With the season all but over (okay, there is still a small chance for the playoffs, as 12thomasal outlined in another fanpost), I figure we might as well look ahead to the off-season. Yeah, part of this is the pessimist in me, but we all know the season is all but lost with the loss today. At 4-7, winning out would put you at 9-7, which probably isn't enough for the playoffs anyways. And even if it was... the stretch to end the season isn't exactly a cake-walk.

Back to the topic at hand... QBs. Jake Delhomme might be the problem. He might not be (Jeff Davidson?). But the fact is, he's nearing the end, if he hasn't reached it already. His stats this year are telling. His career completion ratio is up around 60%, it's 57% this year. His TD:interception ratio is 8:18, and his 18 interceptions are tied for the league lead. He's averaged 7.26 yards/attempt in his career, and it's down to 6.57 ypa this year. He has had 3 games with 3+ ints this season (and a total of 0 TDs in those games). In the past 2 seasons, he's had 2 games with a QB rating below 13 (12.3 & 12.7, or something like that). He was the QB in the playoff game that is burned into our brains... no, not the Super Bowl, but the embarrassment last year.

So I figure... why not look at some of the options out there? There are guys available via trade. There are guys that'll be free agents. There will be options in the draft. And the Panthers need an upgrade... whether or not they address this need is still to be determined. There are, of course, other options on the team (AJ Feeley, Matt Moore, Josh McCown), but I don't believe any of them will be "the answer". That's not to imply any of the free agents/trade guys will, but they have a shot of at least momentarily stopping the bleeding. If the Panthers brass believed Moore/Feeley was the guy (McCown is out with injury), they'd already have seen the field.

One potential target is Alex Smith, a #1 pick out of Utah a couple years back. He hasn't had the career you'd hope to have from your #1 pick (which is why he might be available), but has shown flashes... especially as of late.

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After the amazing week 1, which featured the MWC Upset of the Year, week 2 was a bit of a letdown. Or maybe even more so. There was no real "upset"... TCU over Virginia was expected by most, and the closest upset almost went against the MWC (Colorado State v. Weber State). Wyoming hung close for a half but eventually fell apart, and UNLV kept things close but lost in the final seconds. And Air Force fell just a bit short in what we voted as the MWC Game of the Week.

And with Week 2 over, it's time for a Power Ranking...

Note #1:  I'm a big fan of "resume ranking"... aka, you get ranked based on what you've done, not what you might do in the future.)

Note #2: This is not a "who's the best team" ranking. It's a "who'd you beat and how'd you beat them" ranking.

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Well, that was a blast! BYU followed up Utah's thumping of 'Bama in the Sugar Bowl to end last season by beating Oklahoma (even though, as people will point out, OU only had their Heisman-caliber QB for 1 half and was without their star TE... and blah blah blah) and Colorado State handled Colorado on the road to really help the MWC out. Of course, SDSU & UNM falling ugly to UCLA & Texas A&M (respectively) didn't help matters, and nor did Wyoming just surviving Weber State, but you've gotta take what you can get.

And with Week 1 over, it's time for a Power Ranking...

Note #1:  I'm a big fan of "resume ranking"... aka, you get ranked based on what you've done, not what you might do in the future.)

Note #2: This is not a "who's the best team" ranking. It's a "who'd you beat and how'd you beat them" ranking.

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The website... http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/nba/11191/300_nba-orlandmagic_060502.asx

Jazz v. Celtics.

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