Pocket Cam vs. Mobile Cam

[Cyberjag]

Unless I have early onset Alzheimer's or some sort of dementia, I seem to recall that early in the season last year Cam was kept in the pocket out of concerns over his ankle and his ribs--mainly his ankle.  Basically, the coaching staff not only did not call any designed runs, they wanted Cam to stay in the pocket.

 

Out of curiousity, I aggregated the numbers he put up in his first four games back, and in his last 10 (he was "turned loose" on the Bengals in week 6).  Here's what they showed:

 

Games 1-4, 79-129, 983 yds. That's 61.2% completions, 7.6 Y/A, and an average rating of 94.6
Games 5-10, 183-319, 2,144 yds. That's 57.4% completions, 6.7 Y/A, and an average rating of 71.2

 

I know we had a crap OL that was exposed over our long losing streak, but that's beside the point.  What is there to take away from this?  Are Cam's runs worth enough to offset just how much better he is when he's focused on passing?  Is there anything interesting that you see here, other than it must be the offseason and I'm really bored?

[Ace_Aladdin]

Unless I have early onset Alzheimer's or some sort of dementia, I seem to recall that early in the season last year Cam was kept in the pocket out of concerns over his ankle and his ribs--mainly his ankle. Basically, the coaching staff not only did not call any designed runs, they wanted Cam to stay in the pocket.

Out of curiousity, I aggregated the numbers he put up in his first four games back, and in his last 10 (he was "turned loose" on the Bengals in week 6). Here's what they showed:

Games 1-4, 79-129, 983 yds. That's 61.2% completions, 7.6 Y/A, and an average rating of 94.6

Games 5-10, 183-319, 2,144 yds. That's 57.4% completions, 6.7 Y/A, and an average rating of 71.2

I know we had a crap OL that was exposed over our long losing streak, but that's beside the point. What is there to take away from this? Are Cam's runs worth enough to offset just how much better he is when he's focused on passing? Is there anything interesting that you see here, other than it must be the offseason and I'm really bored?

I think he should stay in the pocket more against the middle of the pack defenses but when we start facing top defenses his legs should be used to extend plays and open up opportunity for others around him.

P.s. I wouldn't want to stay in the pocket with the last years OT's

[TheNewStandard]

we had games where Reaves was the feature back, no Tolbert and basically missing half of our starting defense in a better part of the next few games following the Bengals game.

Not to mention those next few games were the toughest part of our schedule and our OL was in total flux and basically in disarray.

Hard to make out much from our performance last season as we were basically an entirely new patchwork compared to what we should have this season.

Basically, last season and its statistics are basically garbage with a lucky year to be in the worst conference in football.

[Oudaman90]

I see that Cam needs to be allowed to be a pocket passer. That means building a serviceable offensive line and a strong running game outside of him. That would give us balance without sacrifing his accuracy, mechanics, and body.

Just let Cam run it when the play breaks down. That's when his running is at its best. Making him a dual threat makes him a jack-of-all-trades. He won't be a great passer that way.

[TheNewStandard]

I see that Cam needs to be allowed to be a pocket passer. That means building a serviceable offensive line and a strong running game outside of him. That would give us balance without sacrifing his accuracy, mechanics, and body.

Just let Cam run it when the play breaks down. That's when his running is at its best. Making him a dual threat makes him a jack-of-all-trades. He won't be a great passer that way.

I hate the run option that we run, Cam should only have one or two called running plays per game...the rest of the time, like you say, he should stay in the pocket unless the play breaks down or there is a gaping hole in the defense he can take advantage of. Best comparison is what Roerhlesberger and Romo do on agame to game basis.

Having such physical WRs and a healthy backfield is gonna make calling the run-option very tempting for Shula though.

[AceMan]

Cam actually did well from the pocket earlier last year before our O-line collapsed

[nctarheel0619]

Cam actually did well from the pocket earlier last year before our O-line collapsed

 

I think people are overstating the injuries portion of this (not you).  Amini was still the starter in the Eagles game, so was Nate Chandler, and Byron Bell.  All three started the season and started when Cam was playing from the pocket.  As much as I HATE to say this, the same offensive line was intact most of the season.  Did they suck?  Absolutely.  But Cam had his troubles with the same line throughout most of the year.  

[top dawg]

And there lies the problem when it comes to evaluating Cam. You can't put him inside a box like most QBs. I am thinking that you have take the good with the bad and the bad with the good, and hope that his experience and better protection will finally give Cam that breakthrough inside the pocket.

