![]() ![]() ![]() Dysfunction across the board, infighting and CYA attitudes flourished in the misery that is the 2023 Carolina Panthers.īut even despite that, my optimism wanted to take hold in another form - fanaticism for our #1 overall pick that we've mortgaged the future for. Instead, the team faltered in leadership, cohesion, and effectiveness, barreling their way to the 1-12 record they hold today. Turns out, meshing together conflicting minds, despite their pedigree, does not ensure a well oiled machine. Naysayers such as posters I ignored with regularity as the season went on, with myself holding onto faint hope that something would soon spark. This year, I started out clamoring the belief that this coaching staff melded together a force to be reckoned with, and any preseason doomsday predictions was mere folly, hinging my bets that this "all-star coaching" staff merely did not play their cards and instead would unleash an ingenius offensive explosion in the regular season. Often, I'd look and find the positives of any pooshow and fit them to fit a narrative that there is hope.Īfter 2015, I parroted 2016 as a year not one where Cam Newton regressed, but rather progressed in a sea of mediocrity. If not, then run the play.I've been an optimist for quite some time. “If I see anything otherwise, it’s my job to make the proper audible. “Whatever Norv and his offensive staff calls it’s my job as the quarterback to execute it,” Newton said. So while Newton says he likes the big play as much as anyone, he seems fine with Turner’s philosophy - as long as the Panthers are winning games. ![]() With the emphasis focused on shorter routes, Newton is completing a career-high 65.6 percent of his passes, well above his career average of 58.9 percent. We don’t let the defense dictate to us, we dictate to the defense. “That’s not what good teams or offenses do. “When we get into the logistic things of football, and what the defense is giving and what they aren’t, you can’t just go down and chuck the football downfield and just expect, ‘Well, we didn’t take shots in the game,’” Newton said. Other guys just don’t seem to come off the picks the way they’re supposed to.’ I’ve told that to Cam, and Cam has always wanted the ball.”Īlthough the Panthers still looking stagnant at times on offense - including the first three quarters against the Eagles when they managed just seven first downs and no points - Newton seems adjusting well to new offensive coordinator Norv Turner’s scheme, which features more check downs and screen plays than the Panthers have typically run in the past. “Michael Jordan used to say, ‘Certain guys want the ball when it’s crunch time. “He’ll come up and say, ‘Put it in my hands, coach. Rivera said when the game is on the line Newton has the same mentality as Michael Jordan, a six-time NBA champion who many still consider the best basketball player of all time. This past Sunday Newton brought the Panthers back from a 17-0 deficit on the road against the Super Bowl champion Eagles with three TD drives to finish the game, earning him his 10th career NFC Offensive Player of the Week honor on Wednesday. Three weeks ago against the Giants the eighth-year QB rallied Carolina back in the final seconds, leading a drive that set up Graham Gano’s winning 63-yard field goal. The formula seems to be working for the Panthers, who are winning games behind Newton’s heroics. When we have opportunities to take shots down the field trust and believe nobody loves touchdowns more than I do - and if it’s there I’m going to take it.” “When you take too many shots downfield and it’s not there and you start forcing the ball, they say why can’t you protect the ball? So our thing is we turn our ears to mute and take what the defense is giving us. “When you are moving the ball, people say why aren’t you taking many shots downfield?” Newton said. Newton said the lack of vertical passing game isn’t something he’s concerned with entering Sunday’s home game against the Ravens (4-3), especially with his team 4-2 this season. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, for instance, has completed 17 of 42 passes beyond 20 yards, with eight of those going for touchdowns. That’s far fewer than most other NFL quarterbacks. The 2015 league MVP has attempted 16 passes - and completed just three - that have travelled longer than 20 yards in the air this season, according the NFL’s Next Gen stats.
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