Game Notes - Week Three

[Mr. Scot]

Well, that was…wet :(

Back in my high school days, I played in a game or two like that. It was fun when you were winning, frustrating when you were losing, and cold no matter what the score was. I remember coming home from one game caked in mud, soaking wet and cold to the bone. No hot shower ever felt so good as the one I took then. The guys who played in that hurricane yesterday probably had similar feelings.

On to the game...

THE BIG UGLYS

A little better than last week, but still needing improvement. Hard to know how encouraged to be honestly when you consider that we weren’t exactly facing a team with the same quality of players as the Packers. Still, I’ll give them credit for at least being able to get a few yards a pop on the ground yesterday and, for the most part, keeping Newton fairly well protected.

Saw Ryan Kalil downfield blocking a couple of times yesterday. Have said before that Kalil is as good at getting to and making those second level blocks as any center in the league. When you see him downfield, you can generally know that the play went well.

Noticed late in the game that Byron Bell was subbing for Jeff Otah. It was actually Bell playing right tackle on the game clinching drive, though Otah did come back in for the 2 point conversion. Mind you, this could have just been to rest Otah, but given his injury history, I always wonder a little when he’s sitting.

Kudos to Jordan Gross for making a point to give a game ball to Rivera in the locker room after the game. Even bigger kudos for having a pretty good game. Saw some decent work from Geoff Hangartner too. Neither are the greatest run blockers in the world, but they were up to snuff yesterday.

And let me take a moment to talk about a guy who hardly ever gets mentioned. Travelle Wharton is a very good left guard. A capable run blocker and pretty good pass blocker too. His name doesn’t come up when people talk about the best guards in the league, but he deserves some credit.

OFFENSE

Looks like we’re ready to start up the whole “Williams vs Stewart” debate again. Sorry folks, but in my mind, that’s still a mistake. As mentioned, the run blocking still needs some work, and Stewart is better suited to “be his own blocker” than Williams is, but DeAngelo is no slouch. His speed and elusiveness didn’t just go away this year. I think as the game evolves and the team gets more time in the offensive system, you’ll see more from Williams. And since Rivera is a fan of the two-back system, the point is kind of moot anyway.

If I could criticize DeAngelo for one thing though, it would be this: The whole Facebook response to the fans thing was a mistake. Don’t jaw with the fans on the field, in the press, in the social media or anywhere else. You want to answer critics? Do it on the field. Success is the best revenge.

Pretty solid day for Jonathan Stewart even if you don’t count the run where he was called down (have watched that play a hundred times; he wasn’t down) showing again why we drafted him. His balance is ridiculous, and he has one of the best stiffarms of any runningback in the game right now. One play I’m pretty sure Stewart planted at least three guys with that thing. If he happened to be watching yesterday, there were a couple of plays that probably brought back some frightening memories for Ronde Barber.

At fullback, Jerome Felton and Richie Brockel were on field some yesterday, both at once on the conversion. That play was interesting to me because the team went with an “ultra-heavy” formation. You saw two tight ends (Shockey, Olsen) two fullbacks, Jonathan Stewart in the backfield and no wide receivers. Wonder if that’s something engineered specifically for conversions or if we’ll see that other times too. If they’ve used that previously, I missed it.

Not a great day for any of the receivers. Steve Smith was targeted a fair amount but Newton just couldn’t seem to get him the ball. As the season wears on, I think you’ll find that to be the exception rather than the rule. Did see some decent downfield blocking from Smith, Naanee and others on a few plays. That’s the kind of thing that helps the run game improve when done consistently. Saw some decent downfield blocking from DeAngelo Williams yesterday too.

Speaking of downfield blocking, Jeremy Shockey and Greg Olsen are pretty good at it as well. You might have noticed that Olsen’s also pretty good at some other things; like say, catching the football and running with it. I still have to go back and look at the old links to make myself believe we got him for only a third round pick. Great job on the touchdown yesterday for sure.

NEWTON

Said it elsewhere. What we saw yesterday against the Jaguars was what I expected to see last week against the Packers. Conversely, what we saw last week was what I expected to see this week. The NFL is the most unpredictable sport in the world, and that’s one of the reasons why I love it, but it can be tough to watch sometimes.

Definite step back yesterday, but no one should be surprised by that. Every rookie has games where they look like they can do nothing right, even the best of them. I’ve preached patience regarding both this year’s team and Newton’s development before, and will again. He'll get there, even if there are a few missteps along the way.

I’ve talked a lot before about Newton being a gunslinger type. Well, one of the other things about gunslingers is that they can tend to be streaky. Longtime watchers remember “Bad Jake” and “Good Jake”. I’m gonna stop short of saying we have “Bad Cam” and “Good Cam” though because this was just a single game. It isn’t a pattern yet, and as mentioned, he’s a rookie so this is going to happen.

