Falcons' defense was no match for Panthers

By John Delong

For the AJC

CHARLOTTE – It didn’t take the Carolina Panthers long to find the soft spot in the Falcons’ defense Sunday.

They exposed the left cornerback position early and often, and it helped set the tone for the Panthers’ 28-19 win at Bank of America Stadium.

Much-maligned quarterback Jake Delhomme directed three first-half scoring drives with touchdown passes of 4 and 1 yards to Steve Smith, and wound up completing 15 of 24 for 195 yards.

“I think Jake had a very good game,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “They managed the game very well on their side of the ball. They were able to run the ball, throw the ball, get the ball out of his hands very quickly.

“Each and every week, it’s about the matchup. We didn’t match up as well as we needed to.”

The mismatches: Smith (four catches, 34 yards) and Muhsin Muhammad (six catches, 94 yards) primarily against left cornerbacks Tye Hill and Brent Grimes. Hill started, but Grimes wound up playing the majority of the game.

“They just had a lot of quick-hitting routes,” Grimes said. “Delhomme did a lot at the line of scrimmage, did a lot of checking, and they got the ball out quick. They made a lot of quick throws, and they were right on time with the throws, and they made plays whenever it was time to make plays.”

The Panthers often went no-huddle in the first half.

“It got us going,” Delhomme said.

“Pretty much what he was doing was just reading the defense,” said Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart. “The no-huddle gets the defense tired, wears them out a little bit and takes them out of their element.”

Delhomme’s two best games of the season have come against the Falcons. He threw for 308 yards on 25 of 41 when the Falcons won 28-20 at the Georgia Dome on Sept. 20.

“They were throwing the quick stuff to Muhsin Muhammad, trying to find the matchups,” cornerback Chris Houston said. “They cut out the digs today and went more for the quick stuff. We settled down in the second half, and we got some stops on third down and got off the field. But we didn’t play as well as we played in the first game.”