If you knew then what you know now...

[Bwood]

UGH Kaepernick is the new The Golden Calf of Bristol...

[carolinarolls]

Kaepernick compared to Cam Newton

lmao

[Mr. Scot]

Harbaugh had enough confidence in his coaching and scheme that he could put a good product on the field with Smith. However, even Harbaugh couldn't have know how strong the team was until he saw them on the field. And there is no way he could have pulled a healthy Smith last year in the midst of that season.

Colin started because he had to, and looked great. Now Harbaugh has a reason to switch things up for awhile. We'll see whether that turns out to be the right decision over time.

In our case, JR and MH wanted Newton to start day 1 and told Ron and Chud that Cam's development was more important than winning immediately. The problems came because we have neither the defense, nor the o-line, nor the coaching quality the Niners do.

All sitting him would have done is probably given Marty and Ron et al another year, and that is not a good thing.

As far as any damage done to Newton in this process, I think he is confident enough to overcome it once he has the right leadership guiding him.

Rivera has actually stated that the reason they started Newton from day one was because it gave them the best chance to win. They would have preferred he sit and learn, but ultimately chose to throw him in the fire.

See why I say "choosing short term benefits over long term ones" applies here?

[unicar15]

Day one...invest in a good offensive line. This isn't a Newton problem. This is a "we spent all our money on an 80 million dollar backfield" problem. We should have invested in different areas. Carl Nicks could have been a great pickup. A lot of us also wanted Ben Grubbs. We needed to get better OL play than what we had. We lost Travelle Wharton to FA. Jordan Gross was coming off an injury. We were planning all along to have a rookie starting at left guard. We have a career journeyman our best option at right guard. Then we have a 2nd year guy who has been mediocre at best as our best option at right tackle.

No QB, RB, FB is going to be successful behind that group of OL. Everything starts with those guys and you can't expect a 2nd year pro to be successful when he gets zero protection. Imagine how bad it would be if Newton wasn't as mobile as he is? It would be a complete disaster instead of a disaster with occassional bright spots.

[Mr. Scot]

Day one...invest in a good offensive line. This isn't a Newton problem. This is a "we spent all our money on an 80 million dollar backfield" problem. We should have invested in different areas. Carl Nicks could have been a great pickup. A lot of us also wanted Ben Grubbs. We needed to get better OL play than what we had. We lost Travelle Wharton to FA. Jordan Gross was coming off an injury. We were planning all along to have a rookie starting at left guard. We have a career journeyman our best option at right guard. Then we have a 2nd year guy who has been mediocre at best as our best option at right tackle.

No QB, RB, FB is going to be successful behind that group of OL. Everything starts with those guys and you can't expect a 2nd year pro to be successful when he gets zero protection. Imagine how bad it would be if Newton wasn't as mobile as he is? It would be a complete disaster instead of a disaster with occassional bright spots.

It's a coaching and decision making problem.

And you'll find no bigger proponent of building the OL than me. The braintrust completely blew it there.

[Marguide]

Rivera has actually stated that the reason they started Newton from day one was because it gave them the best chance to win. They would have preferred he sit and learn, but ultimately chose to throw him in the fire.

See why I say "choosing short term benefits over long term ones" applies here?

What Rivera said was probably true, he did give them the best chance to win. However, RR stated repeatedly through the first part of the season that their objective was to develop Cam first and foremost. If that meant throwing more than would normally be desirable, or if it meant losing more games, so be it. Their objective was to develop Cam. Do you really think they were going to do that by having him on the bench?

[La Pantera]

This what would've happened if they sat Cam...

He would've missed a valuable years expierence.

Chud would think himself an offensive guru and try to make an offense that fits our mobile QB and could catch the league by surprize.

So year 2 we're running the same crap we're running now and it wouldn't work. Setting Cam back two years.

Rivera and Chud get a third year just to make sure the second wasn't a fluke.

Repeat.

[carolinarolls]

the oline is bad. it really is.

but we have not seen Cam do what QB's that have stud OLine's do. Even when he played good last year he was not reading D pre snap and delivering a strike to the weakness of the defense. he wasn't audibling coverage changes or routes to take advantage of the scheme he reads in front of him as he walks to the line.

he ran from trouble. screened out of pressure, and bombed it (more accurately last year) at single coverage matchups. Quarterbacks with that MO rarely get the benefit of all PRO OLines. They don't need them.

Let's not go overboard and pretend like this guy can deliver Brady-like strikes as long as he gets a few extra seconds.

Our OIine is bad but don;t get all pissy when we dont bolster it with a few probowlers this summer. That just isn't gonna happen.

[CRA]

...would you have favored starting Newton from day one or would you have preferred he sit his rookie season, get adjusted to the pro game and start in year two?

Don't get the question.....

Having a bad OL and no run game in 2012.....doesn't mean Cam somehow wasn't ready. The 2011 record book shows he was.....he just doesn't have coaches and a complete team around him.

What does he need to get adjusted to on the bench?

[carolinarolls]

"invest in an offensive line"

wtf

invest what exactly?

anyone ever heard of the salary cap?

maybe we can do better when we trim some of the pro bowl salaries we pay to mediocre performers on this team. But if we are going to invest in a top 5 offensive line, we have the wrong quarterback. QB's that have the ability to evade do so to their own protection as well. Some guy dancing around in the backfield running the option and playing a screen game is practically impossible to provide protection for in relation to a guy who stands in, steps up, and delivers a catchable ball.

[Mr. Scot]

What Rivera said was probably true, he did give them the best chance to win. However, RR stated repeatedly through the first part of the season that their objective was to develop Cam first and foremost. If that meant throwing more than would normally be desirable, or if it meant losing more games, so be it. Their objective was to develop Cam. Do you really think they were going to do that by having him on the bench?

Ask guys like McNair and Rodgers.

[La Pantera]

Ask guys like McNair and Rodgers.

The Rogers situation isnt similar. He wasn't the #1 overall pick and he had a hall of fame QB in front of him. Cam had to start there wasn't a better QB on the team and he was took too high to just sit and watch. How many #1 overall QBs had the luxury of waiting a year? Not many, because they end up going to horrible teams.

[Mr. Scot]

The Rogers situation isnt similar. He wasn't the #1 overall pick and he had a hall of fame QB in front of him. Cam had to start there wasn't a better QB on the team and he was took too high to just sit and watch. How many #1 overall QBs had the luxury of waiting a year? Not many, because they end up going to horrible teams.

Newton could have had the option. The coaches chose not to give it to him because he gave them the best chance to win.

Again, short term vs long term.

[pepaw]

No he's not, but I think he'd be a better guy than he is now if he'd sat for a year, as much as anything because I believe it would have negated the switch to the read option this season and better prepared him for all those new things he's being asked to do.

The atmosphere of the league these days is that long term benefits get sacrificed for short term ones.

I'd much rather Newton had been treated like the Niners treated Colin Kaepernick (with the exception of his starting from day one of year two).

We were running the read option last year mid season with great success. I don't really agree with the assessment that we "switched" to it this year. It's just that Chud failed to realize how teams would adapt to it so quickly.

I wish the offense would work on more of the short and intermediate routes to get Cam in a rhythm early. It would have also helped for when our offensive line struggled.

My biggest gripe about Chud has been his failure to realize how quickly nfl defenses would adapt to a 60 year old run scheme mainly in used in high schools.