Cam is too good of a runner and impromptu creator to just throw him away because of a few errant passes here or there. Sometimes he is deadliest when he is on the run, but I think that he needs to be running on his terms. Hopefully the O-line play, along with our RBs that can make positive yards at the point of attack, as well as receivers that can separate and propose a pick-your-poison scenario for opposing defenses, will finally afford the world to truly see Cam's potential be fully manifested on game days.

[Snake]

Cam gonna do Cam but with is WR corp he should have to run a whole lot less.

[Oudaman90]

Well, therein lies your problem. Bell, Amini, and Chandler are godawful. It amount of pressure and hits took their toll on Cam. They were awful early in the season too, hence Cam getting pulled from games late out of fear for his safety. He was able to make due early on because Rivera and Shula was forced to allow Cam to run the offense like a quarterback. Usually they rely on Cam's athleticism to bail them and the offense out. But since he was hurt they actually had to call up max protections and go to the HUNH offense.

Unfortunately when Cam got somewhat healthy, they leaned on his athleticism once again. This threw his mechanics out of whack and contributed to his decline.

Bottom line, our oline sucked, and this can't be minimized...

[rayzor]

i don't want box cam where he's pigeonholed into one category or another. that's small/narrowminded thinking.

 

i want opportunistic cam who can kill it in the pocket or with his feet depending on what the defense is doing and where their strengths and weaknesses are.

 

what i want least is flat cam. that OL needs to give him space and time and they need to get ther poo together before week one instead of spending the first few weeks getting it figured out.

 

 

[TheRed]

I think people are overstating the injuries portion of this (not you).  Amini was still the starter in the Eagles game, so was Nate Chandler, and Byron Bell.  All three started the season and started when Cam was playing from the pocket.  As much as I HATE to say this, the same offensive line was intact most of the season.  Did they suck?  Absolutely.  But Cam had his troubles with the same line throughout most of the year.  

 

Considering we had what was it, 7 or 8 different lineups on the OL by week 10, I would say your notion that people are overstating the injuries is silly at best.

 

 

[RelaxImaPro]

we had games where Reaves was the feature back, no Tolbert and basically missing half of our starting defense in a better part of the next few games following the Bengals game.

Not to mention those next few games were the toughest part of our schedule and our OL was in total flux and basically in disarray.

Hard to make out much from our performance last season as we were basically an entirely new patchwork compared to what we should have this season.

Basically, last season and its statistics are basically garbage with a lucky year to be in the worst conference in football.

 

This x1000.

 

Cam really had it really, really fuging rough last season.  Lost his entire receiving corps in the offseason and is replaced by a bunch of JAGs and a raw rookie for his #1... having absolutely 0 chemistry with this entire new receiving corps, he then proceeds to miss all offseason with them and most of training camp and preseason due to ankle surgery and fractured ribs.

 

If that wasn't bad enough, half his o-line also decided to up and retire in the offseason, which further killed any sort of chemistry there might have been on the offensive side.  Byron Bell and Nate Chandler as your starting tackles should say more than enough.

 

Then somehow, he miraculously actually managed to look pretty good behind all that when he was focusing solely on staying in the pocket... until the offensive line fell into absolute chaos and we lost all of our RBs and Tolbert.  Cam started to get beaten to a pulp and at times seemed to feel pressure even when it wasn't there, which completely ruined his mechanics.

 

I think a lot of people forget that Cam was actually in very many early MVP conversations, and deemed by many to be, at worst, the 2nd best QB in the league 4-5 games into the season.  PFF had him rated as the best QB in football by a good margin through the first 1/4 of the season IIRC.

 

Just when that offensive clusterfug happened, it all happened at fuging once... combined with dog poo special teams, a Ron Rivera Regression, and that mid-season defense of Harper/Decoud/Cason/Godfrey/hurt TD/CJ... this team was an absolute poo show there for a while.

 

It's actually quite something that Cam didn't finish with a horrible season this past year IMO.  It was his worst as a pro, but it was still average-to-slightly-above-average.  Other than that period where he started feeling phantom pressure (which is my only real knock on him last season, and I can't blame him too much...), I don't think there's any QB that would've done much better here last season if faced with all the crap Cam went through.

[nctarheel0619]

Considering we had what was it, 7 or 8 different lineups on the OL by week 10, I would say your notion that people are overstating the injuries is silly at best.

The injuries started the middle of the season.  For the most part, Cam had the same offensive line throughout the beginning of the year.  When he was passing well from the pocket, and when he was running (Bengals game).