The Herd on Cam Newton today

[HPPantherzfan]

Well it really doesn't matter what any of us think. Cam will have his chance Thursday night; I for one am getting behind him and wishing for the best!

[Peppers90 NC]

Internet friends, yay

Eventually, common sense and logic always prevails.

If you were Rivera, who would you start knowing what you know at this point?

[TheRealDeal]

Cam Newton is the starter, no doubt about it. I've said this for weeks, months. He NEEDS to be the starter, but it's not because he's outplaying Clausen. Do I think he's better, yah, I do. Not right now, but over the course of a season, yeah. I think he'll give us the best chance to win, of the two.

I am not foolish enough to assume it's Rivera's decision completely though.

[HPPantherzfan]

Cam Newton is the starter, no doubt about it. I've said this for weeks, months. He NEEDS to be the starter, but it's not because he's outplaying Clausen. Do I think he's better, yah, I do. Not right now, but over the course of a season, yeah. I think he'll give us the best chance to win, of the two.

I am not foolish enough to assume it's Rivera's decision completely though.

:iagree:

This is exactly how I feel

I believe Rivera's hand is being forced by JR because he promised certain players they would have a new QB...JR is to stubborn to go back on his word regardless of which QB is / was playing better

[Peppers90 NC]

Cam Newton is the starter, no doubt about it. I've said this for weeks, months. He NEEDS to be the starter, but it's not because he's outplaying Clausen. Do I think he's better, yah, I do. Not right now, but over the course of a season, yeah. I think he'll give us the best chance to win, of the two.

I am not foolish enough to assume it's Rivera's decision completely though.

Well, being drafted #1 to me would mean he should start. But after these two games, do you feel he deserves to start? I'm thinking long term for the team, is it better to throw him in the fire now and try to develop that way, or let him observe for a few weeks? I unfortunately didnt get to see the game on Friday like I had hoped, just didnt make it home in time, so I havent commented on anyone's performance yet. I thought the offense looked better in the first game with Cam in, especially when we ran more of a spread type offense.

[CRA]

This part isn't even in the ballpark of being correct

Nice try though!

PLEASE NOTE I WILL CHECK THIS FOR ACCURACY WHEN I GET OFF WORK. HAVE FOUND OUT THAT SOME NUMBERS ARE OFF.

Jimmy Clausen -

10 Drives (NY and Miami) - 6 3 and outs. To do the math, 60% of Clausen's drives resulted in 3 and outs.

Cam Newton

12 Drives- (NY and Miami) 6 3 and outs - To do the math, 50% of Cam's drives result in 3 and outs.

Recalling off memory I did have some facts wrong about drive #'s.....the fact Clausen had less drives makes the 3 and out fact worse was the original point I made about drives after NY. With all the talk I forgot and flipped the drives I guess.

*in addition, I counted Goodson fumble on 2nd down for Cam as a 3 and out....which benefits Clausen slightly.

_______________

Clausen lead the O to 10 first downs - 10 drives

Cam lead the O to 11 first downs. - 12 drives

So again, it is factual that Cam has moved the ball better overall in the preseason. My statement of drive # was not correct. I also realized that my calucation had given Clausen a 3 and out when his INT was returened for a TD.....so that took away 1 3 and out and gave him a 1st down to factor in.

[Cat'sGrowl]

Cam Newton is the starter, no doubt about it. I've said this for weeks, months. He NEEDS to be the starter, but it's not because he's outplaying Clausen. Do I think he's better, yah, I do. Not right now, but over the course of a season, yeah. I think he'll give us the best chance to win, of the two.

I am not foolish enough to assume it's Rivera's decision completely though.

Ladies and gentlemen, TRD's latest fallback option..

Newton starting? But, but no...How can that be? I, TheRealDeal and all my glorious wisdom have determined that this QB cannot play the game, why would a professional head coach go against my superior knowledge....i must think of an excuse for this...Oh Oh I know! Mr Richardson, contrary to his entire belief of not getting involved in team affairs unless absolutely necessary, went to Rivera and FORCED Newton to play! Yeah, that's it!!

*Puts on Dolphins cap*

[HPPantherzfan]

Jimmy Clausen -

10 Drives (NY and Miami) - 7 3 and outs. To do the math, 70% of Clausen's drives resulted in 3 and outs.

Cam Newton

12 Drives- (NY and Miami) 6 3 and outs - To do the math, 50% of Cam's drives result in 3 and outs.

Recalling off memory I had the drive # wrong but the 3 and outs and 1st downs right.....the fact Clausen had less drives makes the 3 and out fact even worse.

*in addition, I counted Clausen's 3rd down throw that was returned for a TD as a 3 and out and when Goodson fumbled on 2nd down for Cam as a 3 and out....which benefits Clausen.

_______________

Clausen lead the O to 6 first downs - 10 drives

Cam lead to O to 10 first downs. - 12 drives

So again, it is factual that Cam has moved the ball better overall in the preseason.

