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Turner through the eyes of people he's worked with

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

Posted
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From Person: Prior colleagues talk about Norv Turner

The article includes insight from former Vikings QB Sage Rosenfels, Chargers QB Philip Rivers, former Panthers OC Rob Chudzinski, and of course Ron Rivera.

Excerpts...

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When former NFL quarterback Sage Rosenfels watched the Carolina Panthers play the New Orleans Saints in an NFC wild-card game last weekend, he was struck by the differences between the two quarterbacks.

Rosenfels wasn’t talking about the production of the Panthers’ Cam Newton and the Saints’ Drew Brees, but the way each dropped back in the pocket.

He saw an urgency in Brees, while Newton’s drops were slower and more deliberate.

As much anything related to Norv Turner’s scheme and play-calling, Rosenfels believes the Panthers’ newly hired offensive coordinator will create a greater sense of urgency in Newton.

 

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“Cam has twice the talent of a Drew Brees – stronger arm, physically, just a lot of those skills. But it doesn’t feel like to me that he brings that same energy that his teammates can feed off,” Rosenfels said.

“It’s not necessarily X’s-and-O’s. But maybe Norv can help him bring that type of tenacity and energy to not only make Cam better and take less hits, but make his teammates around him better.”

 

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Rivera said he expects Turner – whose son Scott will be the Panthers’ new quarterbacks coach – to take Newton’s performance to “another level.”

Rosenfels, who was with Miami for two seasons when Turner was the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, said Turner will hold Newton accountable.

“Norv’s demanding. He feels strongly about his offense. He feels strongly about the plays he has designed over the years, helped design, and the way he sees the game,” Rosenfels said. “And he wants that offense to run smooth and be very precise, and that starts with the quarterback being very precise.

“He puts the most pressure on the quarterback more than any other position, without a doubt.”

 

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Rivera was on Turner’s San Diego staff early in Rivers’ career. The former N.C. State quarterback appreciated Turner’s straightforward approach when they would discuss the passing game.

“I remember early conversations where it was, ‘I don’t know. Look out there. The guy’s open. Just throw the ball,” Rivers told Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback for a video piece on Turner last year.

“People make it way too complicated. There are some common-sense elements to it,” Turner said in the same video. “There are progressions, but sometimes common sense overrides the progressions.”

 

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But it’s not as if Turner ignores his running backs.

His system produced the NFL’s leading rusher six times, with Emmitt Smith (1991-93), Ricky Williams (2002), LaDainian Tomlinson (2007) and Adrian Peterson (2015).

“He’s had a tremendous amount of success running the football. Look what he did with Emmitt when he was at Dallas. Look at what he did with L.T. (and the Chargers’) Michael Turner,” Rivera said. “He’s had some tools and some weapons. I want to see us a little more true to that style of football.”

Asked to expand, Rivera said: “Physical up front, grinding the ball, a little bit more individual matchups.”

 

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Rosenfels, the former quarterback who now does a daily Vikings podcast, expects Turner to try to create 1-on-1 matchups for running back Christian McCaffrey in much the way Turner did for Darren Sproles in San Diego.

And to be fair, Rosenfels said Shula also put McCaffrey in space and tried to get him favorable matchups during McCaffrey’s rookie season.

But after the Panthers’ offense in general – and Newton in particular – backslid the past two seasons, Rivera thought it was time for a change and fired Shula and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey last week.

Former NFL defensive back Ronde Barber thinks Panthers tight end Greg Olsen and running back Jonathan Stewart, assuming he’s back next season, also provide Turner weapons to work with.

“The team has all the components he likes – namely a tough runner, a vertical tight end and a good scatback,” said Barber, a Fox analyst. “He was the first to unleash Sproles in that role.”

 

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But Turner’s tenure with Carolina likely will be defined by how Newton performs.

“He’s coached all different types of quarterbacks. He’s made a ton of successful quarterbacks,” Chudzinski said. “He just has a way of taking things that are complex and simplifying them and making the game easy. Letting guys go out and play, not be robots and let them do what they do best.”

In Newton’s case, Rosenfels believes that’s going to involve a lot of vertical passes to take advantage of Newton’s strong arm, which were a staple of Chudzinski’s attack during the quarterback’s first two seasons.

