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[BrianS]

27 minutes ago, carolina-chucky said:

Norv is the problem. Since being in charlotte, he has made Cam one dimensional and over using cmc in both the run and passing game. Im not sure that scarlett has even touch the field on offense. Barley using Hogan. And where the hell is Ian Thomas? Norv ia throwing deep on 1st down and making nothing out of 2nd and 3rd. That last drive last night proved how stupid norv is

Ok.  Great.  I see what I'm working with here.  Let's deal with these objections one at a time.

First, Cam being one dimensional.  Last year under Norv, Cam ran the ball 101 times, which is slightly under his career average of 118.  Effectively, Cam had one less rush per game.  I don't consider this unhealthy.  I consider it smart to reduce some of the hits on Cam. 

This year, we've only got two games of tape, but let's consider those two games.  In the Rams game, you had a Cam coming off a mid-foot injury.  Is this the game you want to see Cam running, or do you think it might be wise to ease him in?  Yea, me too.  Against the Bucs, did you look at the box?  The Bucs stacked the box CONSTANTLY.  They were not going to let CMC - or Cam - or ANYONE - run the ball.  That was their game plan.  They wanted to FORCE Cam to beat them with his arm.

Next, over-using CMC.  This is also misinformation that keeps getting spewed as fact.  CMC is currently on pace to see fewer touches per season over his career than players like Emmitt Smith and LaDainian Tomlinson.  For more contemporary comparison, he's hanging in relatively evenly (which is to say FEWER touches) with Ezekiel Elliott.  Were those guys overused?  One would argue that when you have a generational type player, you feed him.  The touches CMC is getting are fine.

Throwing deep on 1st?  Yea, that's typically a good time to do it, when you have two more downs to make up for it if you miss.  In fact, the 44 yard shot to Samuel, the 33 yarder to Olsen and the 24 yarder to Samuel were all 1st down throws.  Ok, so what about the 1st down deep shots that missed.  Great question.

• In the second quarter, a first down deep shot to Samuel fell incomplete.  The second down play contained an offensive holding call, making it 2nd and 19.  That's pretty much a "no make" down and distance at any time . . . this is not on Norv.
• In the second quarter again, a first down deep shot to Wright fell incomplete.  This was on the end of half drive that we got a field goal out of.  We were on the Tampa 34 with 12 seconds and one timeout.  We weren't getting a touchdown.  You've got exactly two plays there, and you'd probably like to get your rookie kicker as close as possible.  The 2nd down run is understandable.
• In the fourth, a first down deep shot to Samuel fell incomplete.  On second down it was a short right pass to DJ, on third it was a short right pass to Samuel.  Both 2nd and 3rd downs were open receivers with room to run that our QB failed to place the ball properly.  Not Norv.
• In the fourth, a first down deep shot to Samuel fell incomplete.  This was the one where there was CLEAR evidence of Illegal Contact.  Ron challenged it, the official admitted there was Illegal Contact, but that specific foul in not available for reversal / challenge and we lost a timeout.  However, assume that the Illegal Contact didn't happen, even the announcers said "That was a catchable ball".  ALL THAT CRAP ASIDE, we still picked up the first down on this series of plays.  This is not on Norv.
•  Finally, a first down deep shot to DJ Moore fell incomplete.  The subsequent 2nd down play was a 9 yard completion to Samuel that had the facemask penalty tacked on to the end which took us down to the 11 yard line.  Again, not on Norv.

 

In fact, I'd argue that the last drive in particular proved how SMART Norv was.  He watched the game play out.  He saw our O Line getting manhandled.  He knew we weren't going to be able to run it in.  He pulled out all the stops to cover for that, and had our QB simply made a play that the average QB needs to make, a 15 yard out, we win the game.  Instead, our QB missed a wide open receiver in the end zone on 2nd down from the 11, and the rest is history.

 

[Vegas Heel]

1 hour ago, BrianS said:

I would submit to you that if your QB cannot defeat a defense with his arm, you don't have a very good QB.