Struggling Panthers, Bucs looking ahead to next year

CHARLOTTE -- Jake Delhomme seemed surprised when reminded it was almost a year ago that Carolina and Tampa Bay met on Monday night holding identical 9-3 records with first place in the NFC South on the line.

"It was?" Delhomme said. "Wow."

A lot has happened for these franchises since, little of it involving winning games. The downtrodden Buccaneers have gone 1-14, saw their coach fired, their roster overhauled, the offensive coordinator jettisoned and the defensive coordinator demoted.

Delhomme has thrown 24 interceptions and injury-plagued Carolina has gone 6-9 since that victory on Dec. 8 vaulted them to the division title. While embattled coach John Fox has stubbornly stuck with Delhomme, a broken finger on his throwing hand will sideline him from today's rematch that provides no buzz this time around.

"It's crazy when you think about it," Delhomme said. "Both teams sitting in a great spot for a Monday night football game and to really take control of the division or get the upper hand. That's the NFL. I don't know any other way to put it."

Surpassed and buried in the division by unbeaten New Orleans, the Panthers (4-7) and Buccaneers (1-10) will spend the last month of the season evaluating who they plan to bring back in 2010.

For Tampa Bay, first-year coach Raheem Morris sees progress. Morris, who fired offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski 10 days before the start of the season, took over the defensive play-calling from Jim Bates last week and Tampa Bay nearly pulled off the upset. It took Chris Redman's 5-yard TD pass to Roddy White on fourth down with 23 seconds left for Atlanta to eke out a 20-17 win.

It marked the third time this year Tampa Bay lost on a final-minute drive, including in the first meeting with Carolina in October.

"Right now we are not going to be able to compete to be in the playoffs," Morris said. "We are not going to be able to compete to be the very best. We just have to put ourselves in the position to go out there and get to our very best. "

The Bucs have played better with Josh Freeman, who will make his fifth pro start against Carolina a week after throwing for a career-high 250 yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons.

Freeman will be the most experienced QB on the field.

Matt Moore, who has three career starts -- the last against the Bucs in the 2007 finale -- will replace Delhomme. He can't grip a football, much less throw it, after being injured in the closing minutes of Carolina's 17-6 loss to the New York Jets.

The 25-year-old Moore, who went undrafted, has completed 6 of 12 passes for 63 yards and an interception this season.

"It's my third year. I'm telling myself I'm not a young guy anymore," Moore said. "And I'm trying to convince anybody who thinks otherwise that I'm not a young guy anymore."

As in Carolina's decisive win late last season over the Bucs and in a 28-21 victory in Tampa on Oct. 18, the Panthers would like to establish their running game to take pressure off Moore. DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined for 262 yards rushing in the first meeting, including Williams' tiebreaking 1-yard TD run with 29 seconds left.

But Williams turned his ankle against the Jets and missed practice time in what's been a tumultuous week for Carolina.

On the same day an X-ray revealed Delhomme's broken finger, Pro Bowl middle linebacker Jon Beason was arrested on a misdemeanor assault charge in connection with an incident last month at a Charlotte strip club. Beason, Carolina's leading tackler, won't face any immediate discipline as he leads a defense rocked by injuries.

Tampa Bay's defense, ranked 26th overall and 30th against the run, improved with Morris in charge against the Falcons. Linebacker Barrett Ruud had 11 more tackles and has 142 on the season. Defensive end Stylez G. White had 2 1/2 of Tampa Bay's season-high six sacks.

"They actually looked like the team we played last year, that type of scheme when the head coach was the secondary coach," Panthers tight end Jeff King said.

So maybe something will look similar to last season's showdown at Bank of America Stadium, because the importance and hype will certainly be missing.

"We changed head coaches, we changed players, we changed a lot of people," Morris said. "Some of this is expected. Some of this is not wanted. We wanted to win a lot more games, obviously. We wanted to remain more competitive and we haven't been. We have to get better and that is on me."