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Lions wary of Cam Newton's running: 'I don’t think he can beat us throwing the ball'

rayzor

By rayzor,
in Carolina Panthers

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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via Detroit Free Press

actually pretty favorable and true thoughts on Cam and the O.

they see what several others have seen, that our offense is better when Cam runs. When he's prevented from running and they can shut down our run game, we're not that hard to beat.

they see him as a real threat and that when our run game is going it really opens up our passing game.

their goal is to make the offense one dimensional, esp. shutting down cam as a runner.

what they don't know is that shula could do that for them.

Quote

 Lions defensive tackle Akeem Spence, who played Newton twice a year as rivals in the NFC South the last four seasons, said he's seen a shift in both the Panthers' and Newton's approach to the game.

"I feel like, yeah, he’s kind of slowed down from (when I was) in Tampa, seeing him pull that zone read many a times and taking it for 80," Spence said. "I’m not really seeing him pull it as much because they’ve been, the offensive line, they’ve been doing a good job of getting on the edge and sealing guys where the running back’s able to get to the middle of the field and just break it big. So that’s something that we’re going to have to definitely be on."

Jonathan Stewart leads the Panthers with 230 yards rushing and rookie first-round pick Christian McCaffrey has a team-high 22 catches, but Spence and others agree that stopping Newton remains a defense's No. 1 priority.

"When they can run the ball, his pass game kind of opens up and they got the guys in Kelvin Benjamin, (Devin) Funchess, that can go up and just climb the ladder," Spence said. "They say Cam doesn’t have great accuracy but he has the receivers that can go up and climb the ladder for it. We just got to be on our details, man, cause I don’t want him going in that pass game. I don’t. I’m going to be miserable."

Safety Tavon Wilson said Newton's presence makes the Panthers a more difficult team to defend in the run game than the Arizona Cardinals, who featured David Johnson, the Minnesota Vikings, who had Dalvin Cook, or the Atlanta Falcons, with Devonta Freeman.


Johnson had just 23 yards rushing on 11 carries before leaving with a wrist injury. Cook managed 66 yards on 13 carries before tearing his ACL. And Freeman had 106 yards on 21 carries as the Falcons handed the Lions their only loss of the season.

"You got to wrap him up and bring him to the ground," safety Tavon Wilson said. "I think he’s a big, tough, strong guy. He can take any of our hits. We’re not bigger than him, we’re probably not stronger than him so we really got to wrap him up and get him on the ground and not try to go in there and throw a shoulder and show how tough we are because it probably won’t work."
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Spence said Newton, who he compared to a defensive end playing the quarterback position, only faster, is just as dangerous as when he won NFL MVP two years ago.
"He’s just so big and then when guys do get to him, one hand, that’s not going to be enough," Spence said. "And then sometimes, even if a guy does get their whole body and take a shot, sometimes that’s not enough. So you might need one, two, three guys to bring him down cause he’s that type of athlete.

"We just got to be on our A game. He’s not unbeatable. We seen Von Miller and the guys do it in the Super Bowl, so we just fluster him in the pass game, fluster him in the run game to where he’s one dimensional and I don’t think he can beat us throwing the ball."

 

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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Just now, Daeavorn said:

They are kind of right though. This week Cam had a good game and he rushed more times than weeks 1-3 combined. If they shut down his running he may have a bad day passing.

yeah, they aren't saying anything that we haven't noticed. Cam is better and the offense really opens up when Cam is a significant part of the run game.

the threat has to be made real for defenses to worry about him.

with Cam as a threat as a rusher and CMC as a threat as a receiver that can line up anywhere, dfenses really have to pick their poison and concentrate on one or the other...or both and that really opens things up for plays like what Fozzy scored on.

if they (or we) shut down cam as a runner, it's not looking good for us.

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ecu88 Newbie

ecu88

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4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

As much as anything, I think Cam just settles into the game better when he's doing some running. That's just who he is. It's part of his game. 

Nothing wrong with that except stereotyping ol' buzzards who like statues for Qbs. 

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mcdougal Newbie

mcdougal

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If the Panthers wanted to win shootouts and go toe to toe with the best offenses in the league...the Panthers should have built an offense for that. Instead, the Panthers built an offense that is supposed to compliment the defense...so did Seattle...and to a lesser extent Denver. So these weekly threads about what Cam/the offense will or will not do while we basically ignore if our defense is going to stop the opposing offense is kinda pointless. 

As I said before the Saints game...Panther's nation really needs to stop focusing on what the offense is going to do or not do. That is not how this Panthers team was built. The front office, Ron, JR, hell even Shula knows that defense...defense is what determines how successful 2017 will be. And it has been that way since 2013.

The fact of the matter is that the Panthers did not build a team around Newton...they really built it around Luke...So, each and every week it is up to our defense to stop the opposing offense/QB from dominating the game.

 

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