1. Cam should have jumped on the ball. 2. Cam shouldn't have walked out postgame. 3. Saying that doesn't make you a hater.

[JustLurking]

4 hours ago, Jeremy Igo said:

Cam should have jumped on the ball, but he took one large stride too many to be able to do that safely. He thought he could reach down and pick it up and was mistaken. 

 

Anyone with two eyes can see this. I don't understand how it is even still being discussed. 

I too am baffled that not one pundit has seen the same thing! He simply missed his chance to dive trying to keep the ball alive knowing he would have to punt. He could have lied and said he thought his hand was going forward etc....but he stayed honest. I am glad he is strong enough to know who he is and isnt going to sell out for a corporation.

[truthjuice]

1 hour ago, BigKing said:

If they were already mentally defeated, there are much larger issues to be worried about than whether Cam should of dove on a fumble or not.

I'd like to think they still believed they can win.  If what you say is true, then you just criticized Cam more than anyone talking about this particular play.

If Cam is the leader of the team and the team is mentally defeated, isn't that an indictment of Cam?

I don't think I can buy this.  I think the majority of the huddle was already mentally defeated, sure, but I don't want to believe my team essentially gave up.

Start from the top and work your day down. Like Cam, I won't debate because you can't change my mind to believe what you believe. 

[shreddingdefense]

For the life of me i can't fathom why people are blaming cam for the loss on Sunday. What i saw was poor play calling from the oc and a oline unable to block Denver's defense. No halftime adjustments were made to compensate for piss poor blocking. How about some max protection coach? Sure you'll have less receivers to throw to but still, it might work.

Simply put by the time that fumble happened the game was already out of reach. We couldn't move the ball period. What few plays we could muster were quickly away.  Didn't Stewart have 7 yards rushing? That is pathetic.

[TheRumGone]

It all comes down to this.

why do black men have to prove themselves more than white men, who get the benefit of the doubt? This doesn't just pertain to football it pertains to life. I'm at the point now that I'm nauseated that the media has taken this to a seriously fuged level. 

Does anybody here really think a white qb would be dogged this much if this play happened to them? Sure it's gonna be mentioned but it has seriously reached such epic proportions that it makes me sick to my stomach.

The only thing that comes close to this is jay cutlers injury in the nfcc game. But he was on the sidelines smiling and laughing. 

People are seriously questioning cam's heart after what we have seen the last 5 years? fug you.

[SmokinwithWilly]

When I watched the play I thought he didn't jump on it because he figured it was going to squirt out of the pile like so many fumbles do. Not the case, but it made sense in the moment.

[goodoleboy]

7 hours ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

When I watched the play I thought he didn't jump on it because he figured it was going to squirt out of the pile like so many fumbles do. Not the case, but it made sense in the moment.

There is another aspect of that play nobody is talking about because you have to look at coaching film to see it. Funches is running wide open 40 yards downfield on that play. That is who Cam was throwing it to when his arm was hit. Helps explain the pause trying to pick it up.

[d-dave]

Can we drop the issue?  I mean it feels like we're arguing which of your kids is uglier.  (Sorry little Tim Bobby, the 3rd ear on your chin does it!)

The fact is, he didn't dive on it.  We can all think what we want, but at the end of the day, do you think Cam makes the same mistake again?  I don't think so.  I'm pretty sure that the Panthers know who Cam is when they signed him to his contract.  It was a bad play in a terrible game.

[Zaximus]

First off, OP has been the most negative poster on the Huddle for YEARS, in case the newer posters didn't know.  

Second off, I think it's unfair to question Cam's effort on a fumble when this guy hardly takes a play off when running.  Jumps over guys to the end-zone and puts his body at risk all the time.   Maybe if he didn't do these things, we could bash, but to call him out for ONE thing over 5 years is stupid.   The angle was weird and his body was weird.  Cam isn't Wilson, he's not 5'9".  He's 6'5" with really long legs, he lumbers when he runs, it's not as easy to just turn around in a split second for a fumble.   Watch when he even jukes people, it's pretty awkward with those long legs.   QB's also don't do fumble drills like the rest of the team.    It was real time and fast, I can't fault him for this, I just can't.  And yes, you ARE a hater to criticize Cam for one instance when he's been throwing his body at everything for five years.  National media hasn't watched EVERY game but I would think a "fan" would realize this.  

