A forgotten boon in the Cam Newton acquisition

[micnificent28]

Hidden in all the hype and bells and whistles, I dont think enough attention is put on how this could also help our dreaded short yardage 4th and 1 short comings. We never realized it was a problem until he wasn't on the team anymore. During his tenure we had one of the highest 4th and short conversion ratios in the league.

I think it will be nice not to have to hold my breath on 4th and short hoping brady calls a tightend reverse or something cute for us to get a yard.

Edited November 12, 2021 by micnificent28

[BrianS]

I agree and disagree.

Cam will help, yes.  But a great part of the blame in our short yardage struggles has to fall on our putrid OLine.  We need to put a hat on a hat and move people off the ball.

Counting on the athletic superiority of one player no matter how great isn't the path to consistent success.

[micnificent28]

6 minutes ago, BrianS said:

I agree and disagree.

Cam will help, yes.  But a great part of the blame in our short yardage struggles has to fall on our putrid OLine.  We need to put a hat on a hat and move people off the ball.

Counting on the athletic superiority of one player no matter how great isn't the path to consistent success.

Our line has always been bad. Cam masked those deficiency for years even that super bowl year...

[SteveSmithTD89]

So our already predictable play calling is gonna get even more predictable? 

How exciting. 

I'm going to tell myself that Brady magically will bring back the roll outs that were so successful in the opening weeks. That he will turn to page 2 of the playbook and will utilize some misdirection we saw last year that utilized our skill players and put them into 1on1 situations.

How about moving DJ to the RB spot ala Curtis Samuel last year when CMC needs a spell. Cant tell me its anymore one dimensional than a backup rb that can't catch. Worked quite well in Dallas. Then never saw it again. 

How about those 1 yard touch passes letting DJ or Robby get a full head of steam? Drags? Slants? ANYTHING OTHER THAN A COMEBACK TO THE STICKS ON THE NEAR SIDE OF THE FIELD FOR THE 8TH TIME??? 

I'm not holding my breath. 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by SteveSmithTD89

[Davidson Deac II]

Fwiw, we have actually been pretty good on fourth down this year.  In fact, its one of the few things we have been good at on the offensive side of the ball.  We rank tenth in fourth down conversions.  And we started getting success on fourth and short when we started doing qb sneaks and gave up on trying to get a push and run for it.  

[Proudiddy]

21 minutes ago, BrianS said:

I agree and disagree.

Cam will help, yes.  But a great part of the blame in our short yardage struggles has to fall on our putrid OLine.  We need to put a hat on a hat and move people off the ball.

Counting on the athletic superiority of one player no matter how great isn't the path to consistent success.

And I also agree and disagree with your agreement and disagreement.

Because as we've seen in this latest debacle with Sam, the OL play is also largely dependent on the playmakers behind it and vice versa.  It is a wholly symbiotic relationship.  As we've seen with Sam, when the QB is indecisive and unsure and holds the ball too long, the OL play suffers and looks much worse than they would otherwise.  If runners are not waiting on their blockers or good at reading the holes that open up from blocking, then the OL is going to grade out worse as well.  A huge part of our struggles this season have been purely due to the QB play because it has a snowball effect.  The NE game was a prime example...  we couldn't generate any offense passing, so then we tried to force the run, but the defense could key on it and sell out because they weren't threatened by the pass.  Sam was hardly pressured, and the run game stats weren't bad.  The OL did a good enough job, there just wasn't enough offense from the QB position to make it matter.  This line isn't much different at all from last season's, yet last season's looked much better because Teddy got the ball out quick, which also then opened options up in the run game for Mike Davis in CMC's absence.  No one was complaining about the line last year, and we had Trent Scott starting most of the year at LT because Okung was out, and Chris Reed was horrible and started quite a bit.

I'm really hoping Cam masks this OL's deficiencies, much like he did for the unit in 2015.  I know he doesn't have the same cannon he did, but he still has plenty enough and the athleticism and size is still there to do things that other QBs just can't.  He fills a lot of the gaps that have been missing, coincidentally enough, since he's been gone lol.

[SteveSmithTD89]

Realized in my play calling rant I slightly derailed the topic at hand. 

Cam isn't 2015 Cam anymore. I think his days of being the bulldozer refusing to be denied that run in ATL with half the Falcons hanging on him are over. 

I would temper expectations on that front not only for Cams decline but the offensive line is far far worse than jt was during his time here. I dont think it's a stretch to say this is his worst line since the Chandler/Bell days. Even then we still had Kalil, Turner and Norwell. 

