Jake Flakes, Panthers Egg

Fourth Quarter. 3rd and Goal. Down 3 points. Touchdown would be nice. Field goal is a must. At the very least, hold on to the damn ball.

Simple, right?

Wrong. Interception. Bengals win.

The fate of the Carolina Panthers rises and falls with the performance of Jake Delhomme. This time, he egged us.

In all fairness to Jake, the Panthers indomitable defense gave up 243 yards in the second half, and the Cats lost a heartbreaker to the Cincinatti Bengals, 17-14. Yet, despite the second-half defensive meltdown, the Panthers were in a position to win or, at least, push the game into overtime. Instead, Delhomme threw a costly interception in the endzone to end the game.

It should be easy to shrug this one off. It was a road game. We'd already won 4 in a row. An AFC loss doesn't mean much as far as the playoffs are concerned. But still....this loss hurts.

Read about it at: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/football/nfl/carolina_panthers/15823766.htm