Disastrous outing for Delhomme, Panthers

CHARLOTTE -- It’s over. All that’s left for the Carolina Panthers after a shocking 33-7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Saturday night’s home playoff game is to clean out their lockers and start their vacation.

After compiling an 8-0 record at Bank of America Stadium during the regular season, the Panthers suffered an embarrassing – bordering on nightmarish – 33-13 defeat to an Arizona team that came in as a 10-point underdog with an 0-5 East Coast record this season.

Gone is Carolina’s dream of either hosting the NFC championship game next week or traveling to the Meadowlands for a rematch against the New York Giants.

Remember this as the snapshot moment that told the story: Quarterback Jake Delhomme dejectedly walking off the field early in the fourth quarter, putting his hands inside his helmet to rub his face after throwing the fourth of his career-worst five – yes, five! – interceptions.

This was hardly the way Charlotte area fans who spent all day Saturday brimming with excitement expected the Panthers’ playoff experience to go.

Delhomme had tried to complete the pass to receiver Steve Smith in the end zone, but as was the case for most of the night, Smith was well-covered and Delhomme tried to force the ball to him anyway.

Delhomme had said last week that if Carolina lost this game, its season would be a waste. The Panthers went 12-4 in the regular season and won the NFC South Division, but now will watch other teams fight it out for the Super Bowl championship.

Arizona (11-7) moves on to the first NFC title game in franchise history.

These three Cardinals were superb: Quarterback Kurt Warner, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

Warner, Delhomme’s former NFL Europe teammate, looked as sharp as he did back in his days with the St. Louis Rams.

Fitzgerald was a Carolina killer, especially in the first half, when he had 151 yards receiving.

Rodgers-Cromartie, a rookie who was a first-round draft pick, put the clamps on Smith, holding the Panthers’ electrifying Pro Bowl receiver to one catch. In Carolina’s last game, a win at New Orleans, Smith had joked that Saints cornerback Jason David was a shutdown cornerback in the popcorn league. In Rodgers-Cromartie, he faced an emerging shutdown corner in the biggest of leagues.

The night started with so much promise for Carolina – Mark Jones’ 39-yard kickoff return to midfield, DeAngelo Williams’ 31-yard run and Jonathan Stewart’s 9-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening possession.

With three minutes and four seconds elapsed, Carolina led 7-0 and the home fans were in a frenzy, waving white towels and cheering wildly.

At that time, who could have imagined that with 12 – yes, 12! – minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, thousands of fans already would have left because the Cardinals were so much in control of the game.

Arizona seized control when, on third-and-1 from its 49, quarterback Kurt Warner completed a 41-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald, who jumped high to catch the ball over defenders Ken Lucas and Charles Godfrey.

Rookie Tim Hightower scored three plays later to tie the score and the Cardinals got the ball back 10 seconds later when Arizona defensive end forced a Delhomme fumble and recovered it at the Panthers’ 13.

A 9-yard pass from Warner to Edgerrin James and James 4-yard touchdown run made it 14-7 and the rout was on.

By halftime, the Cardinals were ahead 27-7 and had put the Panthers in uncharted territory.

Carolina never had come from as many as 20 points behind to win, and it didn’t happen on this night either.

Though the Panthers tried to make halftime adjustments, they didn’t work.

The tough, hard truth is that Delhomme was awful from start to finish. He completed only two passes to Smith, his Pro Bowl receiver, and the first didn’t come until the final minute of the third quarter after the Cardinals were ahead by 23.