QB Rushing Yards vs. Scrambling Yards

[KB_fan]

Nice write up by Tim Weaver at USA Today's Panthers Wire:

http://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2016/06/08/cam-newton-still-making-strides-in-rushing-game/

It analyzes the development of Cam's rushing game.   A few excerpts:

Quote

The 2015 league MVP is widely regarded as the best mobile quarterback in the game. Last season Newton out-rushed every other QB by 68 yards and scored 10 touchdowns, almost twice as much as Jameis Winston (six). Only Russell Wilson (5.4) and Tyrod Taylor (5.5) averaged more yards per rush.

Quote

 

It’s easy to ooh and aah over a mobile quarterback breaking off a big run, but one area that’s important to keep in mind is how often they scramble and if they may have been better served to stay in the pocket.

Almost anybody (Colin Kaepernick comes to mind) can lead all quarterbacks in rushing yards if he rolls out of the pocket every time his first read isn’t open. It takes something truly special to decide whether a run or a pass is the right call. Historically, very few NFL quarterbacks have had the ability to do either and the wisdom to know which.

 

Quote

 

Cam Newton appears to be following [Steve] Young’s lead, and what set him apart from the other great running quarterbacks last season was the discretion that he showed.

Take this stat by Pro Football Focus, for example. It shows the four quarterbacks who scrambled most often last year. You will see some familiar names listed:

 

Quote

 

Notice who’s missing?

Newton scrambled less often in 2015 than in the past for a number of reasons. First and foremost, he got better protection from Carolina’s offensive line than he ever has in his career.

More importantly, Newton showed more patience in the pocket

 

 

Encouraging reading.  It's worth reading the whole entry...

http://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2016/06/08/cam-newton-still-making-strides-in-rushing-game/

[KSpan]

I think his protection was generally as good, if not better with Gross at LT in certain situations, throughout 2011-2013 as it was in 2015 (we won't bring up 2014). Compared to most of 2014 the OL was definitely improved, but Cam's development had an awful lot to do with his pocket production.

[GoobyPls]

It's not that surprising considering Cam built like a brick sh*thouse, it's harder for him to scramble. Those other guys are slender or short.

[KB_fan]

7 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

It's not that surprising considering Cam built like a brick sh*thouse, it's harder for him to scramble. Those other guys are slender or short.

Except, I think the point is that Cam used to scramble much more in previous seasons, and now he's more patient in the pocket.

Here's an article from June 2014 which talks about Cam's athleticism, but some of his poor decision-making

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/06/05/andrew-luck-russell-wilson-colin-kaepernick-robert-griffin-cam-newtown-running-quarterbacks-analysis

If you read that compared with the new article, you get a sense of Cam's progress as a passer.

[GoobyPls]

9 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

Except, I think the point is that Cam used to scramble much more in previous seasons, and now he's more patient in the pocket.

Here's an article from June 2014 which talks about Cam's athleticism, but some of his poor decision-making

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/06/05/andrew-luck-russell-wilson-colin-kaepernick-robert-griffin-cam-newtown-running-quarterbacks-analysis

If you read that compared with the new article, you get a sense of Cam's progress as a passer.

Cam scrambled the second least amount of the QBs listed, so he's never been that much of a scrambler to begin with.

 

That article is extremely bias, none of the sacks Luck took were his fault, which is a blatant lie

[KB_fan]

18 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

That article is extremely bias, none of the sacks Luck took were his fault, which is a blatant lie

Agree that MMQB article is sickeningly pro-Luck, but I do think the "eye-test" shows there's been real development with Cam going through his reads and needing to scramble less due to broken plays.   Obviously the improvement of our O-line has been a big part of that, at least in comparing 2014 to 2015.