Delhomme not getting any respect

There always seems to be one team that feels it doesn't get the proper respect they deserve coming into the Super Bowl. This year, that team is undoubtedly the Carolina Panthers, led by journeyman quarterback Jake Delhomme.

Now the starting quarterback on a team in the Super Bowl, Delhomme can't get any respect. People think he's this year's Trent Dilfer, who was the starting quarterback on the defensive-led Baltimore Ravens 2001 Super Bowl Champion squad.

Since the first game of this season, Delhomme has led the obscure Panthers franchise to the NFC Championship.

In week one, the Panthers were being manhandled by the Jacksonville Jaguars and were down 17-0 in the third quarter. Then, Delhomme came in and replaced veteran Rodney Peete and led the Carolina offense to 18 straight points and an exciting 24-23 win.

Some of the skepticism about Delhomme, 29, comes from his being a virtual unknown coming into this season, as the Panthers signed him as a free agent in the offseason.

Prior to that, he had spent his four previous seasons with the New Orleans Saints as a backup.

Another reason for the skepticism against him was that Carolina is a run-first team behind stalwart backs Stephen Davis and Dashaun Foster.

In addition, the Panther's were the sixth best defensive team in the NFL.

However, the comparisons to Dilfer's Super Bowl run, meaning that he has not been a focal point of the Panthers, aren't at all true.

This is because Dilfer only had 1,502 passing yards during the 2000-01 Ravens championship season, which pales in comparison to Delhomme's 3,219 in all 16 games this year.

Delhomme has played brilliantly in the playoffs, as the Panthers exposed a very weak NFC. He has consistently found his main two receivers, Mushin Muhammad and Steven Smith, for timely touchdown passes, and has completed more than 60% of his passes in all three playoff games.

Carolina is 10-3 in games that have been determined by six points or less this year. In the Panthers five victories versus Jacksonville, Tampa bay, Washington, Arizona, and most notably in the playoffs, against St. Louis, where he threw the gaming 69-yard pass to Smith, he brought his team back for come from behind victories in the second half.

As University of Nebraska Cornhusker fans can attest, a run-first team cannot come from behind without a strong-throwing quarterback.

No, Jake Delhomme hasn't lit the world on fire, but he has made the best of a situation.

He earned the starting job after the first game of the season, and since that time, has outperformed all the quarterbacks in the NFC and led his team to the Super Bowl.

On Sunday, we will find out if Delhomme can lead Cinderella the rest of the way to the Championship ball.