Cam Back in the Spotlight

[Zod]

The only thing the national sports media likes more than tearing a player down is building him back up again.

 

Case in point... Cam Newton.

 

 

During Cam's entire career the national media has enjoyed labeling Newton the villain. From towels on his head to his chosen jersey number, the media has treated Cam like a punching bag. Some of this was fueled by Cam's decision not to give interviews his rookie season. Some fueled by out and out journalistic laziness... See the Forbes helmet clip article for example.

 

One thing is for sure, however. Almost none of the negative attention was deserved.

 

Fast forward to 2013 and the current state of the Panthers quarterback. Cam Newton has the NFL's best passer rating of 130.3 over the past three weeks.

 

In his past 16 games, he has 3,720 yards, 27 TDs, 9 INTs.

 

Those are franchise numbers.

 

The result in the national media has been a turning of the negativity tide. Where once was a story of ego and arrogance now is a tale of redemption. Attitudes towards Cam are changing and with it brings added attention to the Panthers on a national stage.

 

 

[carolina-chuck]

Playoffs and all the negativity will be gone. More prime time games for Cam in 2014.

[FootballMaestro]

"Here Here"!

 

However, I'm sure they (the media) will say their negative criticism brought on the "change" in Cam, instead of them acknowledging/knowing that Cam played great the second half of last season, and Chud screwed him up during the first half of it--taking away an abundance of pro-sets and running more read option based ones. Cam actually threw better out of pro-sets. 

 

It's like the second half of last year, and Cam's (always) omnipotent work ethic and desire to get better never existed till they say so. We'll see?

 

Plus (to your post), all the glory young boys of last year, are struggling every time they put them in another national broadcast game, regardless of whether their saved by their teammates and they win or not. Wilson, was quite mediocre last night. Saved by his defense; as Kaepernick, while RG3 was plain bad. There hasn't been much to write about Luck either. 

 

Dalton and Cam are actually doing the thing at the moment. 

[SpeedOFLight]

The thing about the media that I found to know is that while they love tearing someone down, they love the redemption (building back up) story as well. It is all about ratings and whats the hot topic to jump on. With that being said, I am pleased to watch our team get noticed. Cam is smiling as usual lol.

[Cary Kollins]

All about the wins.

[WilmyWood]

[MichaelNewtonII]

SWEG

[rayzor]

he is our franchise quarterback. there is no doubt. he's gotten better every year and he had the best rookie season of any player in the league ever. all signs point north with him.  why haven't the wins been there? year one it was the defense. year two it was chud the first half of the season dicking around. this year the wins have started because the D has stepped up and the offense, including cam, is clicking and has gelled.

 

has cam been perfect? nope. has he been free of blame in losses? nope. has he made mistakes? yep. has he needed to grow? yep.

 

he has grown quite a bit these past few years and has really cleaned up the things he needed to and the offense has grown with him an  will continue to.

 

there is no doubt that he is the panthers franchise QB and those who doubt this never liked him to begin with. the number of those who don't believe and who never liked him is dwindling and i welcome all new believers on board. to those who still doubt, i'll be saving  a seat for you. to those who will never believe....meh.

 

and before some rodent comes in here and starts complaining about fans of players or some nonsense like that....yes, there are some in here only here because of cam and there will be many more. get over it. there are, tho, those of us who have been here from the beginning who have been through the worst of seasons and the best of seasons know that the panthers are on a better path than they've been on in many years, maybe ever, because of who they now have as QB. i was a cam fan while he was at auburn for one reason, i thought he would be great in a panthers uni. i am a fan of him now for one reason and one reason only, he is a panther. 

 

when i see him lighting up the scoreboard, the stat sheets, and the record books, i feel proud to have him as a panther. 

 

when i see him celebrate a TD and even a first down, i feel proud to have him as a panther because he's moving this team forward first down by first down and touchdown by touchdown...and i know that the other teams and fans of other teams hate it.

 

when i see the growth that has taken place as a player, a leader, and a man on and off the field, i am proud to have him as a panther.

 

he's not nearly the only panther i am proud of. i'm proud of smith and olsen, gross and kalil, keek and davis, cj and hardy, star and kk, gano and nortman and ginn....and there are so many more, esp this year.

 

but there is no doubt in my mind that not only has cam not held this team back, he's been the thing that as given us a chance to win every week and he will continue to be that guy. he is one of the most talented players in the league and i love that the guy in the middle of the defense is also one of the most talented in the league. 

 

i fully believe that cam and keek is the absolute best combo of players to build around and this team will go far because of them. i am a fan of both of them because they are panthers and they will take this team to the top. 

 

 

[CarolinaNCSU]

I've always been a Cam lover, but the level he's playing at, especially lately, has been terrific.

 

 

 

The scary thing? He's getting better.

[tiger7_88]

You are right that the media is using/intends to use "redemption" as their key theme for Cam stories now.

But thats bullshit and simple CYA by them since the only poo that ever needed to be "redeemed" was poo created whole cloth by themselves.

[footballisasport]

The only thing the national sports media likes more than tearing a player down is building him back up again.

 

Case in point... Cam Newton.

 

 

During Cam's entire career the national media has enjoyed labeling Newton the villain. From towels on his head to his chosen jersey number, the media has treated Cam like a punching bag. Some of this was fueled by Cam's decision not to give interviews his rookie season. Some fueled by out and out journalistic laziness... See the Forbes helmet clip article for example.

 

One thing is for sure, however. Almost none of the negative attention was deserved.

 

Fast forward to 2013 and the current state of the Panthers quarterback. Cam Newton has the NFL's best passer rating of 130.3 over the past three weeks.

 

In his past 16 games, he has 3,720 yards, 27 TDs, 9 INTs.

 

Those are franchise numbers.

 

The result in the national media has been a turning of the negativity tide. Where once was a story of ego and arrogance now is a tale of redemption. Attitudes towards Cam are changing and with it brings added attention to the Panthers on a national stage.

 

Actually, Cam did give interviews during his draft and Rookie season. But what was realized was, the intention by many in our media to try and spin everything he said and did into something negative to feed their already created "villian" image of him.

 

Don't blame him one bit for not wanting to participate in the immature world that is now our media.

[footballisasport]

Dalton at times has a noodle arm but even he can't fail with Green and Eifert as his targets. Bernard is keeping pressure off of him too.

Bloody hell, it makes me so envious.

 

My three top QBs from the 2011 draft were Dalton, Cam and Locket.

 

You're right! Dalton does have his moments just like Cam, but it's clear he has real "go to" guys that can bail him out when he's having a bad game. Cam clearly doesn't have that with the Panthers.

[Marguide]

 G-Man, you've got your franchise QB. Now, build around him for christ's sake. He needs a stud receiver, a stud tight end and two new tackles. Work your magic!

 

Quietly, Jordan Gross is having a really fine year.

 

I think we can maybe hold off on one of the tackles until the following year. Jordan has repeatedly said he has no interest in being part of any other organization. Offer him any kind of reasonable deal and keep him on board awhile longer.

[Razeyfingers]

Quietly, Jordan Gross is having a really fine year.

 

I think we can maybe hold off on one of the tackles until the following year. Jordan has repeatedly said he has no interest in being part of any other organization. Offer him any kind of reasonable deal and keep him on board awhile longer.

 

His play has not dropped yet, pretty impressive for the big man. I agree, re-sign em, he's a HUGE locker room presence too. Where do you draft LT's? Above 15. Doesnt look like we're gonna be picking that close to the top.