Next, you don't have a right to say how someone should act with giving a press conference.  You aren't his father.  You aren't his employer.  You're some dude eating cheetos and beer on your couch watching grown men do things none of us will ever get to.   You don't own him.   None of us do.   You wanted an interview after the most important game of his career didn't go right?   Would you want to give a press conference after losing out on the biggest moment of your career?   I don't think so.  If anything, question why someone has to come out 30 minutes after the game instead of 24-48 hours later.   Question the RIGHT things.

[rayzor]

13 minutes ago, Zaximus said:

First off, OP has been the most negative poster on the Huddle for YEARS, in case the newer posters didn't know.  

Second off, I think it's unfair to question Cam's effort on a fumble when this guy hardly takes a play off when running.  Jumps over guys to the end-zone and puts his body at risk all the time.   Maybe if he didn't do these things, we could bash, but to call him out for ONE thing over 5 years is stupid.   The angle was weird and his body was weird.  Cam isn't Wilson, he's not 5'9".  He's 6'5" with really long legs, he lumbers when he runs, it's not as easy to just turn around in a split second for a fumble.   Watch when he even jukes people, it's pretty awkward with those long legs.   QB's also don't do fumble drills like the rest of the team.    It was real time and fast, I can't fault him for this, I just can't.  And yes, you ARE a hater to criticize Cam for one instance when he's been throwing his body at everything for five years.  National media hasn't watched EVERY game but I would think a "fan" would realize this.  

Next, you don't have a right to say how someone should act with giving a press conference.  You aren't his father.  You aren't his employer.  You're some dude eating cheetos and beer on your couch watching grown men do things none of us will ever get to.   You don't own him.   None of us do.   You wanted an interview after the most important game of his career didn't go right?   Would you want to give a press conference after losing out on the biggest moment of your career?   I don't think so.  If anything, question why someone has to come out 30 minutes after the game instead of 24-48 hours later.   Question the RIGHT things.

A-frikkin-men

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

8 hours ago, TheRumGone said:

It all comes down to this.

why do black men have to prove themselves more than white men, who get the benefit of the doubt? This doesn't just pertain to football it pertains to life. I'm at the point now that I'm nauseated that the media has taken this to a seriously fuged level. 

Does anybody here really think a white qb would be dogged this much if this play happened to them? Sure it's gonna be mentioned but it has seriously reached such epic proportions that it makes me sick to my stomach.

The only thing that comes close to this is jay cutlers injury in the nfcc game. But he was on the sidelines smiling and laughing. 

People are seriously questioning cam's heart after what we have seen the last 5 years? fug you.

jeremy posted a photo from the 2014 divisional playoff loss to the seahawks that drove this home for me.  i think it encapsulates the insane brutality of pro football in a way that's not easily seen just by watching a game on TV too.

it was a shot of cam running for his life about to get taken down from behind by a seahawk defender.  he had blood all over his pants and jersey and an anguished look on his face.  he dealt with injuries sustained in a traffic accident and the painful aftermath of a surgery that season which, by themselves, would have probably IR'd half the quarterbacks in the league.  but here he was leading a team that had scrapped and clawed its way into the playoffs against the defending super bowl champs in their house.  and the game was close until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

at this level, people who doubt his heart or will to win are morons like jim folsom or your average PFT commenter/hot take-dishing gritsrgreat type guy calling into a radio show.  or douchebags in the michael procton mold who aren't actually that stupid but are extremely biased and have a near-religious adherence to a very narrow ideology.

