Interesting Stat

[WarHeel]

Let me preface by saying I believe Cam is an above average passer. Not elite, but not as sorry as some would argue. 65% completion percentage certainly isn’t horrible for the day. 

 

Rushing: 3 attempts for -2 yards. This is a 2016 Mike Tolbert stat (sorry big fella), not our franchise QB who made his name on making people look silly with his feet. 

 

I get that he’s probably rehabbing the preseason foot injury. I understand the rehabilitation side of things better than most and didn’t expect Cam to  rush for 50+ yards as he typically would be capable of on an average Sunday. But we need to talk about what happens to our offense when you take away Cam’s legs.

 

When our RB can put up over 200 yards in a day and our offense still looks lost it’s time to discuss the real issue. You force Cam to be one dimensional and everything else follows suit. 

 

If we are going to compete this year we are going to need Cam’s arm AND legs to be efficient. 

[Daddy_Uncle]

Not worried about it after 1 game coming off an injury

[USDepartmentOfSavagery]

Yeah I agree. Look, Cam can get it done from the pocket, but what will set him and ultimately this team up for success is the collective talent of his arm and legs. I thought the offense played very well in spurts today. The turnovers and penalties were soul crushers. 

[ChrisSimmsspleen]

We should just lock a thread that says place your Cam excuses here.   

[WarHeel]

2 minutes ago, ChrisSimmsspleen said:

We should just lock a thread that says place your Cam excuses here.   

Wasn’t making it excuse. I’m calling it for what it is. He “played QB” well today but he wasn’t Cam Newton which is who we need him to be. Getting healthy comes first though and while the shoulder is still debatable I can reassure you that his foot isn’t ready.

[BrianS]

I am not yet convinced Cam is done.  However, to speak directly to the points in this thread . . . you cannot have it both ways.  Let's assume for a moment that Cam is 2015 Cam again.  I do not believe this to be a good assumption, but let's run with it for just a sec.

If you want to run a scheme that features Cam running and throwing a la 2015, you are taking the ball out of CMC's hands.  I think that's a massive mistake.  CMC is a much better runner than Cam.  But creating a scheme like what we had in 2015 takes the ball out of CMC's hands, and it is not even the kind of matchup scheme that we're using to get CMC isolated and into space.

I still haven't seen Cam cut loose with the ball down field.  He is clearly better than last year in terms of where his arm is, but is he really capable of hurting an opponent deep?  I haven't seen it yet.

Again, one game does not tell us what we need to know.  Maybe the defense didn't give that to him.  Maybe Norv didn't call it.  I'm just saying, if you are an opponent, you'd be crazy not to challenge Cam to beat you deep.  In which case, I'd expect us to take advantage of that if Cam is truly capable.

[WarHeel]

7 minutes ago, Daddy_Uncle said:

Not worried about it after 1 game coming off an injury

This is something that has potential to ripple deeper into the season if it lingers.

We can’t continue to have CMC be our leading rusher and receiver game after game and expect to be anything but one dimensional. Teams will have us figured out by week 3 if they haven’t already.