Cam Newton Blames JaMarcus Russell And Vince Young For The Disrespect He Gets

[ed bell]

Not that it matters, but you don't think Cam did anything in his life to raise some doubts?

Well it does matter and Cam did have a public incident that ought to raise some doubts about his character. He has risen above that since then.

Everyone has moments in their lives they aren't proud of....Cam's moment was unfortunately very much in the public eye. Most are fortunate in that those regrettable things are kept private. I admire him for moving on and rising above it. I wish others could do the same.

[TheRealDeal]

Just one public incident?

[tiger7_88]

Are you paying them 20mil?

"Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking"

He may have matured and that would be awesome but it doesn't mean they didn't have concerns based on his past actions.

Rivera and Hurney seemed to have done the leg-work that proved that such concerns were nothing to worry about any longer.

You would think that media members or scouts or NFL general managers would have also been able to do that same leg-work if they wished. If they did NOT, then any "concerns" they had were concerns caused by their own deficient procedures.

Or laziness.

[tiger7_88]

Just one public incident?

Just one actually based in reality, yes.

[TheRealDeal]

You have no idea how the draft works right? You think these scouts have time to put in the work our team did with Cam to every prospect in the draft, regardless of position of need and draft position?

The concerns were there 100%, Rivera and Hurney felt they weren't going to be in the future, but they obviously had those concerns, like everyone else, or they wouldn't do the leg work.

You're admitting there are/were concerns yet getting mad at someone for talking about these concerns.

[TheRealDeal]

Just one actually based in reality, yes.

Elaborate?

[mav1234]

Actually, not everyone in the media would have been able to "do the legwork" that Hurney and Rivera did, specifically with meeting and interviewing Cam multiple times.

Not every team would have spent the time we did looking at Cam because they didn't have the same need, but they may have looked at him a bit or what not, who knows.

I don't think there is really much defense for, say, the "fake smile" comment, but I also think that some folks here and elsewhere are trying very hard to create some kind of "media atmosphere" that hates or hated Cam Newton when there were plenty of reasons to look deeper into his past because of what was known, without some racial motivation.

[Babyboyheel]

In my opinion, this was a mistake by Cam not because it wasn't true, JR and VY both blew their chances by not having a work ethic, but because this is a distraction to your team.

This kind of stuff during a playoff year is just an extra thing you don't need and another question everyone has to answer.

He needs to go back to rarely if ever doing interviews and concentrating on the task at hand. All the successful great ones do.

This all being said, he learns quickly and he will from this too.

Cannot wait for Sunday.

[bauss]

Playoffs? Did you say PLAYOFFS?

I did take a look at one of the raiders forums just to see their reaction. They seempretty envious.

[CarolinaKat]

I wouldn't classify Young as a successful NFL QB at this point.

Vince Young has a career record of 31-19. So how do you gauge success?

[PhillyB]

cam isn't addressing reality, he's addressing perceptions.

yeah, it's an unfair comparison to say that he's like vince and russell because those are black QBs that were highly tauted and now suck (though you could argue the comparison is made simply because of their mobility.) it's ridiculous that arguments of him being the next failing quarterback don't include guys like leaf and leinart.

cam, however, cannot sit there in the interview and dissect the social imbalance that causes this. he's addressing these perceptions as they exist, in their own parameters, in the context of preexisting biases football paradigms. what he said makes sense.

[teeray]

Keep avoiding the issues.

Funny coming from you when i was originally talking in generalities and you have tried to make it Cam specific.

[Marguide]

Hey, guess what! Sometimes Cam says semi-outrageous things, or at least things that may offend other people.

Luckily, we are asking him to be the QB of the Carolina Panthers, not the General Secretary of the United Nations.

And he is a pretty good QB.

[tiger7_88]

You have no idea how the draft works right? You think these scouts have time to put in the work our team did with Cam to every prospect in the draft, regardless of position of need and draft position?

.

In other words, those that were talking about their "concerns" without doing some research and KNOWING were just talking out of their ass then?

Damn, man... I totally agree.