LaDainian Tomlinson on the Panthers offense

[Doc Holiday]

12 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Talking about today's game on Gameday Prime, host Charissa Thompson asked LaDainian Tomlinson (who played under Norv Turner in San Diego) "What's wrong with the Panthers offense?"

Don't have a clip available at this point, so I'll try to summarize how Tomlinson  responded, beginning with a direct quote:

"Here's the thing.Cam can't do what Norv needs him to do".

Tomlinson asserted (correctly) that Norv Turner's offenses are all about timing. The idea is to hit the three, five or seven step drop and get the ball out quick. Timing and rhythm are everything.

He then stated that Newton doesn't do these things well.

Flipping the coin, Tomlinson also said that the things which Newton does do well (mentioning specifically the read option) are plays that Turner "doesn't know how to call" properly. That's not his game, and thus the two of them wind up being a mismatch.

Thompson followed up Tomlinson's analysis by asking him how to fix it. Tomlinson said it's primarily up to Newton to learn how to run Turner's offense. Though he did say that Turner could also try to learn some of what Cam knows well, he put the brunt of the responsibility on Newton.

Deion Sanders pointed out that Newton has been effective running, but agreed with Tomlinson that Newton is not a timing quarterback (doubt anybody here would argue that).

Tomlinson then expressed that he believes Turner is in a very tough position. Speaking to Sanders, Tomlinson said (paraphrasing) "You know how hard it is for an offensive coordinator to call plays when he doesn't know if the guy running the plays can do it, so you have to settle for this" (i.e. something you know he can do).

Asked how long they would expect it to take to fix the problem, Sanders answered "playoffs", so effectively the whole regular season. Mind you, if Sanders were correct about this, I kinda question whether we'd actually be in the playoffs.

Thought it would be worth posting what was said. It'd be nice if a clip were available, but not yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Clip or no clip, I have a sense that Tomlinson's comments probably won't be all that well received here 

I will agree. 

Cam’s skills imo as a QB are:

passing game 6/10

running game 10/10

ability to just make something happen 8/10.

without Cams legs he is just ok at QB and his passing game leaves much to be desired. If he can’t develop a better passing game he will not have a career much after he’s no longer able to run. But at the same time you can tell a huge difference in the team when Olsen is out there and when he isn’t. 

Like it or not but our WR’s are just ok. And nobody is a game changer right now. Cam hasn’t had a good WR to throw at since Steve Smith left the team.

so take it all for what it’s worth. 

Honestly I think the number 1 thing we need to do is finally get Cam a decent WR. That will cure a lot of problems.

[trueblade]

1 hour ago, pantherclaw said:

How many points did the Redskins score off turnovers? 

Get off the defense's back. 

We had Three. Second. Half. Offensive. Possessions. 

Why do you think that was? 

[Mr. Scot]

13 hours ago, Castavar said:

I call BS. Cam can run any offense. Remember when Jared Goff and Todd Gurley were huge busts and the Rams offense was the worst in the league? What happened over there? Oh yeah, they got rid of their HC who still thought it was 1980 and now has straight slaughtered the league on offense. Again, until Rivera is gone, it really doesn't matter who we bring in at OC tbh. 

Disagree. I definitely wouldn't put Newton in a West Coast system. Outside of his mobility, his skill set just wouldn't fit.

I see some folks taking this like it's an insult to Newton. It really isn't.

Tomlinson is talking about a system mismatch. It's no different than saying Kuechly wouldn't be a good fit in a 3-4 defense (which, for the record, he wouldn't).

[ickmule]

So basically what they are saying is Ron made another bad hire ? Yep, I figured as much when it happened months ago.   Nothing will ever change until Tepper cleans house and starts over.  

[pantherclaw]

2 hours ago, Lee89 said:

why don't noone blame the defense?

Cam did end up costing us with three awful passes to end the game but the defense has been garbage all season and the offense has to played damn near perfect too overcome their suckness every week.

Not yesterday.

Without the points off turnovers, the skins only had 15 points. 

If the offense can't score more than that, then the team doesn't deserve to win. 

Turnovers cost us yesterday's game.

[The Huddler]

Give Cam time to settle in with the offense

 

 

If Cam hasnt been a timing QB his whole career, he needs time to learn and to get good at it. Aint going to happen over night. 

[Millioso7]

A lot of the time commentators just give a vague reasoning behind there position and just make it sound good and make sense to the general listener..

[FugAllY'all]

Guys, I just want to note, after their careers are over some players go into coaching while others become TV analysts. Which do you think actually know football?

[Matthias]

Yeah, our offense is just fine.  If we had won the game, would people still be talking like this?  The turnovers was costly, and people acting like we completely sucked.  You would think we were 0-5.  Cam's accuracy fluctuates at times, but its nothing I'm concerned about.  

[Bartin]

22 minutes ago, FugAllY'all said:

Guys, I just want to note, after their careers are over some players go into coaching while others become TV analysts. Which do you think actually know football?

Coaching is far more work and pays much less than TV analyst until you get to coordinator level at least. The direction players choose to go in their post football career really has nothing to do with football knowledge.

[iamhubby1]

10 hours ago, hepcat said:

The problem with the offense is Cam is not good at passing in the red zone

 

    A graphic before the game stated that Cam was leading the NFC in Red Zone Efficiency. So no, this is not true at all.

[Proudiddy]

On the surface, LT's analysis sounds plausible, except that Cam has been getting the ball out quicker than ever before, has his highest completion pct. ever to this point in a season, and is having his most effective and efficient year as a passer in general.  Cam is doing what Norv is asking...  the issue with the offense has more so been about when play calls are made and the situations they are called in, which i believe has a lot more to do with what Rivera wants than what Norv wants or what he believes Cam is or isn't comfortable with.

And the defense sucks ass.  That is the real problem, not the offense...  they have hiccups, but again, it's more due to situational playcalling.

[iamhubby1]

7 hours ago, trueblade said:

We had Three. Second. Half. Offensive. Possessions. 

Why do you think that was? 

 

    So, you can use punctuation. 

[KaseKlosed]

LT's brain is not the best. Sounds like he hasn't read a book outside of a playbook his entire life. He does not study film today. His opinion is not relevant