Nice Newton quote.

[fieryprophet]

Oh, boy this is tough...except it's NOT...

The two sideline routes have obviously been broken off by the receivers after the football does not come out...

Take a look at the flanker at the top of the screen....notice how far from the sideline he begins his pattern and how far form the side line he is when he makes a decision to "fly"...this is clearly an out route and the ball does not get thrown...

Why does he decide to go deep???...look at the coverage...

Why TWO sideline routes from your own endzone???

Because the quarterback can simply unload the football out of bounds to either sideline...and thus NOT take an inexcusable sack...

There is an open receiver right in the soft spot of the zone coverage...just as there should be...

Would it take a LASER to get him the ball...no, of course not...just a ball thrown with a little touch over the two linebackers who are essentally out of the play at this point and in front of the deep saftey...

Take a stop watch and tell me how much time Newton has to throw on this play...I don't care how good your O-line is...you cannot block NFL pass rushers for 7+ seconds consistantaly...even keeping two extra men in for protection....

Thanks for posting these pics...Far from "vindicating" Cam Newton, they show without a shadow of a doubt that the sack was no one's fault but HIS...

Is that you, Karl Rove? Tell me again how Ohio is looking. . .

[Sloth]

Oh, boy this is tough...except it's NOT...

The two sideline routes have obviously been broken off by the receivers after the football does not come out...

Take a look at the flanker at the top of the screen....notice how far from the sideline he begins his pattern and how far form the side line he is when he makes a decision to "fly"...this is clearly an out route and the ball does not get thrown...

Why does he decide to go deep???...look at the coverage...

Why TWO sideline routes from your own endzone???

Because the quarterback can simply unload the football out of bounds to either sideline...and thus NOT take an inexcusable sack...

There is an open receiver right in the soft spot of the zone coverage...just as there should be...

Would it take a LASER to get him the ball...no, of course not...just a ball thrown with a little touch over the two linebackers who are essentally out of the play at this point and in front of the deep saftey...

Take a stop watch and tell me how much time Newton has to throw on this play...I don't care how good your O-line is...you cannot block NFL pass rushers for 7+ seconds consistantaly...even keeping two extra men in for protection....

Thanks for posting these pics...Far from "vindicating" Cam Newton, they show without a shadow of a doubt that the sack was no one's fault but HIS...

4.5 seconds on a 3rd and 19 where his underneath "quick" option didn't break on his route until he was 18 yards down the field. Newton was hit just as his underneath route turned his head to the QB because the offensive line you trumpet as being so good couldn't defend a four man rush - even with some added help. Both sideline routes were completely blanketed.

- to help you count.

You also would have had a post going 2 minutes later if he'd thrown it out of bounds, bemoaning his inability to convert on 3rd down.

[ShutDwn]

Cam will hold on too long, but I don't think he's just sitting there staring at open receivers. If he saw guys getting open quickly don't you think he'd throw it quickly? Nobody was open on that three step drop that resulted in a sack. People get mad about not throwing it on that play, but if you had to chose between an INT and a sack...

This whole offense has been about getting down the field since last year.

Bigger problems:

1) he's not allowed to audible and get out of obviously bad calls

When have you seen them change a play call? From run to pass and vice versa? What about a hot read with a receiver? You have to be able to change hot reads with a blitz coming. There isn't an offense in the NFL that can go out and beat defenses without the option to change plays. It might cost the team on some misreads but it's going to cost the team when you know the defense is prepared for your play. The big question is can he do this?

2) he needs to learn how to manipulate defenses with his eyes.

Holding onto the ball can't be solely looking for an open receiver he has to be creating the open receiver. That goes along with the first point of identifying what the defense is doing. If he can do that then he will know how to look off safeties and pump fake DBs out of position.

It's time to take the training wheels of with him and let him make calls at the LOS and beat the defense before the ball is even snapped.

[Kurb]

4.5 seconds on a 3rd and 19 where his underneath "quick" option didn't break on his route until he was 18 yards down the field. Newton was hit just as his underneath route turned his head to the QB because the offensive line you trumpet as being so good couldn't defend a four man rush - even with some added help. Both sideline routes were completely blanketed.

- to help you count.

You also would have had a post going 2 minutes later if he'd thrown it out of bounds, bemoaning his inability to convert on 3rd down.

Thank you for saving me a long drawn out post.

[TonyN]

4.5 seconds on a 3rd and 19 where his underneath "quick" option didn't break on his route until he was 18 yards down the field. Newton was hit just as his underneath route turned his head to the QB because the offensive line you trumpet as being so good couldn't defend a four man rush - even with some added help. Both sideline routes were completely blanketed.

- to help you count.

You also would have had a post going 2 minutes later if he'd thrown it out of bounds, bemoaning his inability to convert on 3rd down.

First of all I have never said that Carolina's offensive line is "good"...just that it is not nearly as bad as some screamin' mimi's on this forum have suggested...

