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Cam's a slam for Rookie of the Year

jtnc

By jtnc,
in Carolina Panthers

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jtnc Newbie

jtnc

Posted
Posted

That brings it down to Dalton and Newton.

Dalton is doing what Bradford did last year and what Matt Ryan did in 2008. He’s come in, played very well and his team is winning. The Bengals are 6-3 and Dalton has thrown for 1,866 yards and 14 touchdowns. He’s smart, doesn’t make big mistakes and there’s no doubt Dalton is a big reason Cincinnati is one of the league’s most surprising teams.

But he’s not the only reason. Cincinnati’s defense has been shockingly good. Dalton really hasn’t been shocking. He has only had one 300-yard game, and only one game in which he’s thrown more than two touchdown passes.

Is anybody really ready to call Dalton a franchise quarterback? Yeah, I know it might be a little tempting because it’s been tough to even call the Bengals a franchise for most of the time they’ve been in the league. But Dalton is not Newton. He’s not even close.

By about halftime of the opener, the world knew Newton was a franchise quarterback. He threw for 422 yards that day in Arizona. Then, he came back the next week and threw for 432 against Green Bay, and, suddenly, the Panthers had hope for the first time in a long time. They've still got it.

Yeah, both those games were losses, and, despite Newton’s play, the Panthers have continued to do a lot of losing. They’re 2-7 and we are talking about a game that’s supposed to be the ultimate team sport.

But Rookie of the Year isn’t a team award, which is significant because if you factored in the play of Carolina’s defense, Newton would be wearing heavy anchors on both his legs.

Rookie of the Year is an individual honor, and even if it wasn’t, Newton still would have the edge. He’s thrown for about 800 yards more than Dalton. Oh, and since we mentioned Newton’s legs, let’s take a look at rushing stats. Newton has rushed for 374 yards and seven touchdowns.

Dalton has run for 26 yards. If you really want to pad his stats, you could say he’s run for 78 feet, which is nice. But we’ve seen Dalton before. He compares nicely to guys like Ryan, Bradford, Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez as rookies.

We’ve never seen anything like Newton before. You could say he runs like The Golden Calf of Bristol or Michael Vick. Or you could say he throws like Dan Marino or Peyton Manning. You’ve never been able to say both things about any single quarterback. Until now.

Yeah, Newton’s not perfect. He has thrown 10 interceptions (but Dalton has thrown nine on 40 less attempts). It also would be nice to see Newton get some wins. But those will come next season when the Panthers have had time to rebuild a defense that got shredded by injuries.

This is about this year. There’s no question Newton and Dalton have turned heads. But Newton is the only rookie who has had heads spinning.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/27637/cams-a-slam-for-rookie-of-the-year

There's more to the article, but I just shortened it to the important part.

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rayzor Grand Master

rayzor

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the bangals have followed the same model that the falcons, ravens, jets, etc. have followed with rookie QBs in helping him just learn to manage the game and limit mistakes by limiting his opportunities to throw and the offense he's in.

the only thing the bengals are doing differently is that they are running the ball a little less than the other teams, but they also just haven't been running that many plays at all. 21st in total offensive plays.

point is...they have a system in place that is proven to work in getting teams wins early with a rookie QB, but what it doesn't do is help develop them into anything more than game managers who most likely won't be able to put the team on his back and create some big comebacks when necessary.

why isn't there more excitement over dalton? basically...been there, done that.

there is just more excitement with newton because he is showing to be a more complete passer and big play maker than any rookie has in years. he is making more mistakes than others because they are letting him play. they are expecting big things from him and are letting him learn in a "no holds barred" setting.

the dude is phenomenal in what he's doing and he is going to be one of the elite QBs in the league. everyone watching him without a bias against him can see what he's doing now and know that in a short amount of time he could easily be one of the top 3 QBs in the league and also once he grows, learns the system, develops a little more, and the team around him improves a little, he is going to be winning a lot of games.

i've said it many times, once they start winning, they aren't going to stop for a long time.

newton is bar none the most exciting player to watch in years.

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