Accuracy was definitely off yesterday, sometimes way off. Mechanics took a step back too. One of my stated worries about starting a rookie early on a bad team is that the situation can lead to the development of bad habits that you have to try and coach out later. I’ve seen a few with Newton that I hope can be nipped quick. Namely, the back foot stuff, the tendency to sometimes arm throw and the jump throws. Hope Shula emphasizes those when they do film study this week.

And yes, the conditions were terrible. You can’t make an excuse out of that (and I know Newton won’t) but those things do have an effect. If you doubt that, take a football, hose it down and then try to throw it. You’ll see pretty quick.

As with last week though, Chudzinski adjusted to Cam hitting a rough spot by calling safe, high-percentage throws that allowed the receivers to get some RAC yards. Smart adjustment, and one that helped Newton get on track long enough for a solid drive that gave us just what we needed.

Which brings me to one big difference between the prior games and yesterday. In the first two weeks, Newton started hot, but seemed to tire and tail off as the game wore on. Yesterday he got off to a bad start, but came up clutch when it most mattered. Forced to choose, I’ll take that over the alternative. Obviously, I’d prefer steady from start to finish, but you rarely get that with a rookie.

Despite how bad it may have looked at times, Newton actually wound up with a higher passer rating this week than last (75.4 to 72.0). I’d attribute that primarily to a lack of sacks and picks. His highest rated game at the moment is still his first (110.4) but I suspect there are plenty of highly rated games yet to come.

And I’ll hearken back to something I said last week. People will look at a game like yesterday and say “they need to coach him to play it safe”. I’ve already seen a few saying that he needs to run less and such. And while I’m one of the biggest “pass first” guys you’ll find, I’ll say again that you CANNOT and MUST NOT try and coach Newton into being a “safe” quarterback. Do that and you take away what makes him good.

Yes, you will have bad streaks like yesterday with a gunslinger type of QB, but that’s the trade off. You live with those moments in order to get to the moments where they look brilliant and near unstoppable. We’ve seen that already with Newton, and will see it again (hopefully, on a regular basis). Like I said at the start of this section, patience.

I’ll finish up with a few of the positives that showed up again yesterday. Newton’s field vision is almost like radar. Yes, that’s partially a function of his being so tall, but you still have to know where to look and what to look for, and he does. Throw in that his decision making is more solid than you could rightly hope for in a rookie playing only his third NFL game. And the competitive fire he plays with is off the charts, far higher than what I saw when I watched him last year. Said it in another thread, and will say again here. This is the first time since 2009 that I feel confident we can go into next offseason not needing to address the QB position (other than maybe depth).

And a quick note about Blaine Gabbert. Other than the ball handling issues (again, wet conditions) he actually looked good for the most part yesterday. He wasn’t clutch on the final drive, of course, but an overall solid if unspectacular day. He showed that they have something to build on and could develop into a solid starter. Great? Wouldn’t go that far based on yesterday, but solid? Yeah.

[Mr. Scot]

DEFENSE

On the other side of the ball, you knew going in that the big focus was going to be on the linebacking corps. With both Jon Beason and Thomas Davis down, it was expected to be a little rough, and at times it was. Still, Dan Connor is a very good linebacker and deserves to be evaluated on his own merits rather than just for not being Jon Beason. James Anderson is a good player too. Perhaps a tad overrated by Panther fans, but still good.

As for the rest of the “committee”, still largely a work in progress. Maurice Jones-Drew made more than one guy in the front seven look bad, but then he’s done that to plenty of other good players before. Plug-in guy Jason Williams had some rough moments, accounting for a couple of ill-timed penalties on mental errors (one on special teams that was a momentum shifter and could have been one of the game’s big moments had things not turned around). He got a little redemption on the final play, though.

Very up and down day for the defensive line. Clearly, playing in the rain wasn’t their thing, but they managed to stiffen up some when they needed.

On the outside, It’s no exaggeration to say Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy have the potential to become one of the best defensive end combos in the league. Terrell McClain may be the one who gets official credit for that safety yesterday, but it was Greg Hardy who made it happen, and pretty much with one hand while being held no less. We haven’t had an outside do like this probably since Peppers/Rucker, but it’s sure nice to see again.

Inside DL is still developing, but has its moments. Will grant that the Jags interior line and Maurice Jones-Drew made them look positively awful at points yesterday. Still, they’re improving and I’ll take that for now. Saw both the Big Niblet and Ron Fields in on a few plays yesterday. “Fields” may be an appropriate name for the big guy, because he’s about as wide as one.