[PanthersGOATFan336]

So we Hurt him before using him as a battering ram

[rayzor]

Cam is still one of the most dangerous short yardage players in the league. If they haven't forgotten to respect him, it won't take long for that respect to come back which will open things up for the rest of the offense in those situations. I'm not at all worried about the OL in those situations. Cam & co. will still be able to get that done. 

One (of many) advantages we have in Cam over Sam is that Cam won't get flustered and lose confidence when things start to collapse.

Sam crumbles under pressure. Cam thrives in it.

Not only does Cam not crumble, he rallies the players around him in a way that few have ever been able to do.

What made Cam great wasn't just the physical parts of his game, it was the incredible amount of contagious confidence that he brought onto the field spreading to the players and that filled the stadium. As long as he has that, we've got a chance.

[micnificent28]

4 minutes ago, SteveSmithTD89 said:

Realized in my play calling rant I slightly derailed the topic at hand. 

Cam isn't 2015 Cam anymore. I think his days of being the bulldozer refusing to be denied that run in ATL with half the Falcons hanging on him are over. 

I would temper expectations on that front not only for Cams decline but the offensive line is far far worse than jt was during his time here. I dont think it's a stretch to say this is his worst line since the Chandler/Bell days. Even then we still had Kalil, Turner and Norwell. 

I think the opposite is true. Because his days as a true franchise number 1 are over new England used him as strictly a bull dozier and didn't care about him getting banged up last year.

[MillionDollarCam]

Eh… let him be a quarterback. If our coaching staff can’t figure out a way to pickup one yard without bulldozing our QB then we need to be looking for a new staff.

Last year he was right at or above the league average passer rating in 10 of the 12 passing grids tracked by Next Gen Stats.

Left LOS - Below

Left 10 Yards - Below

Left 20 Yards - Average

Left 30 Yards - Average

Middle LOS - Average

Middle 10 Yards - Average

Middle 20 Yards - Average

Middle 30 Yards -Average

Right LOS - Above

Right 10 Yards - Above

Right 20 Yards - Average

Right 30 Yards Average

 

If Brady can get out of his head and go back and try to emulate the Saints offense that he is familiar with then Cam might be able to extend his career. There’s no need to try and make Cam be Superman or scheme up deep throws or bulldozing runs for him.

We have a cast of offensive players that can get open and make things happen after the catch, that’s something that Cam has really never had. Even last year the Patriots receivers were at the bottom of the barrel in separation percentage.

I’d recommend going back and watching Cam’s week 17 performance from last year against the Jets. There wasn’t anything jaw dropping about his performance other than the long run but then you look up at his stat line and he’s accounted for four TD’s.

If we get into a habit of riding him like we did previously then this will end worse than it did last time.

At this point in Cam’s career they need to turn him into an Alex Smith/Chiefs type of player. If he can get you 25 TD’s/5 INT’s then this team can make some noise, that’s how good the defense is.

There is absolutely no sense in running him into the ground.

Edited November 12, 2021 by MillionDollarCam

[Snake]

1 minute ago, rayzor said:

Cam is still one of the most dangerous short yardage players in the league. If they haven't forgotten to respect him, it won't take long for that respect to come back which will open things up for the rest of the offense in those situations. I'm not at all worried about the OL in those situations. Cam & co. will still be able to get that done. 

One (of many) advantages we have in Cam over Sam is that Cam won't get flustered and lose confidence when things start to collapse.

Sam crumbles under pressure. Cam thrives in it.

Not only does Cam not crumble, he rallies the players around him in a way that few have ever been able to do.

What made Cam great wasn't just the physical parts of his game, it was the incredible amount of contagious confidence that he brought onto the field spreading to the players and that filled the stadium. As long as we have that, we've got a chance.

Wow that's really nice fluff. It's still fluff but it's definitely well written. I suppose one thing is for sure. Cam will probably be able to score all by himself a whole lot better than Darnald. That's been the only play that has consistently worked out of Joe Brady's "vast" playbook this season as well. 

[PootieNunu]

Just now, micnificent28 said:

I think the opposite is true. Because his days as a true franchise number 1 are over new England used him as strictly a bull dozier and didn't care about him getting banged up last year.

NE also had no offense to speak of. His #1 option for a good portion of the year were guys like Damiere Byrd. 

[micnificent28]

8 minutes ago, PanthersGOATFan336 said:

So we Hurt him before using him as a battering ram

You do know that isn't how he got hurt right? It was standing in the pocket behind this line thats already bad. He's never had much issue protecting himself when running. Also no one is saying so it every 4th down but make them think about it and respect it.