Gil Brandt: Panthers Offensive Scheme Hampering Newton

[CPF4LIFE]

You can go look at Cams highlights from last year and see most of his great plays came out of pro style stuff. I dont know what the hell Chud has been thinking this season. He is tryin to hard to prove he is smarter than everybody else or somethin. He wants that head coaching job.

[Davis83]

I'm trying really hard to figure out why we need any kind of special offense in order to take advantage of Cams skill set.

In any pro style offense, he would be able to run, option or throw. What makes "him" so much of a threat is that he has the ability to really hurt you with a run. I mean seriously, in an I formation, the option can still be run to the wings - or the backs can be lead blockers - or he can bootleg.

Chud, please explain to me how we had 2 each 1,000 yd rushers a couple of years ago - but we need a spread offense to take advantage of Cams ability to run?

[FastNFurious]

Maybe the staff is unsure whether Cam can run a pro-style offense....hmm

[iamhubby1]

The Offense we had the last nine games last year was phenomenal. Everyone thought that was what we were going to have this year. The expectations were high. From everyone, and everywhere. Well, almost everyone.

So what does our genius OC do? Instead of doing this, he did that. Cut his nose to spite his face. You think this, so I'll do the opposite. Who the fug knows what Chud is doing? And IMO, it shows on the field. A discombobulated unmitigated mess.

Players need direction. Some more than others. But they need the control. Right now, I don't think anyone has a clue. Except Chud. And he ain't talking. To me anywho. Anyone else heard from him? Quite little rascal. Beware the quite ones. Uh, sorry.

Get back to form and this offense is a thing of beauty. What we have is more the beast. Slap Chud back into reality. And we are good to go.

Anyone out there in a position to SLAP the poo outta Chud? Anyone?

In conclussion. For what ever reason Chud is having a hard time deciding on an identity. Until he does, we may be in for one hell of a rollercoaster of a ride. Yippee. Just one more thing to get excited over.

Beat the cowpatty's and things will look rosier. Lose this week and the implossion should be heard in Katmandu. I vote peace of mind. So beat Dallus.

[mwright350]

In conclussion. For what ever reason Chud is having a hard time deciding on an identity. Until he does, we may be in for one hell of a rollercoaster of a ride. Yippee. Just one more thing to get excited over.

I would put a large amount of money that he looked at how well that option worked last year when we ran it as a tool in an otherwise very different offense, hit the bong, and decided that if it worked every now and then it would work EVEN BETTER if we ran it....EVEN MORE.

Thus our new offensive scheme is born.

[iamhubby1]

Maybe the staff is unsure whether Cam can run a pro-style offense....hmm

Curious question. From what I have seen from Cam, I would see no problem with him running any offense. Or at least one that puts you in position to be successful.

[Gabeking]

Norv turner as an OC next year would be a godsend (if only..)

[ladypanther]

Brandt is the godfather....Rivera and Chud should pay attention.

The Cowboys game is the the test. Can this staff develop and execute a good game plan? They have talent to work with. I want to see them use it appropriately.

To be sure, Newton has not performed as well as many people think he should. But expectations might have been a bit too high for the young quarterback and his team. We forget that only one of the Panthers' six wins in 2011 came against an opponent with a winning record, an opponent (the Houston Texans) that happened to be starting a third-string quarterback.

It's hard to criticize a guy too much when he's playing for a less-than-great squad. In addition to the Panthers' problems at tight end, they haven't gotten very good play from the offensive line, and this has also hampered Newton. Things are only going to get harder now that veteran center Ryan Kalil (who famously promised Carolina would contend for the Super Bowl this season) is out for the year.

The Panthers surely knew opposing defenses would try different things to limit Newton, and likely thought changing their offensive scheme would help them stay ahead of the curve. Instead, it's held them (and him) back. Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski is very good, and I think he'll be a head coach someday. But it would be very hard to dramatically the Panthers' offensive approach mid-season. Carolina is coming off a bye week, so perhaps we'll see some new looks. But they're alsofacing the Dallas Cowboys, who promise to be a tricky defensive matchup.

The bottom line is Newton isn't struggling as much as people think he is, and he hasn't slid backwards, development-wise. Michael Lombardi, in whom I have a lot of faith, picked Newton as one of his red-chip players before the season, and I still think he'll end up being that good. But Newton also hasn't advanced much and hasn't been helped by the Panthers' offensive game plan.

[RelaxImaPro]

Didn't they talk all offseason about how huge, diverse, and complex Chud's playbook was? 1000+ pages of the same option play, smh.

Sure fooled me.

[Darth Biscuit]

Didn't they talk all offseason about how huge, diverse, and complex Chud's playbook was? 1000+ pages of the same option play, smh.

Sure fooled me.

Wasn't everyone worried after last season that some team was gonna offer Chud a HC job?

Funny how opinions change so fast...

Chud from 2011 was awesome... 2012 Chud is a dud.

[Marguide]

I'm sure Chud's reasoning goes something like this...

So far this year, the backs have averaged about the same whether we run out of an I formation or the read option (and yes, this is in fact true). However, Cam contributes more big runs out of the read option, so it's a win-win.

The problem with this is we tend to have a few big runs, followed by many small or negative runs. This means we often don't move the chains. Add to that, when Cam is under center with the backs in the I, we pass more than we run, so we really don't give the run game time to develop. If we don't run successfully right off the bat, Chud typically abandons the run, perhaps because he doesn't trust the defense. As others have said, our playcalling is just a hot mess right now.

[pstall]

good thing gil finally read my emails

[goodoleboy]

I like Gil Brandt a lot. For those who don't know he was the GM for Dallas for many of the glory years. He flat out loves Cam. Was in his camp before the Panthers drafted him and was a major supporter all last year. I also heard him call John Fox a "Defensive Genius" last year on his Sirius radio show. This article was spot on written by a hall of fame level football guy.

I predicted a 7-9 record this season. This quote sums up part of my reasoning:

To be sure, Newton has not performed as well as many people think he should. But expectations might have been a bit too high for the young quarterback and his team. We forget that only one of the Panthers' six wins in 2011 came against an opponent with a winning record, an opponent (the Houston Texans) that happened to be starting a third-string quarterback.

[doghead28]

I have felt this way all season. It has been frustrating.