Cam's Combine Throwing May Have Been Rigged Against Him

[fieryprophet]

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/13682485/34987142

NFLDraftScout.com, however, was told of another reason why quarterbacks may want to wait until their on-campus workouts. The high-level source used Cam Newton's erratic performance during the Combine throwing session last year as an example.

"Last year [scouts] didn't sync the QB drop and the wide receiver pattern. For example, [Newton] was dropping five steps but the wide receivers were doing three step type patterns."

The miscommunication caused Newton's accuracy to appear to be inconsistent. He took the hit publicly for a mediocre performance and to his credit never said a word publicly about what may have been the biggest reason for it.

The Carolina Panthers obviously looked past the performance -- and considering the terrific rookie season Newton had in 2011, they were certainly wise in doing so.

[mav1234]

Meh, Cam misses high sometimes, whatever. He missed high in the regular season too and I doubt that anyone was intentionally rigging things against him. I'm glad the Panthers looked past it but I don't think we need to try to go back in time to explain every part of the draft process like that.

I have heard of this kind of thing before, and it's one of the reasons QBs are suggested not to throw at the combine.

Now, if Cam was the ONLY QB throwing where the receivers weren't synced up, that'd be very odd and perhaps something worth mentioning, but that doesn't seem to be what this article is saying.

[YoungPanthers89]

[teeray]

I still love the fact that Cam was willing to throw at the combine. He is a competitor and wanted to compete. He didn't have a great performance, but his willingness to do it spoke volumes of the mentality that this guy has.

Not a knock on others who don't throw. I understand why they don't. But I think it was a compliment to Cam that he did so IMO

[mav1234]

I still love the fact that Cam was willing to throw at the combine. He is a competitor and wanted to compete. He didn't have a great performance, but his willingness to do it spoke volumes of the mentality that this guy has.

Not a knock on others who don't throw. I understand why they don't. But I think it was a compliment to Cam that he did so IMO

Ultimately I think you are right, I think that by throwing he was able to show the Panthers he was willing to compete and had been working on "it," and even if he was a work in progress in some respects or whatever, he wasn't going to back down because of that. He was going to go out and give his best showing no matter what.

[teeray]

Meh, Cam misses high sometimes, whatever. He missed high in the regular season too and I doubt that anyone was intentionally rigging things against him. I'm glad the Panthers looked past it but I don't think we need to try to go back in time to explain every part of the draft process like that.

I have heard of this kind of thing before, and it's one of the reasons QBs are suggested not to throw at the combine.

Now, if Cam was the ONLY QB throwing where the receivers weren't synced up, that'd be very odd and perhaps something worth mentioning, but that doesn't seem to be what this article is saying.

Not that it was rigged against him personally, like someone was trying to sabotage him. Just the nature of how the combine was conducted last year.

Plus there were other guys last year that were throwing lollipops in there and getting praised for their accuracy despite throwing bad throws behind receivers that happened to be completed and/or with no RPMs at all.

[teeray]

Ultimately I think you are right

That should be an auto reply to all of my posts :p

[mav1234]

Not that it was rigged against him personally, like someone was trying to sabotage him. Just the nature of how the combine was conducted last year.

Plus there were other guys last year that were throwing lollipops in there and getting praised for their accuracy despite throwing bad throws behind receivers that happened to be completed and/or with no RPMs at all.

"rigged against him" (thread title) implies sabotage. What Cam experienced is just the nature of the combine, and the 'danger' of throwing.

as to the commentators, I don't recall the throwing drills well enough to comment on that. However I think it is generally a poor excuse to say receivers rescued one QB vs letting another down when it comes to throwing drills.

I do think part of what happened was Cam did not take the throwing drills as seriously as he could have in terms of prep & understanding (this is based off of what I thought he or Whitfield said, but I may be wrong) what they meant going on, and because of that, he was taken a bit by surprise. But the fact he did it at all was good for him overall I think.

That should be an auto reply to all of my posts :p

it only applies like a tenth of the time, I don't want to inflate your ego too much by saying it to you when it isn't true :p

[Dex]

No one was supposed to know about this...

[fieryprophet]

"rigged against him" (thread title) implies sabotage. What Cam experienced is just the nature of the combine, and the 'danger' of throwing.

as to the commentators, I don't recall the throwing drills well enough to comment on that. However I think it is generally a poor excuse to say receivers rescued one QB vs letting another down when it comes to throwing drills.

I do think part of what happened was Cam did not take the throwing drills as seriously as he could have in terms of prep & understanding (this is based off of what I thought he or Whitfield said, but I may be wrong) what they meant going on, and because of that, he was taken a bit by surprise. But the fact he did it at all was good for him overall I think.

it only applies like a tenth of the time, I don't want to inflate your ego too much by saying it to you when it isn't true :p

I'm not implying sabotage, only that the coordinators apparently got their drops and routes mixed up for his session, which is why he was overthrowing the receivers (they would break earlier in a three step pattern than the five step drop he was taking.)

[mav1234]

I'm not implying sabotage, only that the coordinators apparently got their drops and routes mixed up for his session, which is why he was overthrowing the receivers (they would break earlier in a three step pattern than the five step drop he was taking.)

A lot of times when people talk about rigging something it implies intentional, hence my reaction, apologies.

I don't know, Whitfield seems to think that his misses were mechanical, but maybe he's wrong and it was this reason.

[Brooklyn Bully]

Umm... who cares? We drafted him, he's our future and present, and he's the damn man.

[liljah8303]

The media hyped the completions, the scouts look at footwork mechanics and release. If those things there then you've got it. At least that's what I heard Jerry Jones say today.

[Kevin Greene]

This explains why Cam wasn't the #1 pick.

Wait

.