I'm still baffled by this..........

[PghPanther]

Well its my first post so here it goes.............

 

I'm still wondering how this happened regarding the last drive to win the game against the Saints last week.

 

Let me explain what I mean.

 

It was very apparent the Panthers struggle on offensive in the 2nd half of the game last week. They went something like 3 and out the last 4 times the Panthers had the ball before the game winning drive.

 

Prior to that we found out that Cam hurt his ankle in the game and his scrambling to move the chains with his feet was non existent....but even more than that, Cam's footwork and hence his passing was off. He was missed some passes to wide open receivers throwing too high or in some cases throwing behind receivers on crossover routes, etc.

 

Now I know that with less than a minute left in the game when the Panthers took control of the ball again that most defenses will play a prevent and give you the middle of the field to complete some passes that normally would be shut down in regular play but.........

 

On that last drive Cam all of a sudden stood in the pocket and nailed great route and precision pass completions with a surgical style under great time constraints and with no time outs left.

 

That final drive was a demonstration on par with Brady, Rogers and Manning ......

 

How in the world did he manage to reverse the trending of his play in that second half all of a sudden in a situation and moment when most would continue to fail after performing so lack luster in the last 4 possessions before?

 

I'm still baffled by that and frankly makes me wonder how it happened.........more importantly, is this team or Cam in particular that biopolar with its offensive performance?

 

To be honest it made the finish to this game all the more unbelievable and profoundly exciting.........but I don't know how many more times this team can reach into the well and put out a victory like that in the playoffs.......

 

Anyone have any explanation to how that happened?

[Zod]

Cam is at his best when he gets out of his own head and just plays ball. I suspect that last drive took away the luxury of the long drawn out Shula play calling and clock eating offense. Cam didn't have time to overthink his play.

Sent from the Carolina Huddle App

[Stickman2]

Cam is Superman

[PghPanther]

Cam is at his best when he gets out of his own head and just plays ball. I suspect that last drive took away the luxury of the long drawn out Shula play calling and clock eating offense. Cam didn't have time to overthink his play.

Sent from the Carolina Huddle App

 

hmm interesting...............kinda of like Cam being Cam in playground type football where he just lets it happen?

 

Sort of like a Brett Farve or Kenny Stabler gun slinging from the hip?

 

[Khaki Lackey]

He obviously sold his soul to the dark lord Satan during the two minute warning.

[stirs]

You and half the fan base is still scratching their heads also.  A good scratch, but still scratching.

 

Most thought he had a leg injury which was causing him not to put weight on his leg and thus interfere with his mechanics and cause the errant throws.

 

The other half of the fan base thinks that Ron Rivera happened to find where the Saints had strategically placed a pc of kryptonite on the panthers sideline during the two minute warning and had it taken outside the stadium just before the Panthers last possession.

 

your guess is as good as anyones

[MtnJax]

Cam is at his best when he gets out of his own head and just plays ball. I suspect that last drive took away the luxury of the long drawn out Shula play calling and clock eating offense. Cam didn't have time to overthink his play.

Sent from the Carolina Huddle App

Cam would be damn near unstoppable if we ran more up tempo, no Huddle offense

[PghPanther]

He obviously sold his soul to the dark lord Satan during the two minute warning.

 

Well that makes more sense than anything................thanks, I should have known.

[USCGuardsman]

Cam is at his best when he gets out of his own head and just plays ball. I suspect that last drive took away the luxury of the long drawn out Shula play calling and clock eating offense. Cam didn't have time to overthink his play.

Sent from the Carolina Huddle App

This....

Additionally, this team is very successful in two minute drills. I would love, love, love to see a bit more no huddle and force defenses to make mistakes trying to cover it.

Sure, long sustained drives are still a must, but sometimes you need a change up. Don't become predictable.....never

[*FreeFua*]

It baffles me that after getting burnt on the cornerback blitz once already that day, Ryan went back to it again with the game on the line, only to have it burn him again.

[*FreeFua*]

Cam missed 3 throws in the second half. Some of you are making it out to seem like he threw 3 int's and 10 incompletions.

2 to Olsen and 1 to Hixon. After Cam missed Hixon, the Saints took over and Brees missed a wide open Colston due to the ball being wet. Aikman even said this may have caused Cam's ball to sail high on the throw to Hixon. The conditions were crap, I wouldn't read to much into it.

[lightsout]

Zod nailed this. I watched every game of his at Auburn. The offense he ran there was very fast and very straight-forward. Move the ball down the field and score and do so as fast as possible. No thinking involved, just play ball. Know your plays and know where your receivers are going to be.

Cam, when faced with those high intensity situations, is actually completely in his element. He has shown as much throughout his NFL career so far. If we just took that offensive philosophy for an entire 60 minutes, we COULD see a monster at the NFL level. Problem with that is, we simply don't have the talent to do that yet. I like what we have, but it can and should be improved upon. I think once we get a big time playmaker to catch the football besides Smitty, and once our OL is solidified, we'll see more of that. Until then, we're stuck with clock management, methodical drives (which, BTW, is ENTIRELY fine by me as long as we're winning).

Side note, on the injury and Cam's play. It's obvious his ankle will hinder everything he does. It's why they call it "blowing a tire". Hard to drive with a flat. Well, that's what Cam had to do. And on that last drive, he was driving on the rim. I think on that drive, adrenaline probably took care of that ankle for him. That's why he was able to be so accurate and have such good form, despite the ankle. It was evident on the TD. Stepping up while being pulled on from behind, breaking that grasp, and throwing a dart for the TD. Hopefully he has that ankle at 100% Sunday and hopefully Shula let's him take off on the first drive with some solid play-calling.

[rayzor]

the best thing shula can do as an OC is get out of cam's way during the game. 

[poorboysrev]

Cam is at his best when he gets out of his own head and just plays ball. I suspect that last drive took away the luxury of the long drawn out Shula play calling and clock eating offense. Cam didn't have time to overthink his play.

Sent from the Carolina Huddle App

      Yeah I keep wanting to see more no huddle thoughout the game. Cam reminds me VERY much of Brett Favre. A lot of our games the last few weeks look like Brett when he played for Minnesota. Chilly kept calling a ball control type offense(ala Shula) and Brett would look very average at best. Then when they needed to score to win in the 4th they would turn him loose and  then it was the same old Favre again. Same thing when Jimmy Johnson became coach in Miami and tried to turn Marino into Aikman. Even Jake(pre 08) was much better in the hurry up then running a really slow, methodical offense. Controlling the clock is obviously a good thing but I think changing it up and running more hurry up is the best/only thing Shula can do this late in the season to help spark the offense. It's playoff time, gotta take the restrictor plate off the car