CHARLOTTE -- A seventh loss before December, four interceptions and a 12.7 passer rating made Sunday painful enough for quarterback Jake Delhomme. But matters were compounded by a broken finger on his right hand, which head coach John Fox said Delhomme incurred with 2:24 remaining in Sunday's 24-7 loss to the New York Jets.
"I think he got caught a hand caught in between his fingers and (the finger) moved in an (abnormal) direction," Fox said.
Delhomme did complete the pass -- a 24-yard, fourth-and-14 heave that
Fox announced the injury at his Monday afternoon press conference.
"It got sore overnight and was definitely sore this morning," Fox said. "The doctors took a look at it today."
Delhomme will be classified as "day-to-day," but Fox believed that it would be unlikely for him to practice Wednesday when the Panthers begin preparations for next Sunday's game against Tampa Bay.
"We'll see what he can take and can't take. I'd say he'd be pretty hard-pressed to take snaps Wednesday (at practice)," Fox said.
After Sunday's game, Fox said that he would evaluate the entire offense after it struggled to just 176 yards, its lowest output since the Week 1 loss to Philadelphia. The team averaged just 2.8 yards per play and closed the game with just one conversion in its final 13 third downs after successfully converting its first three.
"If (Delhomme's) finger wasn't an issue, I couldn't with a straight face make a change just to him," Fox said. "That was a combined effort by the offensive players -- not just one player -- just for the record. And I would say we get a chance to research those things. It was poor (play), not just by the quarterback."
Delhomme missed three games with a thumb injury in December 2006 and then sat out 13 games the following season with a torn ligament in his right elbow, but has started the Panthers' last 28 games in succession, including postseason.
Fox said after Sunday's loss that he contemplated inserting backup quarterback
Moore last started in December 2007, when he worked the final three games of the regular season -- all against playoff-bound teams. Carolina won two; the defeats of Seattle and Tampa Bay sandwiched a home loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
"He stepped in and did a pretty decent job," Fox said. "We've had more time with him now."
DELHOMME'S INJURY WASN'T THE ONLY ONE announced by Fox on Monday; he also said that running back
Williams hobbled off the field under his own power late in the third quarter, but returned early in the fourth quarter as the Panthers mounted what turned out to be their final scoring drive of the afternoon.