Back in the back, have to admit I didn’t notice that Chris Gamble was out. That could be a good thing, honestly, because it means that the DBs played better than expected. Jordan Pugh had his first decent game of the year, and Darius Butler had his moments as well. Rivera made specific mention of how Butler used sideline technique effectively yesterday (Gamble’s good at that) and a good day for the little big man, Captain Munnerlyn too. Speaking of which, the PI call on him during the last drive was crap.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Another day of special teams not being all that “special” for good or bad. Beginning to think they should be renamed “Average Teams”. No glaring mistakes, but I’d like to see them actually become a threat at some point. "Mistake free" was good enough for John Fox, but I suspect Rivera will want more. That may come in time. Here’s hoping.

COACHING

Saw criticisms of some of Rivera’s decision making regarding the choice not to go for a field goal and going for two on the touchdown. Given the game situations and conditions, I agreed with both choices. Also saw some fire from Rivera on a few of the ref calls. Glad to see it. Rivera looks way scarier doing that than Fox did. Guess the refs should be on notice for that.

McDermott had another good outing calling the defense. The issues that were there were execution, not scheme. As the season rolls on, I find myself worrying very little about the coordinating spots, and that’s a welcome change from prior years.

One thing McDermott may want to cover in this week’s film study: The Jags pulled a fast one on that touchdown, throwing it just a hair short while we had everyone waiting in the end zone. A little more heads up play and that doesn’t happen. They’ll know to look for that in the future.

Solid day from Chudzinski too. He once again made the right adjustments to compensate for the rough patch that Newton hit. It’s become a running gag between my game-watching buddy and I that whenever I mention “adjustments” he says “what?” I told him we’re allowed to do that now. League rules prevented it before :sosp:

With regard to Chudzinski, it’s not just the play calling and the adjustments though. In the area of play design, we’ve made a quantum leap between last year and this year. Chudzinski’s play do what good plays are supposed to do, create favorable matchups. We didn’t see near enough of that in prior seasons, and it’s a very welcome improvement.

SUMMARY

Some fun similarities to the 2003 Jags game. Like that one, we had a special teams miscue on the part of the Jags and we had a safety. In 2003, those both came on the same play, a blocked punt by Rod Smart.

As first wins go, “ugly” would have been a compliment for this one. The worst part? Del Rio coached a very “Foxball” type of game plan, and under the kind of conditions we saw yesterday, that kind of attack can be very effective. At one point, I turned to my buddy and said “if we lose this game to Foxball, it’s really gonna suck”.

Happily, we didn’t :)

There’s a line from “The Legend of Bagger Vance”, describing one of the golfers that goes “Hagen hit more bad shots in a single game than most golfers do in a season. But Hagen had long ago learned one thing: Three lousy shots and one brilliant shot can still make par.”

Yesterday’s game showed that principle applies to football too :D

[4Corners]

holy sh*t

[Mr. Scot]

holy sh*t

What? :lol:

I've thought about splitting these posts up into different threads (Offense, Defense, Coaching, etc) but ultimately decided I'd rather just post as is. Folks can pick and choose what they read: certain sections, the whole, or not at all.

Regardless, it's fun mental exercise for me :D

(or conclusive proof that I need therapy; one or the other) :sosp:

[CatMan72]

Cam seemed to start out the game throwing everything high... reminded me of Favre. I think Cam was so jacked up to get a win and bury the Jags in the process that he was putting too much arm on his throws.

I also think the cover-2 look of the Jags defense presented a new challenge for Cam vs. the mostly single-high safety reads he could make against AZ and GB.

The good news is that in crunch-time, Cam pulled it together... that's something you can't teach.

[Mr. Scot]

Worth noting this was Newton's first game against a base 4-3.

The John Fox coached Panthers pretty much never seemed to be effective against 3-4 defenses. This year's model did better against them, but it's still a small sample yet.

[Mr. Scot]

Also, kudos to Sherrod Martin on his first pick of the year.

[rayzor]

Despite how bad it may have looked at times, Newton actually wound up with a higher passer rating this week than last (75.4 to 72.0). I’d attribute that primarily to a lack of sacks and picks. His highest rated game at the moment is still his first (110.4) but I suspect there are plenty of highly rated games yet to come.

And I’ll hearken back to something I said last week. People will look at a game like yesterday and say “they need to coach him to play it safe”. I’ve already seen a few saying that he needs to run less and such. And while I’m one of the biggest “pass first” guys you’ll find, I’ll say again that you CANNOT and MUST NOT try and coach Newton into being a “safe” quarterback. Do that and you take away what makes him good.

Yes, you will have bad streaks like yesterday with a gunslinger type of QB, but that’s the trade off. You live with those moments in order to get to the moments where they look brilliant and near unstoppable. We’ve seen that already with Newton, and will see it again (hopefully, on a regular basis). Like I said at the start of this section, patience.

