CHARLOTTE, N .C. — Five interceptions.

Those will be the two words that define Arizona's 33-13 thumping of Carolina in the NFC playoffs Saturday night for years to come.

Five interceptions.

Remarkable, really. No Carolina Panthers quarterback had ever thrown five interceptions in a game before — not in the team's 14-year existence.

But Jake Delhomme looked Saturday like he had never played football before. He was the primary reason Carolina lost at home by 20 to a team I still think it could beat six times out of 10, assuming Delhomme ever found his way out of the wilderness.

Add in the fumble Delhomme lost — that was the one that started it all — and that's six turnovers.

"I should get the blame," Delhomme said. "It's inexcusable. It's disappointing."

It got so bad Delhomme was apologizing to his teammates in the huddle — while the game was still going on.

By then it was the fourth quarter, and it was raining, and at least 90 percent of the stands at Bank of America Stadium were empty. Unbelievable.

Five interceptions.

It has to be the worst birthday Delhomme ever had. He turned 34 on Saturday.

It was an unforgettable birthday, certainly, but for all the wrong reasons. No. 17 passed out those interceptions like they were party favors.

Over and over, Delhomme locked in on receiver Steve Smith. Over and over, Arizona picked Delhomme off.

Give the Cardinals' defenders credit—they caught everything. If that had been the Panthers' defensive backfield, at least three of those would have been dropped.

But the Cardinals played beautifully, and Delhomme and his team played terribly, and so the Panthers lost by 20 in a game in which they were favored by nine.

Still, the Panthers expressed faith in Delhomme afterward.

"Jake is a hell of a quarterback who had a rough night," Panthers coach John Fox said.

And while Fox said he can't predict the future, he also said, "That's kind of what my thinking is" when asked if Delhomme would be his starting quarterback in 2009.

Said Steve Smith of Delhomme after a game in which Smith didn't make his first catch until late in the third quarter: "That's my quarterback. That's the guy I stand behind."

We saw Saturday night why Kurt Warner started in front of Delhomme for the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe in 1998. Warner is a classic dropback quarterback. Delhomme is a gunslinger. A risk-taker. Often, those risks work.

Saturday, I can't remember a single one that did—not when it mattered, anyway.

Delhomme fell on the sword afterward, taking the blame for everything that happened. In a matter-of-fact voice, he said he felt worse about his performance in this game than any other game he had ever played at any level.

"Not even close," he said.

And: "I didn't give us a chance tonight."

And: "It wasn't our night. It wasn't mine—that's for sure."

Delhomme remains the quarterback that took Carolina to the Super Bowl after the 2003 season, the NFC Championship Game two years later and to a 12-4 regular-season record this season.

We all saw what the Panthers looked like without him in 2007.

But we also all know that there is a Good Jake and a Bad Jake—who appeared in the playoffs once before, when Delhomme threw three interceptions at Seattle in the 2005 NFC title game.

And although Bad Jake hasn't climbed out of his dungeon very often this season, he reappeared Saturday.

And he ruled the night.