Carolina Panthers Inside Slant

It's not quite official, but you can go ahead and pencil in Matt Moore as the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback this week against the New England Patriots.

Jake Delhomme did not practice Thursday because of a broken finger on his right hand and a source close to the situation said he won't play this week against the Patriots.

It's possible coach John Fox could list Delhomme as "out" on the injury report on Friday like he did last week.

So will he get the job back at all this year?

When asked about his philosophy on whether a player should get his starting job back when he's healthy enough to return, Fox said he largely takes it on a case-by-case basis.

"It's really not one way or the other," Fox said. "It's not automatic you get it back; it's not automatic you don't. There's not much automatic about this profession."

He went on to say, "If a guy comes back and he looks to be the best that week he comes back, then that's the guy that starts. You put out there who you think gives you the best chance to win, even just that (one) game. Sometimes the matchups are different. Sometimes different players have different strengths and weaknesses, so whatever matches up for that opponent I think is the route you go."

Meanwhile, running back DeAngelo Williams practiced for a second straight day on Thursday and should be good to go this week against New England.

Moore has only four career starts, so it's not a surprise he's still working on his confidence.

Case in point: Last Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Faced with a third-and-4 from the Bucs' 7-yard line and with the option to run or pass, Moore went with a handoff instead of throwing a fade route to Steve Smith or Muhsin Muhammad, both of whom had man-to-man coverage on the outside.

Given the defensive alignment, the result was fairly predictable as Jonathan Stewart was stopped two yards shy of the first down forcing the Panthers to settle for a 23-yard field goal. Given Carolina's opponent, it wasn't a bad call. Tampa Bay was having trouble putting points on the board and the field goal made it a two-possession game at 16-6 with 7:20 left. But Moore has been regretting the decision all week.

"As soon as I didn't make that call (to throw), I was walking off the field like 'You've got to trust yourself and go with it and make a big play,'" Moore said. "I think you've just got to go with it. Trust what you see and go with it. Make the call and move on."

The play call -- a third straight run up the gut -- left the home crowd grumbling at Fox and offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson, even though it Moore who decided to go with the run.

"I didn't take a chance there and I wish I would have," Moore said. "I wanted the guaranteed points. I figured we're in field-goal range, we're going to put three points up, go up by two scores. ... But that's a decision I wish I would have made differently."

When Moore got to the sidelines quarterback coach Rip Scherer questioned the decision, telling Moore, "What's going on? That's the look we wanted."

But Moore couldn't pull the trigger. He said he won't make that mistake again.

You can't completely blame Moore for taking the conservative approach, especially after watching starter Delhomme throw 18 interceptions this season. Delhomme has thrown three pick-sixes this season that affected the outcome of games. And, given this was Moore's first start in two years, it's OK to cut the kid some slack.

"I don't know," Moore said when asked why he went with the run. "I knew we were down there, and I didn't want to do anything to take us out of there. I wanted to put points on the board -- that was my whole deal. I came back and explained that to them, and they understood, but it's just being weak, I guess. I don't know. I thought we had a good shot to run it in."

Growing pains are expected with young quarterbacks and Moore's decision didn't hurt the Panthers.

But it's pretty clear the team wants him to have confidence to throw the tough passes at tough situations. He'll need to learn to do that, especially against teams that are more adept at scoring points like Carolina's next four opponents -- the New England Patriots, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints.

"I think it's a live-and-learn kind of deal," said receiver Muhsin Muhammad. "At that point in the game it wasn't a bad decision to run the ball because you can possibly get a score on the run and field goal gives you three guaranteed points and at that point it puts them two scores behind. Quarterbacks typically want to throw the ball when they get a chance. He just decided not to. As he matures in the offense he'll get better at reading the defense."

SERIES HISTORY: 4th regular season meeting. Panthers lead series 2-1. In the last meeting on Sept. 18, 2005, the Panthers limited the Patriots to 39 yards rushing and turned two Patriot turnovers into 10 points to earn a 27-17 victory. The big play came when Mike Rucker sacked Tom Brady and Julius Peppers recovered at the 12-yard line. Stephen Davis put the game away with his third rushing touchdown of the game. The win improved the Panthers to 7-2 overall when facing a defending Super Bowl champion.