NFL ROUNDUP \ News and notes

Panthers: Jake Delhomme stood in the middle of Carolina's locker room Monday afternoon with a large ice pack on his sprained right thumb. The Panthers' quarterback appeared to be far away from returning to the field, but he remains adamant about wanting to return to play this season -- even though the Panthers' playoff hopes are bleak. "I don't care if we're out of it or not, you want to play," Delhomme said. "You want to get back in and play." But Delhomme acknowledged he still can't grip a football, much less throw it. Delhomme, who suffered ligament damage when his hand hit a defensive lineman's helmet in Carolina's loss to Philadelphia on Dec. 4, hasn't practiced or played in two weeks. "I thought it was [getting better], but it took some trauma in there and there's a ton of swelling," Delhomme said. "It's not just a muscle. It's frustrating because you think you can come back quicker. You want to be out there. Things are not good right now. Everybody knows that. You want to be out there to try to help when you can. You feel helpless." In the two games he's missed, both losses, backup Chris Weinke has thrown one touchdown pass and four interceptions and been sacked seven times.
Giants: With the losses piling up the last five weeks, coach Tom Coughlin has stood in front of the New York Giants after each setback and reminded them that they still controlled their playoff destiny. After losing for the fifth time in six games on Sunday with a 36-22 loss to Philadelphia, the Giants suddenly don't control their postseason hopes. Forget that New York holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Atlanta (7-7) for the NFC's second wild card berth heading into the final two weeks of the season. The Giants can beat New Orleans on Sunday and then close out the season at Washington with another win, and miss the playoffs. Here's how it works. Philadelphia (8-6) wins at Dallas on Christmas night and then loses at home to Atlanta on Dec. 31. The Falcons also have to win this weekend against Carolina and the Cowboys must beat Detroit on Dec. 31. The cumulative result is Dallas wins the NFC East with a 10-6 record and Philadelphia, Atlanta and the Giants tie for the wild card berths at 9-7. Under NFL rules in a three-team tie for the wild card, if there are two teams from the same division that tie must be broken first. Since they split the season series, the Eagles get the edge over the Giants on division record (5-1 vs. 4-2). Atlanta then wins the tiebreaker with Philadelphia based on winning the head-to-head matchup on the final day of the season. The Eagles and Giants are then matched up for the second wild card berth and Philadelphia wins again based on better division record. There also are a couple of ways that the Giants can clinch a playoff berth this weekend. First: the Giants beat New Orleans, Minnesota loses or tie at Green Bay, Atlanta loses to Carolina, Philadelphia win or ties at Dallas on Christmas and Seattle wins or ties at home against San Diego. Second: the Giants win, Minnesota loses or ties, Atlanta loses, Philadelphia wins or ties and San Francisco loses or ties against Arizona.
Jaguars: The Jacksonville Jaguars expect to have rookie running back Maurice Drew back in the lineup Sunday against New England. They're not so sure about Fred Taylor. Drew and Taylor, who have combined to have he Jaguars ranked second in the league in rushing, were hurt in Sunday's 24-17 loss at Tennessee. Taylor re-injured his right hamstring on his second run of the game -- a 35-yard gain in the first quarter -- and did not return. Drew jammed his knee in the fourth quarter on a 37-yard reception. He hobbled toward the sideline and was helped off the field. X-rays were negative. "The news that I got back was that he was feeling better than anticipated and that we expected to have him this week, so that was good news," coach Jack Del Rio said. "He was moving around [Monday] and feeling pretty good." Taylor has 1,120 yards rushing and five touchdowns this season. Drew has 764 yards on the ground, 379 yards receiving, 731 return yards and 13 total touchdowns.
Dolphins: Next year is about to begin for the Dolphins. "It's disappointing, but we're not discouraged about what need to do and what we have to do," Saban said Monday, a day after the Dolphins' slim playoff hopes officially ended with a 21-0 loss in Buffalo. "Everybody is going to get pretty much evaluated on how they manage the circumstance that we're in." The Dolphins will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season -- a first in franchise history. Not even the infancy of the Miami franchise prompted such a drought; the Dolphins played in the divisional playoffs in 1970, five seasons into their existence. Saban also could finish with a losing record for the first time in his career. He coached a pair of 6-6 teams at Michigan State; each of his other teams there, at Toledo, at LSU and last season in Miami all finished over .500. The best Miami can hope for now is 8-8 -- and to get there, the Dolphins will need to beat the Jets at home on Christmas night, then beat Indianapolis in the Dec. 31 finale. The plan is to keep Joey Harrington at quarterback. Harrington completed 5 of 17 passes for 20 yards with two interceptions on Sunday, numbers that add up to a passer rating of 0.0.
Cardinals: Tight end Adam Bergen will miss the final two games of the season after injuring his left knee in Sunday's loss to Denver. Coach Dennis Green said Monday that it hadn't been determined whether the injury would require surgery. Bergen, in his second season out of Lehigh, caught 15 passes for 111 yards and one touchdown this season. He signed with Arizona as an undrafted free agent in 2005 and started nine games as a rookie. Green said the Cardinals might bring John Bronson off the practice squad to back up starter Leonard Pope.
Associated Press
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