Cam's Amazing Stats... Not Kidding

[OchoNueve]

Not talking passing stats here....

Although Cam's passing stats have been far from stellar this preseason and even though his runs have been exciting to watch, they did not seem too out of the ordinary...Right?

According to Elias Sports Bureau:

- Over the last 4 NFL seasons, QB's have run for a TD of 15 yards or longer an average of 4 times per season. (1 in 8,000 plays)

- Last year a QB ran for more than 25 yards only 17 times. (1 in 1,900 plays)

If you take Mike Vick out of the NFL, these odds become exponentially smaller and yet our young rookie QB achieved both of these rare milestones in a mere 15 minutes of game time in his very first start versus the Cincinnati Bengals. (statistically speaking this should happen about 1 in 12,222 games... about once every 48 years)

When he has the ability to run on teams like he has shown in the preseason it is really going to open up the field for him and take pressure off of other positions. I am not saying the stats prove anything like Cam is going to run for 2,000 yards this year and I am not trying to convince you that he will be the best running quarterback of all time, but I think a lot of fans get caught up with his poor passing play thus far and forget how special this guy is.

[Razeyfingers]

Yep, here's the thing that I love the most. Now that DC's have gotten a look at how fast and big he is compared to the rest of the pros theyre going to realize that they cant put too small of a package on the field. Otherwise Cam is just going to mow them over and Smitty blocks like an animal twice his size.

Teams, in time, should be forced to go bigger with their personnel and that may open up several opportunites for our speed to make plays.

[CatMan72]

Yup, we know he can run at this level and that's a valuable asset - but his ability to make throws from the pocket will ultimately determine his fate.

[g5jamz]

Preseason

We start measuring things next weekend.

[rayzor]

if he can become even an average passer, he can be elite (at least according to TQBR).

the threat of him as a runner is going to be real and something that will require planning against, which will happen. but it will also require the use of a spy and that is one more guy taken off coverage.

as he evolves as a passer he will rely less and less on that ability to run which will make him even more of a threat.

[PhillyB]

it's all about mismatches.

cam is a mismatch and will force other mismatches during the game.

[4Corners]

I was against Cam running the ball, but man he runs smart and is a big boy to try and tackle

[OchoNueve]

Preseason

We start measuring things next weekend.

Why do we even play the preseason if we can't evaluate our talent in these games? You act like nobody tries...

[panthers55]

What his running ability does is reduce the way that teams can blitz him. When Pittsburgh rushed 6 or 7 and he broke containment, he was wide open with virtually no one around him for 15 yards. When teams have to use spies on him and keep linebackers on him to keep him from running, it opens up the TEs and other guys like backs coming out into the flat. Teams will have to gameplan to stop him which makes other things more effective. If they keep 8 in the box it should keep folks from doubling Smitty. Imagine a reverse where Newton and the RB goes left along with the whole defense and then Smitty or Edwards does a reverse the other direction. The possibilities are endless.

Wait until he figures out that he can slide and run out of bounds, he will easily run for 1000 yards this year without even trying to do it just scrambling on broken plays.

[CRA]

What his running ability does is reduce the way that teams can blitz him. When Pittsburgh rushed 6 or 7 and he broke containment, he was wide open with virtually no one around him for 15 yards. When teams have to use spies on him and keep linebackers on him to keep him from running, it opens up the TEs and other guys like backs coming out into the flat. Teams will have to gameplan to stop him which makes other things more effective. If they keep 8 in the box it should keep folks from doubling Smitty. Imagine a reverse where Newton and the RB goes left along with the whole defense and then Smitty or Edwards does a reverse the other direction. The possibilities are endless.

Wait until he figures out that he can slide and run out of bounds, he will easily run for 1000 yards this year without even trying to do it just scrambling on broken plays.

I think early on this season Chud should go HEAVY shotgun. Teams if they blitz heavy.....Cam should be able to find a lane and really hurt them. Could limit the blitzes sent on a young QB.

[BizEagle]

Given the Panther's underachieving O-Line right now, having Cam pull down the ball and run is the one thing he can do to avoid injury (assuming he slides at the end). It will force opponents into a contain rush which provides more time for Cam to throw and lessens the chance he will take a big hit while standing in the pocket. His runs are so devastating to defenses that they can't allow him to escape. Pittsburg was even blitzing on that 20 yard run that Cam made last night but he still got away from those guys and made them all look slow. That was Pittsburg's #1 defense he embarrassed. Cam did the same thing in college. DCs tried to force him to throw with a containment rush and that left more time for receivers to get open. It is a unique problem for DCs to try to stop.

[rmoneyg35]

The only thing that scares me about him running is that most running Qbs get injured a lot because they put themselves in harms way. Now luckily there are a lot of new rules to protect the Qb so the chances of him getting injured aren't as bad as they would be if he was playing ten years ago. I love having a Qb that can scramble when needed and unlike Vick, Cam can run over defenders and will be a lot harder to take down because of his size.

[setzer2030]

Cam can run over defenders and will be a lot harder to take down because of his size.

Even though Cam is 6'5 250, I don't want him running over anyone. Slide! Linebackers around the league would love to knock the #1 overall pick out of a game.

[rayzor]

I think early on this season Chud should go HEAVY shotgun. Teams if they blitz heavy.....Cam should be able to find a lane and really hurt them. Could limit the blitzes sent on a young QB.

shouldn't just be early in the season. passing game works better coming out of the shotgun. the best passing teams are switching to it and took most of their passing snaps from it last year. i think this year you are going to see most teams use it pretty frequently. panthers won't be special in that regard. what will make them stand out is what cam can do in it as a runner.