I’ll finish up with a few of the positives that showed up again yesterday. Newton’s field vision is almost like radar. Yes, that’s partially a function of his being so tall, but you still have to know where to look and what to look for, and he does. Throw in that his decision making is more solid than you could rightly hope for in a rookie playing only his third NFL game. And the competitive fire he plays with is off the charts, far higher than what I saw when I watched him last year. Said it in another thread, and will say again here. This is the first time since 2009 that I feel confident we can go into next offseason not needing to address the QB position (other than maybe depth).

really well said...esp. about not coaching newton to be "safe". it could be that (other than tommy john) was what hurt jake. they tried to make him something he wasn't and it got in his head.

[Mr. Scot]

really well said...esp. about not coaching newton to be "safe". it could be that (other than tommy john) was what hurt jake. they tried to make him something he wasn't and it got in his head.

Back in 2005, when Dan Henning seemed to be making an effort to coach Delhomme out of his "riverboat gambler" tendencies, a lot of people on the forums had little "Let Jake be Jake" icons in their signatures.

I caution against that sort of coaching, but I honestly don't worry that much about it with the current staff. They really don't seem like the kind to pull back the reins too much.

[The Other Colbert]

I’ll finish up with a few of the positives that showed up again yesterday. Newton’s field vision is almost like radar. Yes, that’s partially a function of his being so tall, but you still have to know where to look and what to look for, and he does. Throw in that his decision making is more solid than you could rightly hope for in a rookie playing only his third NFL game. And the competitive fire he plays with is off the charts, far higher than what I saw when I watched him last year. Said it in another thread, and will say again here. This is the first time since 2009 that I feel confident we can go into next offseason not needing to address the QB position (other than maybe depth).

that's a BINGO!

The biggest thing was ZERO turnovers, though a few throws could have been picked off.

Cam in his first 2 games stalled out on the game winning/tying drives at the end of the game. Yesterday he showed us his mental toughness and perseverance to get it done. Many people say this was a bad game for him... but I'll take zero turnovers and a gaming winning drive any day.

[Tarheels23]

Mr Scott, good writeup as always.

1. Wharton's pass blocking is average at best.

2. Please stop mentioning Jake when speaking on Cam. This is like the 3rd time you've found a way to slide Jake into the conversation.

3. Please stop attributing every bad think Cam does to him being a rookie. Tom Brady threw 4 ints yesterday. Off games happens to the best of them.

4. I actually think James Anderson is underrated not overrated.

5. I've been hard on him, but yesterday Fua did better than people are giving him credit for. I'm excited about him and McClain both.

6. I love Dan Connor's downhill playing style, but he is a liability in the screen game, and the Bears will look to take advantage of him with Forte.

7. Captain has been playing lights out.

8. Yesterday was the first time I saw why the coaches are so high on Pugh. He closed down on the quick wr screen (or was it a smoke route) really fast, and made a text book tackle.

9. CJ and Hardy? Bravo!!!!!

10. J. Stew - I would not want to tackle this dude.

[Fiz]

not a word

[Mr. Scot]

Mr Scott, good writeup as always.

1. Wharton's pass blocking is average at best.

2. Please stop mentioning Jake when speaking on Cam. This is like the 3rd time you've found a way to slide Jake into the conversation.

3. Please stop attributing every bad think Cam does to him being a rookie. Tom Brady threw 4 ints yesterday. Off games happens to the best of them.

4. I actually think James Anderson is underrated not overrated.

5. I've been hard on him, but yesterday Fua did better than people are giving him credit for. I'm excited about him and McClain both.

6. I love Dan Connor's downhill playing style, but he is a liability in the screen game, and the Bears will look to take advantage of him with Forte.

7. Captain has been playing lights out.

8. Yesterday was the first time I saw why the coaches are so high on Pugh. He closed down on the quick wr screen (or was it a smoke route) really fast, and made a text book tackle.

9. CJ and Hardy? Bravo!!!!!

10. J. Stew - I would not want to tackle this dude.

I know people take comparisons to Jake as a negative, but coming from me it isn't. I was a big fan of Jake, and I'm now a big fan of Newton. In my opinion, they play a similar style of football, and that's where the comparison comes in.

Now, if you want to talk about athletic ability, that's another story.

As to the rookie thing, a pretty solid portion of the mistakes he's made so far are just genuine rookie mistakes. The transition to the NFL is a difficult one for a QB, even tougher for one that's not used to a pro-style system. that's a big reason why I can live with rookie mistakes, as long as they don't turn into habits.

The pass ends next season, but he should get it until then.

[Lt Pinkerton]

A quantum leap isn't very far