A forgotten boon in the Cam Newton acquisition

[Waldo]

I'm just happy to want to go to a game again. There were other pluses from  Cam's first stint with us. I'll give you one hint...

Quality has been down boys. Sorry, chauvinistic posting over. Yes, 4th down conversions would be great and so would actual offensive scoring.

[MillionDollarCam]

8 minutes ago, micnificent28 said:

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.

This is also inaccurate…

Cam has even stated that the shoulder injury occurred in the Chargers game of week 14 during the 2016 season.

If we want to point the blame at someone it belongs on Kelvin Benjamin for half-assing the play. If Benjamin 1) fights for the ball and makes the reception OR 2) makes the tackle after the interception instead of giving up on the play then Cam never gets hurt.

I’d agree that our OL definitely exacerbated his injury but so did taking constant hits on his shoulder when running after the injury had already occurred.

Edited November 12, 2021 by MillionDollarCam

[Smittymoose]

20 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. 

He had 12 rushing TDs last year. If he's anything still, then it's a short-yardage running threat. 

[L-TownCat]

1 hour ago, micnificent28 said:

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.

From day 1 Cam was our short yardage back.  Even with Tolbert and Stew.  #1 did the dirt.

No Stew, No Toldozer, no Superman?  y CAiN’t wE sHOrT yARdAgE?

[micnificent28]

50 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

This is also inaccurate…

Cam has even stated that the shoulder injury occurred in the Chargers game of week 14 during the 2016 season.

If we want to point the blame at someone it belongs on Kelvin Benjamin for half-assing the play. If Benjamin 1) fights for the ball and makes the reception OR 2) makes the tackle after the interception instead of giving up on the play then Cam never gets hurt.

I’d agree that our OL definitely exacerbated his injury but so did taking constant hits on his shoulder when running after the injury had already occurred.

Depends on which one... thats the first one but that hit he took from TJ Watt in the Pittsburgh game definitely messed somethings up that season. So accurate.

Edited November 12, 2021 by micnificent28

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, micnificent28 said:

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

Well, our IOL was much stronger when Cam was here(Kalil for instance). 

It has actually taken a dive from when he was here last.

[MillionDollarCam]

21 minutes ago, micnificent28 said:

Depends on which one... thats the first one but that hit he took from TJ Watt in the Pittsburgh game definitely messed somethings up that season. So accurate.

That happened in 2018 and definitely exacerbated the injury but it wasn’t the initial cause.

Go watch his vlogs, he’s quoted as saying that he’d been playing as a wounded dog since 2016.

His initial surgery in 2017 was for his rotator cuff, the surgery in 2019 was to clean up scar tissue due to continued hits that he was taking on that throwing shoulder.

I’m sure you know how scar tissue forms (most people do). The likelihood of what happened is that the shoulder never fully healed from the initial surgery and then the constant hits due to poor OL play and overuse in the run game caused the shoulder issue to become worse.

Like I said, the OL definitely made the injury worse but so did taking unnecessary hits while running.

I think it would be a huge mistake to run him like we previously did, just my opinion.

Edited November 12, 2021 by MillionDollarCam

[Davidson Deac II]

3 hours ago, L-TownCat said:

From day 1 Cam was our short yardage back.  Even with Tolbert and Stew.  #1 did the dirt.

No Stew, No Toldozer, no Superman?  y CAiN’t wE sHOrT yARdAgE?

You are mostly right, although Stewart was pretty good at short yardage.  Towards the end, he lost some speed, but was a plow that was almost guaranteed to get a yard or two. 

We have done fairly well this year on fourth and short.  

[Harbingers]

4 hours 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.

Cam is tall enough he can just reach/jump hop over the line. 

[BrianS]

3 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

Cam is tall enough he can just reach/jump hop over the line. 

Honestly man, I don't want him to do anything in the run game very often.

Here's the thing.  We know Cam has injury history specifically with his shoulder.  That's not great.

Now, what if, by some miracle Cam comes in and he doesn't have the 70 yard arm he once did, but instead he only has a 55 yard arm.  I just don't want ANY hits on him.  At all.  Pocket.  Runs.  Whatever.  It seems pretty clear that along about 2018 something finally clicked for him mentally in the pass game.  His completion percentage went way up.  Wasn't it Norv who told Cam "Take the layup man!"

If we have a QB who now has it figured out between the ears, I don't care what he can do on the ground.  I want him to end every game with a pristine jersey.  I want him on the field.

I was very excited for Cam right before his body utterly fell apart.  He really looked like he was growing as a passer.

[NorthTryon]

5 hours ago, micnificent28 said:

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.

People don't understand how Cam is going to help us in the redzone. We got to the two/three yard line so many times the last two years and couldn't get in there. And to everyone saying he ain't a battering ram and all that, Tom Brady is till doing sneaks at forty something. Cam will be fine. 

[glenwo2]

21 hours ago, Davidson Deac II said:

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.  

yeah.  I mean...it's probably one of the very few things Sam did right. 

[Catsfan69]

On 11/12/2021 at 9:28 AM, micnificent28 said:

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.

He's not 265 anymore. So not sure how he'll do.