Tony Sparano faced Delhomme five times in five seasons as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, and a sixth time last season with the Dolphins.
"For the amount of time he'd been off, I thought he did a nice job," Sparano said of Delhomme's last start. "He's the kind of guy that can get really red hot. All that aside, I coached a guy a lot like Jake in Chad Pennington. The leadership things those guys bring sometimes go unseen, but they carry a lot of weight in the locker room."
Delhomme became the third quarterback to win a game for the Browns this season. McCoy, the people's choice, is the only one with two.
"I don't think I'm the dumbest guy in the world. I know what the future is with the Browns. I think a lot of us [have] seen it," Delhomme said. "I came here as a 35-year-old knowing I probably won't be here for 10 years. I've enjoyed every minute I've been here."
His last year in Carolina was so ugly that Delhomme didn't enjoy any of the four wins in which he started. He will savor his first one in Cleveland -- interceptions or not.
"Certainly I think you want to limit the self-inflicted wounds as much as possible, and try to play smart football," he said. "But then again, if the play's there, you go at it."