Smitty's OTA observations

[TheRumGone]

what happens when Cam plays as well, better or a little bit worse than he did the last half of the season?  With the weapons we have had and upgrades with Hixon and Ginn giving us better field position?

 

Let's look at the numbers

 

First 8 games

Passing:

 

Yards:  1902  Tds: 6 Int: 8

 

Last 8 Games

Passing:

 

Yards: 1967 Tds: 13 int: 4

 

First 8 games

Rushing

 

Yards: 347 Tds: 4 Fumble: 8

 

Last 8 games

Rushing:

 

Yards: 394 Tds: 4 Fumls: 2

 

Now let's just mirror the stats from the last 8 to the first 8 and see what the numbers would be. Because this is what i am expecting of Cam next year

 

Passing: roughly 4,000 passing 26 tds 8 picks

Rushing: roughly 800 yards 8 tds 4 fumbles

 

Thats 4800 total yards, 34 total tds and 8 total interceptions.  That's what he is capable of with the weapons we have right now. Would you say that is a successful year?  When Cam protects the football he's one of the best in the game.

 

Hixon is an upgrade over Murphy, he has better hands, he can make tough catches that Murphy could not. Ginn is an upgrade over all of the different returners we have had. If Cam plays like he did the last 8 games we will be fine. Do we need to upgrade? of course, every year we should be looking to upgrade a variety of different positions. But Cam has the weapons to compete because he is Cam fuging Newton.

 

[Magic Johnson]

Cool.

[ChinaPanther]

You are right about the run game we must be able to run to sustain drives and open up our passing lanes.We neither have the receivers or schemes to drive the ball down field on a consistent basis.

 

That hasn't been the problem since Cam has gotten here. We were 7th in the league with 20+ yard pass plays last year. His rookie year we were first. 

[CRA]

Was talking this year since we are talking OTAs. Still all that you listeded have compatible talent to what We have. Besides the Pats who have less. And to set the record straight, we are set up to be a running team as well.

What we have isn't comparable to what those teams had on the field as receiving threats last year.

GB - was the best corp top to bottom - big edge

NE - Welker and there TEs - slight edge

We are setup to be a running team? I agree we have a surplus of RBs....but we aren't a running team. We have a franchise QB and are a Newton lead attack....not a RB reliant and focused team.

[firstdayfan]

It will never get old provided people still try to make conclusions based on no pads no contact practices.

 

These practices are important to be sure. They are beginning to shake the rust off, try to get a grasp of the offense, repetition of frequent tiny movements to help form muscle memory, etc. I was watching one the other day and the defensive line coach spent a good 10 minutes on where your hip should be when initial contact is made on the offensive lineman.

 

What is impossible, however, is drawing conclusion on how any of these guys will do once the pads are on and contact is allowed. I know why people talk about it, its a slow time for actual Panthers news. Talking about anything is better than nothing. But I will continue cautioning against drawing conclusions in this time period as some folks do.

 

I can firmly agree with that.  

 

Still doesn't change the fact that it seems that some people feel its their job to remind others that they are being irrational....in june...on a panthers forum.  I guess what I'm saying is that people who have made it this far to come to a forum in June about their favorite team may be just looking for something to talk about and they don't actually believe that it's anything truly substantial.   And others come to a forum in June to make sure people understand that.

 

Seems a bit pretentious...but to each his own.

 

I generally like your dry, sense of reality that comes from the job that you do and the things that you see.  I think we all value it in a way, so I don't mean any disrespect but it just seems that some people are too absorbed with being right and telling everyone about it that it devalues their opinion when it actually does matter.

 

But I agree, people should take this time of year with a grain of salt, but they should also have fun with any info that comes out.  Because right now our team is undefeated and all we have is hope.

[DaveThePanther2008]

We had nearly 4k yards passing.  Just because we didn't have 2 - 1k receivers doesn't mean our WR corps sucks.  How often in Panther history have we had 2 - 1K receivers on the same squad?

 

[csx]

Some people on here are like girls. Over thinking everything and assuming the worst.

If that was actually true, the behavior here would actually make sense. You might be on to something.

[CPF4LIFE]

We had nearly 4k yards passing.  Just because we didn't have 2 - 1k receivers doesn't mean our WR corps sucks.  How often in Panther history have we had 2 - 1K receivers on the same squad?

 

Wish we did.

[rayzor]

We had nearly 4k yards passing.  Just because we didn't have 2 - 1k receivers doesn't mean our WR corps sucks.  How often in Panther history have we had 2 - 1K receivers on the same squad?

how many winning seasons have we had? 

 

our way of doing things haven't been successful.

[DaveThePanther2008]

how many winning seasons have we had? 

 

our way of doing things haven't been successful.

 

Outside New Orleans and their circus.  The Rams GSOT.  There aren't too many combinations that have had two. 

 

I don't have the time to do that sort of research but my bet you won't find too many Super Bowl champs with 2. (I may be wrong and like I said I don't have time to do the research)

 

Shouldn't the passing game reflect total yards?  What if the play is designed to a running back?  Or better yet what about when the down field options are not there.  Would you rather force throw to improve your WRs stats or dump off to a TE or RB?

 

I would love to see someone step up and become a 1000 yd receiver opposite to Smitty but I also think yds passing by the QB is more important than Yds completed by a WR.

[MadHatter]

That hasn't been the problem since Cam has gotten here. We were 7th in the league with 20+ yard pass plays last year. His rookie year we were first.

Great post.

Love it when our typical negative fans make poo up that is not even supported by the stats.

[Gucci Mane]

[C47]

Outside New Orleans and their circus.  The Rams GSOT.  There aren't too many combinations that have had two. 

 

I don't have the time to do that sort of research but my bet you won't find too many Super Bowl champs with 2. (I may be wrong and like I said I don't have time to do the research)

 

Shouldn't the passing game reflect total yards?  What if the play is designed to a running back?  Or better yet what about when the down field options are not there.  Would you rather force throw to improve your WRs stats or dump off to a TE or RB?

 

I would love to see someone step up and become a 1000 yd receiver opposite to Smitty but I also think yds passing by the QB is more important than Yds completed by a WR.

 

Humor me here, why would the WRs not be open?  Could it possibly be that they aren't good enough to get open consistently against NFL Corners?

[csx]

The way you get two receivers with over a thousand yards is to not feature a good TE or not have a running QB while showing a lot of option plays. There are only so many plays in a game.