Panthers 7th in yards per offensive play, 28th in Total Offense

[TonyN]

You mean like how he only threw for 300 + yards and how they actually used 2 of the top 8 highest paid running backs in the league?

Put it like this, if they did that 7 weeks ago, you wouldn't be on this site. Kind of coincides with the poor coaching performance theme we have going on here.

One last post before I get off work (yes, yes, blind homers, go ahead and celebrate and post insults),

Newton had 315 yards passing yesterday: 65 of it came on a complete busted coverage play by the Bears. Another huge chunk of it came on a Newton jump ball that Smitty makes a great play on. Newton also threw 2 interceptions and could have easily thrown 2 more. He completed barely 50 % of his passes and his Quarterback rating was, I think, 50. In other words, terrible.

I agree with the general premise of your argument, I think.

The one huge mistake Ron Rivera made ( it will probably cost him his job) was trying to design an offense around Cam Newton.

This team has quite a bit of talent on offense, and a rapidly improving defense which is on the verge of becoming a top tier unit.

Amazingly, the complete moron Rivera is accomplishing this defensive improvement with very suspect talent in the secondary.

Anyway, they took the game largely out of Newton's hands and played much better football.

Let's hope it continues.

[jayflip]

So tony n is pffl and from here on our we should all ignore his diatribe. As tempting as it may be to reply to his idiocy, let it be. He will soon go away once Cam comes around again, just like he did last year. PFFL had one leg to stand on and Cam chopped it off with a kitana blade. Now that we, as a team, are struggling due to poor coaching, PFFL is on his nubs trying to spew more bullshit. It's laughable to the point where it's sad.

[Udogg]

Newton had 315 yards passing yesterday: 65 of it came on a complete busted coverage play by the Bears. Another huge chunk of it came on a Newton jump ball that Smitty makes a great play on. Newton also threw 2 interceptions and could have easily thrown 2 more. He completed barely 50 % of his passes and his Quarterback rating was, I think, 50. In other words, terrible.

Anyway, they took the game largely out of Newton's hands and played much better football.

Let's hope it continues.

Wow :) I will say you are entertaining in your attempts to troll.

Busted coverage? Do you know how many big plays are "busted coverages"

Jump ball? Watch Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford play a game.

Almost picks aren't a stat

Steve Smith slipped on a timing route on 1 pick. The other pick even thought it can be argued is Cam's fault.

If taking the ball largely out of Newton's hands means that they

a) Used more traditional NFL sets.

b.) Used the 89 million dollars worth of running backs

c) Used more 2 TE formations which were successful last year and apparently this year as well.

d) Actually did more than say "hey Cam get in Shotgun and win it for us like you did at Auburn"

e) Still had him pass more than 30+ times,

Then yes they took the ball "LARGELY" out of his hands.

[PantherPhann89]

Last year we were one of the best red zone teams in the nfl weren't we?

We improved into the year with designed runs for Cam in the redzone. Not sure where we were stat wise.

[MadHatter]

30th in run blocking and 26th in pass pro now, so getting worse.

Keep in mind that the OP is of the opinion that coaching is fine. i.e. he's reading stats, not watching games.

Actually tge OP has repeatedly stated that the issue is both coaching and execution. All if the over-the-top top Cam slurpers refuse to see that execution is a big issue....not just coaching.

Play calling sucks...but our offensive's execution has been just as bad (especially on third down).

[Navy_football]

I think 3rd down conversion % is a telling stat. It does matter, and shouldn't be ignored.

How did Cam do yesterday on 3rd down conversions with a more balanced run attack vs the previous 5 games? Really would like to know if anyone can find it. I recall the announcer saying we hadn't gone 3 and out until sometime in the 3rd quarter against the Bears.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

I think 3rd down conversion % is a telling stat. It does matter, and shouldn't be ignored.

How did Cam do yesterday on 3rd down conversions with a more balanced run attack vs the previous 5 games? Really would like to know if anyone can find it. I recall the announcer saying we hadn't gone 3 and out until sometime in the 3rd quarter against the Bears.

team was 10/19 on third down

[Sloth]

Actually tge OP has repeatedly stated that the issue is both coaching and execution. All if the over-the-top top Cam slurpers refuse to see that execution is a big issue....not just coaching.