So how is what I posted not even in the ballpark?

I got the exact opposite on the first downs and I didn't count either of those nor did I count the TD by Clausen to Olsen which could / would have been another if the endzone didn't happen to be there.

I also got a larger disparrity in the number of drives, much larger.

Jimmy has played in less than 2.5 QTRs Cam has played in 4.5 by my calculations

One of us has selective reading...

[TheRealDeal]

Well, being drafted #1 to me would mean he should start. But after these two games, do you feel he deserves to start? I'm thinking long term for the team, is it better to throw him in the fire now and try to develop that way, or let him observe for a few weeks? I unfortunately didnt get to see the game on Friday like I had hoped, just didnt make it home in time, so I havent commented on anyone's performance yet. I thought the offense looked better in the first game with Cam in, especially when we ran more of a spread type offense.

Your first sentence is what I mean by handcuff us or hold us hostage, he HAS to start solely because his draft status.

I'm not sure long term...I don't know if it's better to throw a rookie in to start right away or let them sit and learn. We don't have anyone to really learn from so that might not even be an option. Aaron Rodgers sat and watched but no telling how much Favre helped him since Favre was on record saying he had no interest in it. No telling if Rodgers would have lit it up had he starter early. Other guys have started early and had success as well and guys have failed going both routes.

After these two games, I think Jimmy is ahead. Both don't look good though. Cam's accuracy is awfully bad. He routinely bounces balls and misses receivers by 5+ feet. He threw a nice corner route to one of the TE, I think Olsen that was a well placed ball but other than that no other throws stood out. He had trouble moving the offense all night.

I think you could start either one and justify it, Clausen because he's currently better or Cam because he's clearly the future and it's better to get him his experience now since there isn't that much of a difference between him and Clausen now anyways.

One of my main concerns with Cam was how he would respond to some adversity. I know he's had off the field "distractions" and he's overcome them but that was when he was playing great football. How will he respond if we're 0-8 and he's not playing well? He's never been in that situation, he's always been on top of the game. We heard he was down and mopey at practice after a bad practice so how would that wear on him? Would it crush him early in his career?

[TheRealDeal]

Ladies and gentlemen, TRD's latest fallback option..

Newton starting? But, but no...How can that be? I, TheRealDeal and all my glorious wisdom have determined that this QB cannot play the game, why would a professional head coach go against my superior knowledge....i must think of an excuse for this...Oh Oh I know! Mr Richardson, contrary to his entire belief of not getting involved in team affairs unless absolutely necessary, went to Rivera and FORCED Newton to play! Yeah, that's it!!

*Puts on Dolphins cap*

I'm not going to get too deep into it with you but do you think it was solely Fox's decision to bench Moore game two and start Clausen, knowing his feelings on young players?

Isn't it odd that a guy who excelled in this offense before isn't allowed to even compete for the job? You don't think the coach made that decision do you?

But please continue.

[The Saltman]

didnt moore get hurt in game 1 also??

[CRA]

I got the exact opposite on the first downs and I didn't count either of those nor did I count the TD by Clausen to Olsen which could / would have been another if the endzone didn't happen to be there.

I also got a larger disparrity in the number of drives, much larger.

Jimmy has played in less than 2.5 QTRs Cam has played in 4.5 by my calculations

One of us has selective reading...

There is nothing to calculate.

Clausen has lead 10 drives in the preseason

Cam has lead 12 drives in the preseason.

The 3 and out and first downs are also spelled out. Where are you getting this 2.5 vs. 4.5 junk and what does that even mean? For example Clausen had 5 drives in the 1 Q of NY and Cam had 1.5 drives in the 1 Q at Miami.....

The play by play of each drive for both is broken down in black and white......and that is where I get my facts from. What are you using?

[TheRealDeal]

didnt moore get hurt in game 1 also??

Moore had a concussion in game one yet was one of the few QBs in the NFL to play the week after a concussion last year.

The team was down 7 points at half and got booed off the field.

Clausen was entered into the game in the 4th.

That sound Fox like? But I don't want to get too far into it, draw your own conclusions to see if Hurney or JR had a hand in it.

Also note the tensions really started to rise when Moore was inserted back into the lineup in Week 6 and Fox started making comments about personnel.

[footballisasport]

Cam Newton is the starter, no doubt about it. I've said this for weeks, months. He NEEDS to be the starter, but it's not because he's outplaying Clausen. Do I think he's better, yah, I do. Not right now, but over the course of a season, yeah. I think he'll give us the best chance to win, of the two.

I am not foolish enough to assume it's Rivera's decision completely though.

Clausen, by all means should be outplaying Cam by miles. His background lends itself to such a thinking. He has more than three times the reps than Cam, and was trained in the NFL preferred pro-style offense when he left ND. And has a year as a pro play under his belt. Cam had to learn a whole new offense system and didn't have OTA, nor full TC.

Funny thing is, Jimmy isn't playing that much better this preseason than he did his rookie preseason when he was competing with Moore for the starting position.