Rhythm for Cam

[lightsout]

Early on in the season, when Cam was at his best, we got him in a rhythm early. Nice safe passes, nothing too crazy. Spread the field out, let him make choices that way. Recently, we've gone to more of a shell. We run the ball on 1st and 2nd a LOT more, and more times than not, it's a 1-3 yard gain. We also are going more under center than we did 3-4 weeks ago. We need to get back to the bootlegs and direct roll outs to get Cam on pace early. I think that is partially the reason Cam has struggled lately with some of his accuracy. He's young, he hasn't figured out how to just cut it on randomly. He needs to build that up. And I have faith he will.

[lightsout]

Bumped to the top to encourage thoughtful discussion.

[Toolbox]

Cam will be fine and will only get better.. games like today are learning experiences that he needs to have.. I have confidence he will be much better next season but we gotta keep him happy with a better defense.

[Dilla]

I agree. After that first interception, the Chud mad great playcalls (screens to Stew, outside runs with D-Will, short pass plays, etc.) that allowed Cam to get back in a grove. And it lead to 20 points for the offense in the first half plus the KR by Pilares.

In the 2nd half, it's was vertical, vertical, and more vertical and the offense suffered as a result. Cam became off-kilter and tried to do too much by not dumping the ball off or overthrowing open receivers downfield. The drive where the Panthers went back to short passes, they drove right down the field and tied the game up.

Chud was too busy calling plays like Cam was Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.

[AnalyzeThIs#28]

That ~20yd pass to Smitty on third down that Smitty dropped was the game changer IMO. We were up at the time, and that would have been a big play to keep the drive going. After that, Detroit drives the ball down and scores immediately, then again...

[DangerClose]

agree - i have missed the roll outs and waggle plays. put cam in space with more time. forces defenders to move towards him. this frees up receivers and it gives cam the option to run if nothing is there. we need more screens as well. .....sigh, but yes, completely agree with this post.

[lightsout]

Reiteration bump.

[Lumps]

The panther do much better with creative plays in general and seem to crumble when we try to do anything traditional.

[Actionman0z]

I was upset early about Cam Newton sailing balls yesterday but I went back to look and most of the time he did not have the ability to throw the ball off of his front foot, and was unable several times to even step up in the pocket. I dont know where we go from here as far as in the off-season and with cap space, but our OL/DL/LB/WR core need to be upgraded in several ways to make us a decent team, and we are just not there right now.

[chknwing]

It's hard to get in a rhythm when the center is snapping the ball at your feet and it takes a sec or two to adjust and by that time, the Oline has already collapsed and you have the Dline in your face.

[ckad79]

I have confidence he (Cam) will be much better next season but we gotta keep him happy with a better defense.

When this season started, I like many folks, thought Cam would struggle early on. So, take my assumption with a grain of salt. :)

Sorry, but I think Cam is going to struggle next year. Guys have sophomore jinxes and I think he will. I think as more defeneses get to study game tape in the offseason, especially the Titans game, they'll see his kryptonite. Fact is, Cam struggles a lot to adjust during games. He always comes out firing early but as defenses find ways to account for Cam, later in the day, he doesn't make the necessary changes himself and the script flips.

Fact is, I see a lot of Cam running to the bench after plays and putting a towel over his head. Why do we never see Cam studying defensive patterns during the game like Manning and Brady does. I know they have that book to hand him with arial shots of formations to study.

Sure, I know he's gotten this far on just "doing his thing" but at some point teams will figure him out and he'll have to find a way to study and understand the game as it goes on.

He reminds me a lot of a young Michael Vick. Remember, when Vick arrived in Atlanta and he kept killing the Panthers ever game just because of his athleticism. Well, defenses like Carolina eventually figured him out. They would use safeties on the edges to prevent Vick from getting out of the pocket, forcing him to throw more. It did't make him awful, but he was certainly controlled more. I know John Fox had improved success against Vick putting Thomas Davis on the edge, eyeing him.

Of course, Vick had to mature and study game tape and now he is a much more well rounded QB capable of adjusting as the game changes. I hope Cam adjusts to the game too because I seriously only think Superman could never study a bit of tape and win his team a Super Bowl without studying defensive patterns during a game and well, improving on his clock management too! Maybe Superman could? Than again, Superman would never throw 4 picks. :)

[Snake]

Teams have been taking our top off and thats our bread and butter. Chud needs to adjust for this with more crossing routes. I dont think that running the ball was a bad thing, Dwill was carving up DET, but we never made them pay with PA. On one play it was 2nd and 2 and we had just got a big run, then we the ball again! I mean if thats not a PA down what is!!!