[teeray]

http://johnpavlovitz.com/2016/02/09/your-discomfort-is-not-cam-newtons-problem/

When entitled people mistakenly believe you owe them compliance or at least contrition and you don’t provide it, they get awfully jacked up. That’s been the case for scores of folks who have lined up to attack his character and question his leadership and minimize his manhood, which has all been more telling about them than about Cam Newton. That we somehow feel comfortable superimposing our preferences on a complete stranger is the symptom of a cultural sickness which social media has allowed us to deem completely healthy.

The irony at play here, is that to demand another person show the humility we desire them to, is the very height of hubris. It takes a tremendous ego to believe you’re qualified to renovate another human being into your image, but we play God with folks every single day.

 

 

Some self-righteous folks point at Cam with red-faced indignation saying, “He can’t be Mister Dab in a win and then go and pout after a loss.” Cam is looking those people in the eye, and without flinching or apologizing at all, he’s saying: “I can”.  He’s refusing to play the game and in that way he’s changing the game.

We need to stop projecting our behavior onto other people, making them conform to whatever conduct we prefer and attacking them when they don’t. There’s an arrogance present when we assume that we can define the baseline of what civility and decorum and class are for others; that we somehow feel justified in policing the world when the world doesn’t respond within the borders of our comfort.

 

 a culture that would rather have phony conformity than honest originality, Cam Newton is unapologetically himself at any given moment, and people who don’t like who that person is can and should move on, because it doesn’t seem he is in a hurry to alter himself to make you feel better.

Far more than what Cam Newton’s behavior reveals about Cam, is what it reveals about those who feel overly concerned about it.

He isn’t the big story here. We are.

[rayzor]

8 hours ago, King said:

SMF was one of the only posters advocating to draft Newton when the vast majority of the Huddle wanted nothing to do with him.

He's earned the right to criticize him.

 

He's earned

 

the right

 

to criticize him.

[Sam Mills Fan]

9 hours ago, King said:

SMF was one of the only posters advocating to draft Newton when the vast majority of the Huddle wanted nothing to do with him.

He's earned the right to criticize him.

I appreciate you remembering that, but it's fine. I'm not here to make friends. 

 

What's going to be amusing is when we're back in the Super Bowl next year and Cam plays great and completely sells his body out to recover a loose fumble and has a great postgame press conference, these same people giving Cam every excuse out there are going to 1.) Cover themselves with splooge in excitement when Cam dives for that ball and recovers it and 2.) Will praise how far he's come in postgame press conferences. They'll do this without realizing or caring that they're retroactively going negative on how Cam did things in SB 50. And that'll be fine! It'll make things that much sweeter for those of us that rightfully did criticize his SB 50 performance at the time.

[Fan01]

1 minute ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

I appreciate you remembering that, but it's fine. I'm not here to make friends. 

 

What's going to be amusing is when we're back in the Super Bowl next year and Cam plays great and completely sells his body out to recover a loose fumble and has a great postgame press conference, these same people giving Cam every excuse out there are going to 1.) Cover themselves with splooge in excitement when Cam dives for that ball and recovers it and 2.) Will praise how far he's come in postgame press conferences. They'll do this without realizing or caring that they're retroactively going negative on how Cam did things in SB 50. And that'll be fine! It'll make things that much sweeter for those of us that rightfully did criticize his SB 50 performance at the time.

It's doesn't have to be one or the other. 

Based on the way Cam has played for 5 years I don't question his hard or effort as a football player.  He has laid it all out on the line over and over and over.  I've seen him as a running not run out of bounds and look for contact.  It took him 3 years, at least, to be convinced to slide instead of going headfirst.  It's wasn't about being scared to go after the fumble, it was being in position to dive at the ball.  Or Cam believing he could get to the ball.

Again based on the way he's played for 5 years I have no doubt had he been in better position he would have dived for the ball.  His 5 years history tells us he sells out his body to make plays.  So, on 1 single play when it seems like he doesn't I don't start to question his manhood or his willingness to "sell out his body".  I look for the "reason" he didn't.  Jeremy provided a very logical reason that makes sense.  It certainly makes a whole hell of a lot more sense than Cam decides after 5 years of selling out and putting his body on the line that during the biggest Cam of his life he says, "Nah, not worth it".