“Norv’s core belief is he would like to push the ball downfield. I don’t think Norv is trying to set a record for 75 percent completion percentage. He also doesn’t want it to be a 50 percent completion percentage,” Rosenfels said. “He thinks you have to attack a defense and put a defense on its heels by pushing the envelope down the field.”

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DaveThePanther2008 Grand Master

DaveThePanther2008

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37 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Former NFL defensive back Ronde Barber thinks Panthers tight end Greg Olsen and running back Jonathan Stewart, assuming he’s back next season, also provide Turner weapons to work with.

“The team has all the components he likes – namely a tough runner, a vertical tight end and a good scatback,” said Barber, a Fox analyst. “He was the first to unleash Sproles in that role.”

This was the first thing that came to my mind as well.   Stewart, Olsen and CMC along with Cam could be the most dangerous group he has ever coached considering Cam as a runner too.  

39 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

“He’s had a tremendous amount of success running the football. Look what he did with Emmitt when he was at Dallas. Look at what he did with L.T. (and the Chargers’) Michael Turner,” Rivera said. “He’s had some tools and some weapons. I want to see us a little more true to that style of football.”

Asked to expand, Rivera said: “Physical up front, grinding the ball, a little bit more individual matchups.”

I know I am in the minority but I think we should keep Stewart and let him finish out his contract with us.  It is a small gamble but Turner's offenses needs a bruising RB like Stewart.   Stewart is still one of the more difficult RBs to bring down.  While they mentioned Turner used the Read/Option some I think the second quote means straight up running plays.  When defenses are having to protect against the long ball at any time that means teams won't stack the box.  If they dare to stack the box and make Cam beat them.  I think it will be a wrong choice.  Cam will beat them, no doubt.

I also think this will open the defense up for some nice QB runs, though I don't expect to see too many.  Just the thought of Cam running causes problems as well for any DC.  I think Turner will exploit this in his game to game, game plan.

All in All I cannot wait to see the 2018 Carolina Panthers.

 

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CarolinaSamurai Newbie

CarolinaSamurai

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1 hour ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

This was the first thing that came to my mind as well.   Stewart, Olsen and CMC along with Cam could be the most dangerous group he has ever coached considering Cam as a runner too.  

I know I am in the minority but I think we should keep Stewart and let him finish out his contract with us.  It is a small gamble but Turner's offenses needs a bruising RB like Stewart.   Stewart is still one of the more difficult RBs to bring down.  While they mentioned Turner used the Read/Option some I think the second quote means straight up running plays.  When defenses are having to protect against the long ball at any time that means teams won't stack the box.  If they dare to stack the box and make Cam beat them.  I think it will be a wrong choice.  Cam will beat them, no doubt.

I also think this will open the defense up for some nice QB runs, though I don't expect to see too many.  Just the thought of Cam running causes problems as well for any DC.  I think Turner will exploit this in his game to game, game plan.

All in All I cannot wait to see the 2018 Carolina Panthers.

 

I think keeping Stew is highly dependent on our draft. If we get a strong downhill RB we very well could part ways. 

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ichigo1057 Experienced

ichigo1057

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I kind of wish we could do like what happened with CJ and release Stew and sign him to a much more team friendly deal. I know it would likely never happen to be fully honest but it would be nice. This is assuming we don't get a bruiser RB in the draft or in FA or anything.

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DaveThePanther2008 Grand Master

DaveThePanther2008

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2 hours ago, CarolinaSamurai said:

I think keeping Stew is highly dependent on our draft. If we get a strong downhill RB we very well could part ways. 

Too much on a Rookie.  Remember the bruising running back Eric Shelton from Lousville.  2nd round pick was supposed to take over for S. Davis?  That didn't pan out at all.  We cut Stewart and CAP doesn't take the lead we are screwed.   I personally think that Stewart will do much better in Turners offense than he did in Shula.

 Not many thrived in Shula's offense.  Remember how everyone thought Smitty was done in Shula's offense?  Went to Baltimore and had a 1000 yd season.

I would give Stewart a rider and keep him.

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