EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- In what seemed like a rerun that was never supposed to re-air, quarterback Jake Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers' offense couldn't muster up enough points to defeat a New York Jets team that looked plenty beatable Sunday at Giants Stadium.
With Delhomme suffering a relapse of his early-season turnover tendencies, the Panthers didn't score a touchdown in their 17-6 loss and managed a mere 179 yards of total offense, fewest since their season-opening blowout loss to Philadelphia.
"It was pretty ugly," said wide receiver Steve Smith.
"We played horrible," said fullback Brad Hoover.
Coach John Fox vowed to evaluate the offense this week and to make lineup changes if necessary, including at quarterback.
"We've got to look at who's out there, what we're doing and get better," he said.
"We'll look at all phases of the offense and you guys will find out when we decide."
Delhomme's passer rating of 12.7 was his second worst in seven seasons with the Panthers, trailing only the 12.3 he posted in a win at Oakland last year.
He completed 14 of 34 passes (41.2 percent) for 130 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions, matching the season high he had against the Eagles.
"It wasn't good," said Delhomme. "I don't know any other way to put it. We really didn't run it well (75 yards). We certainly didn't throw it well."
Delhomme's status as the starting quarterback once again is in question. He said he assumed Fox would re-evaluate the position and admitted he didn't know how that would turn out.
Fox acknowledged he considered benching Delhomme during the game in favor of Matt Moore.
"There was discussion about it," said Fox. "But overall, we felt like Jake was the best guy to be in there for what we were doing in this game, and that's what we did."
Asked if he thought the Panthers' reluctance to turn to Moore revealed a lack of confidence in the third-year backup, Fox said, "I don't think that's accurate."
Delhomme's accuracy problems were a big part of his poor day, but his most damaging interception apparently wasn't his fault.
With the Panthers facing third-and-9 at the New York 39 on the game's opening possession, Delhomme was operating out of the no-huddle offense and called a play at the line of scrimmage that was designed for Smith to run a slant route.
Delhomme threw in Smith's direction, but Smith continued running and didn't look back for the ball.
That set in motion one of the most bizarre plays in franchise history. The ball hit Smith's foot and ricocheted into the hands of Jets' cornerback Darrelle Revis, who intercepted it and had clear sailing for a 67-yard touchdown return.
"We've been working on that deflection-off-the-heel play for a while now," joked Jets coach Rex Ryan, whose team improved to 5-6.
It wasn't amusing to the Panthers, who fell to 4-7 and now could be headed to the first season with double-digit losses in Fox's eight seasons as coach.
"It went on par (with how) the season has kind of gone," Delhomme said of the play.
Fox defended Delhomme's culpability on the play.
"I think that was a miscommunication by our receiver, (who) ran the wrong route, but like always, usually the quarterback gets that in his record as far as the interception," said Fox. "But we didn't have the right route on and it was poor execution."
Smith said he ran the route he thought he was supposed to run, but took responsibility for his mistake.
"It was an error by me," he said. "I ran the wrong route and as a result, the ball hit my foot. The chances of the ball hitting your foot and popping up ... it's just one of those things. When it rains, it pours."
Indeed. Delhomme was drenched by the end of the game. He had his fifth multi-interception game of the season to raise his season total to a career high 18 picks - with five games still to play.
The most interceptions he'd previously thrown was 16 in 2003 and '05. The Panthers made the playoffs both of those seasons, but essentially are eliminated now.
Delhomme said this is by far his most frustrating season - so much so that any other year is "not even (on) the same planet" by comparison.
Delhomme's last interception of the game came in the final minutes when he was trying to make a play deep, but his other two were the result of poor throws that happened in a span of less than three minutes late in the second period.
With 4:25 remaining before halftime, Smith was open down the right sidelines, with at least a step on Revis, but Delhomme's pass was short and Revis caught it.
"Obviously, for whatever reason, I couldn't get enough on it or couldn't finish it," said Delhomme.
The Jets looked poised to score as a result of the turnover, but lost the ball at the Carolina 26 when defensive end Julius Peppers forced a fumble that linebacker Jon Beason recovered.
Three plays later, with 1:48 left in the half, Delhomme's pass to Muhammad was off target and safety Kerry Rhodes intercepted at the Panthers' 49 and returned it to the 38.
"They were coming with pressure," Delhomme said of the Jets. "Kerry Rhodes, I think came from outside the left hash. I (was) trying to hit a glance route to Moose. I guess it just kind of floated."
The Jets converted the turnover into their only other touchdown of the game. .The score came on a 3-yard run by Thomas Jones.
This game was like a repeat of Carolina's 20-9 loss to Buffalo on Oct. 25, when two Delhomme interceptions led to the Bills' only TDs.
That's been the story of his season. Of his 18 interceptions, three have been returned for touchdowns, six more resulted in TDs and another led to a field goal.
The Panthers return home next Sunday to play 1-10 Tampa Bay, then finish with the most difficult four-game stretch of their season against the Patriots (7-3), Vikings (10-1), Giants (6-5) and Saints (10-0).
Despite the fact there season is a major disappointment, Fox continues to press them forward.
"You just keep fighting," he said. "That's all you can do."
