Starting Allen: A blessing in disguise?

[hepcat]

With Cam Newton dealing with a lingering foot injury, the Panthers are staring down the cold hard realty of life after Cam Newton. Kyle Allen is first in line to start on Sunday.

While Allen is likely not even as good as 50% of Cam Newton, it could be a blessing in disguise. It forces the Panthers to adapt to life after Cam Newton, and might even open up the playbook.

While Kyle Allen doesn't have the same arm talent as a healthy Cam Newton, he has more ability to throw the deep ball right now. The stone cold fact is, Cam Newton has not had the same ability to throw the deep ball since before his 2016 shoulder injury.

If Allen can hit Samuel or Moore deep, or at the very least offer the threat of the deep ball, it will force opposing defenses to stop playing Cover 1 and open up the underneath game for Christian McCaffrey. And while we might not be able to rely on Allen to win games with his arm, opening up space for McCaffrey might win games.

If Allen struggles, then it's onto Will Grier, who is obviously not ready. By then, it might be too late and Cam should be on IR. 

I am cautiously optimistic, but preparing for the worst. 

 

 

[Jon Snow]

This would require Ron to adapt his game plan.  Wishful thinking on your part.

[Captroop]

I like Grier and I'm excited about his future, be it here or elsewhere in the league. And for that reason I pray he doesn't play. If we go with Allen, I hope we stick with Allen. If Allen struggles, I feel like the temptation will be there to trot Grier out in a couple weeks and try out our new shiny toy. (Who else remembers the Clausen/Moore carousel, with them switching starting roles, and getting benched mid-game seemingly week after week) But I sense that will be a disaster. Grier has some tools, but he's just not ready. And if he gets any playing time this year, I feel like it will ruin him as a pro. He'll get lit up, throw a bunch of INTs, and ruin his confidence. Total David Carr situation.

I'm pulling for Grier, so I hope I don't see him on the field for a long time.

[mc52beast]

If Cam does have to miss significant time it’s going to put a lot of pressure on Ron and Hurney to adapt and try to win without Cam.

Losing Cam this year would most likely cost Ron, Hurney and others their jobs.

[bigskypanthersguy]

4 minutes ago, mc52beast said:

If Cam does have to miss significant time it’s going to put a lot of pressure on Ron and Hurney to adapt and try to win without Cam.

Losing Cam this year would most likely cost Ron, Hurney and others their jobs.

I just get the feeling it's gonna be a bit before we're back to good again.

Drafting qbs is such a crapshoot and I'm not sure this is the year to need to draft one.

 

[joeyxfresco]

5 minutes ago, mc52beast said:

If Cam does have to miss significant time it’s going to put a lot of pressure on Ron and Hurney to adapt and try to win without Cam.

Losing Cam this year would most likely cost Ron, Hurney and others their jobs.

Best thing that could ever happen to this team 

[Khyber53]

We're going to learn a lot about Cam and a lot about our coaching in the next couple of games if Cam has to sit. It could clash with a few of the narratives here. We may find that injuries to Cam really are the problem. We could find that Ron and the Turners can actually coach without having Cam to lean on. We may find out that any man less than Cam will get carted off the field in a stretcher behind that offensive line.

We just don't know. 

The hard to accept fact amongst all the thunder and grief right now is that we are just a couple of blown calls away from being 2-0 in truth. Both games featured a bad call that either did or could have broke the game in our favor. Had those gone the other way, we'd be talking about how we were sitting in the driver's seat of an NFCSouth that is going in a completely different direction than expected.

I'm hoping Cam heals up and gets the mojo back. I'm hoping that Ron's coaching is good. And I'm hoping that Allen shows he's got some good stuff, too. More than anything, I'm hoping that the other 52 guys on the team not named Cam are out to prove they are winners in their own right.

[TheRed]

There's no "blessing in disguise" in starting a young QB behind the current state of our offensive line.

We better give our LT some help.

[top dawg]

5 minutes ago, Captroop said:

I like Grier and I'm excited about his future, be it here or elsewhere in the league. And for that reason I pray he doesn't play. If we go with Allen, I hope we stick with Allen. If Allen struggles, I feel like the temptation will be there to trot Grier out in a couple weeks and try out our new shiny toy. (Who else remembers the Clausen/Moore carousel, with them switching starting roles, and getting benched mid-game seemingly week after week) But I sense that will be a disaster. Grier has some tools, but he's just not ready. And if he gets any playing time this year, I feel like it will ruin him as a pro. He'll get lit up, throw a bunch of INTs, and ruin his confidence. Total David Carr situation.

I'm pulling for Grier, so I hope I don't see him on the field for a long time.

Don't be so negative. He could come in and do relatively well. 

[rayzor]

If by blessing in disguise you mean helping us get a really early pick, then yes.

[Captroop]

1 minute ago, top dawg said:

Don't be so negative. He could come in and do relatively well. 

This team isn't set up for ANY QB to perform well. Maybe if we re-shuffle the offensive line (god, I get chills using that phrase again) I'd have a better feeling about his prospects. But I feel like any QB we send out there is being set up for failure. So I'd rather start a guy who can just go in and manage us for the season; not someone we might have intentions for in the future.

[Seltzer]

Sunday is must win for this staff regardless of any circumstances.

That is the only thing that carries any weight with Tepper at this point.

I still think for Tepper it is playoffs or bust for this staff

But beyond that, Tepper still has to consider the ramifications week to week for this fan base.

I am as die-hard as most people on this board, but the energy for this fan base overall is as low as it has been in years.

If the losing continues, regardless of the circumstances, more and more fans will be tuning out and less and less will be showing up at the stadium.

That's the kind of consideration an owner has to make on keeping a coach playing out the string. I personally think firing a coach midseason is pointless, but sometimes it is necessary to not lose a fanbase every more.

If this slide continues, this could be one of those times.

I dont want any of these things to happen, but it's hard to overstate how important this game is.

Not just to stay in the "playoff hunt" although that is important 

The staffs needs a win Sunday for the season not to devolve into a situation this franchise hasn't seen since 2001.

[klumme]

If only looking at the ability to throw the deep ball, yes. But either Grier or Allen is close to Newton talent wise. We will lose with Allen or Grier. Then again, if the same Newton we saw Thursday is out there, we lose anyway. Love this season.

[top dawg]

9 minutes ago, mc52beast said:

If Cam does have to miss significant time it’s going to put a lot of pressure on Ron and Hurney to adapt and try to win without Cam.

Losing Cam this year would most likely cost Ron, Hurney and others their jobs.

Yep! This could get ugly, but we still have young talent---on both sides of the ball actually. We'd just need to acquire leadership (From the HC to the QB) to make it all work.