Play calling sucks...but our offensive's execution has been just as bad (especially on third down).

The OP has another thread/post from a day or two ago saying that coaching wasn't an issue. Newton is bringing the coaching staff down. So no, that's not what he's saying at all.

What he's trying (and failing) to allude to is that Cam is almost completely responsible for our 3rd down efficiency by posting cherry picked stats with no context whatsoever. He's not interested in hearing how bad our running game is if you remove Cam's scrambling, how bad the OLine has been in general, the fact that a huge portion of our third downs have been long, the fact that prior to this game we ran very few short/quick routes and instead looked for slow developing, down field throws, the fact that the read option being our base package for so long made it so that by the time Newton set his feet and started looking for people to throw to, the pass rush had already had about 2 - 3 seconds to abuse our piss poor line, etc.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

the op picked a conclusion and then worked backwards from it basically.

i know it's rare to see that on the internet but that's how it happened.

[ShutDwn]

I wish I could find the source, but someone posted a ton of splits on Cam's statistics down by down.

Basically, he's great on first down and awful on third.

But, he hardly ever throws a pass that doesn't go past the third down yardage. Meaning, he doesn't do what a lot of other QBs do, which is take the underneath throw and hope the WR/TE/RB makes someone miss.

I thought Cam did that much better in the last game. They converted 52% and they did it without a lot of help from the run game. They didn't go 3 and out for a very long time. I thought they were in less 3rd and 12 as well, thanks to avoiding the option.

Those third downs will improve if he throws to Lafell, Olsen, Tolbert and Stewart more.

[Argus Plexus]

Yeah, it's hard to make a difficult throw like that when the LoS is a jailbreak every down.

[TonyN]

Not that it matters, but since some have asked:

I have stated repeatedly that Carolina's offensive problems are primarily twofold:

1.The decision to install the read option offense.

2. The poor execution of that offense, by the players, especially Cam Newton.

I have also repeatedly stated that I believe Ron Rivera to be a good coach and that I expect him to be fired, rehired as a DC somewhere immediately, and then get another head coaching job very soon and succeed.

Why did he make the mistake of installing the read option? Because he is a defensive coach in his first head coaching gig and he was persueded into doing so. Who wanted the read option more than anyone else: Cam Newton.

Let me state that again...who wanted the read option more than anyone else??? Cam Newton.

Ron Rivera's great mistake was in buying into the Newton "revolutionizing the game" nonsense and building an offense around him in particular, rather than following the established blueprint.

All that being said, the Panthers could be in a much better situation right now if Newton had simply played better. The read option was a mistake, but you cannot blame all of Newton's problems on it. The kid makes many poor decisions with the football, often choosing to try to make a big play rather than taking a safe, smaller gain. He still locks onto receivers--you can see it--and tries to force the ball where it should not be thrown. He is not an accurate passer on short and intermediate routes. Newton throws a lot of balls into the ground around open receivers.

I have never said that Newton was a "bum" or a "bust" or compared him to Vince Young.

All I have said is that HE more than anyone else on this team, needs to step up his play.

And I love the direction of the defense, which the COMPLETE MORON Ron Rivera has playing terrific football despite very questionable talent in the seconday.

[Navy_football]

Tony, I agree with a lot of what you said, but what OC in his right mind would let a sophomore QB decide the team will run a read option based offense in the NFL? That doesn't make sense to me.

Cam does need to work on his short/intermediate accuracy. It's not that he isn't accurate, but he's inconsistent and tends to float the ball at times. I think he can get better at it, but I'm not sure he'll ever be elite there when the play isn't called specifically for short routes. He tends to lose accuracy when checking down to closer routes. Could be a lack of confidence in his oline. Could just be a mental thing that will haunt him for some time.

I do think he usually gives the team a chance to win games. I think he could be better if plays were called for shorter/quicker routes with a deep shot every now and then. That's what most of the good teams do. Brees, Brady, Eli, Peyton don't just come out bombing every game. They play a cerebral game that forces the defense to adjust, and then take advantage of the coverages.

I think someone needs to tell him to control the game instead of going for the big play so often.

[SauceBoss]

This is a combination of the defense not getting off the field on third downs, and garbage yardage.