The slot receiver is not really making a "cut"...he is simply feeling for the soft spot in the zone coverage...go back and look at the stills again...after Newton checks off his initial read...or if the look was a disguise...he can go with the football over the top of the linebackers to the inside of the slot receiver at any point in the play after about 1.5 seconds....instead he somewaht nonchalantly looks off that receiver as well and looks to the other outside receiver...

At this point He JUST HAS TO FEEL THE PRESSURE and unload the football...

The topside flanker has a decent cushion right before his break, but whether or not this existed at the point Newton checked to him is unclear...

But it does not matter...Newton can just unload the football out of bounds at this point...no harm, no foul...

And LOL...Newton's woes on third down are NOT the result of many 3rd and 19 situations...

Check out his stats on, say, 3rd and < 6 or 3rd and 3-7...brutal...

And if you get 4.5 seconds with a clean pocket from your own end zone...

You CANNOT take a saftey...

[teeray]

There was also supposed to be a check down that never made it out there. I am not sure whether he missed the call or just got trapped inside, but there was supposed to be a guy outside and short for a checkdown if needed.

[Marguide]

There was also supposed to be a check down that never made it out there. I am not sure whether he missed the call or just got trapped inside, but there was supposed to be a guy outside and short for a checkdown if needed.

Yeah, Tolbert was one of those 7 Panthers milling around in the end zone. He was supposed to leak out, but for whatever reason decided to stay back with the others. I can't say he stayed in to block, because whatever those 7 guys were doing couldn't be called blocking.

[broseidon]

Everyone will be a lot happier when this offense starts producing.

Only then will people stop judging every little thing that Cam says or does

[CPF4LIFE]

why can't it be both? just because that wasn't the case in that scenario doesn't mean it's not the case often.

the playcalling sucks AND the OL sucks AND cam needs to be smarter and get the ball out quicker.

Get the ball out quicker to receivers that are running 15 yard routes?

[Kevin Greene]

The Peyton Manning comparisons or expectations are a bit much as well.

Careful of what you hope for, you might not want it. True, Manning has always put up gawdy regular season numbers.

Let's look Post Season and see what you get with the quickest release in town.

Peyton first started in Indy during 1998.

From 1998 to 2005 the Colts made the Playoffs 6 times.

The Colts, and Manning compiled a Post Season record of 2 wins and 6 losses during that time.

Finally in 2006 the Colts broke thriough for their lone Super Bowl winning run. One great complete year start to finish, well done.

Then we go back to more of the same from 2007 until 2010.

4 Playoff appearances and a 2 win, 4 loss record when it truly counts including a 31-17 drubbing by the Aints in the SB..

All tolled so far in his career Peyton Manning has 7 One and Dones in the Post Season. One great Post Season year.

I dont care how Cam gets it done, whether it's pretty or ugly I hope Cam and the Panthers do a better job performing Crunch Time than Peyton or the Colts ever did.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

4.5 seconds on a 3rd and 19 where his underneath "quick" option didn't break on his route until he was 18 yards down the field. Newton was hit just as his underneath route turned his head to the QB because the offensive line you trumpet as being so good couldn't defend a four man rush - even with some added help. Both sideline routes were completely blanketed.

- to help you count.

You also would have had a post going 2 minutes later if he'd thrown it out of bounds, bemoaning his inability to convert on 3rd down.

4.5 seconds is a lot of time.

i'm curious why he didn't decide to run out of the endzone 2-2.5 seconds into the play when he should have realized he'd been standing there too long.

[TonyN]

4.5 seconds is a lot of time.

i'm curious why he didn't decide to run out of the endzone 2-2.5 seconds into the play when he should have realized he'd been standing there too long.

'Cause he saw two LB's standing right behind the line of scrimmage throughout the play...check the stills again...

The Bronco's faked an inside blitz and dropped two linebackers into a very shallow zone.

Newton was right not to run, cause he was going nowhere...teams are just not going to let him beat them that way...not anymore...not if they can help it

His mistake was in not hitting the obvious vacant area in the middle of the zone...where there was an open receiver...

He should have been looking to his slot receiver immediately...he is clearly open and looking for the ball at the 2 second mark and Newton inexplicably looks him off...well it is not inexplicable really...Newton seems to think every pass needs to be a frozen rope...

"touch" on short and intermediate routes is not exactly his his strong point...LOL

[Growl]

Zomg why didn't Cam get back up off the ground and hit the open receiver I see right there in that picture!!! What a bum!

[TonyN]

Yeah, Tolbert was one of those 7 Panthers milling around in the end zone. He was supposed to leak out, but for whatever reason decided to stay back with the others. I can't say he stayed in to block, because whatever those 7 guys were doing couldn't be called blocking.

Wrong.

Tolbert ends up one on one against a Denver saftey blitzing from the weakside...he makes a piss poor block, admittedly, but you still can't hang the sack on him...it is his man, Mike Adams who ends up sacking Newton eventually.

Greg Olsen was in protection as well and looks like he trips trying to slip out as a saftey valve...doesn't matter really...it was going to be too late...ball should have already been thrown.

It was a pretty cleverly designed blitz package by Denver. It should never have resulted in a saftey, but it was a package designed to fool a young QB. And it worked.