EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- In what seemed like a rerun that was never supposed to be seen again, 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 produced a mere 179 yards of total offense, the fewest since their season-opening blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
"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, if necessary, to make lineup changes, including a possible change 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 over the Raiders at Oakland last season.
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," the quarterback said. "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 again is in question. He said he assumed Fox would 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," Fox said. "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 cornerback Darrelle Revis, who intercepted it and had clear sailing for a 67-yard touchdown return for the Jets (5-6).
"We've been working on that deflection-off-the-heel play for a while now," Jets coach Rex Ryan joked.
It wasn't amusing to the Panthers, who are 4-7 and 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," Fox said. "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 he 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."
And Delhomme was drenched by game's end. He had his fifth multi-interception game of the season, sending his season total to a career-high 18 interceptions - with five games still to play.
The most interceptions he had thrown in a season was 16 in 2003 and in 2005. The Panthers made the playoffs both of those seasons, but they essentially are eliminated now.
This game was like a repeat of Carolina's 20-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 25, when two Delhomme interceptions led to the Bills' only TDs.
The Panthers return home next Sunday to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-10), then finish with the most difficult four-game stretch of their season against the New England Patriots (7-3), Minnesota Vikings (10-1), New York Giants (6-5) and New Orlenas 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."
