Calling the Mike

[Inimicus]

Exactly.  Let everyone continue to doubt his ability to read defenses....

 

If by everyone you mean the media and the fans.

 

 

You can bet your ass that 31 DCs and their squads dont doubt his abilities.

[TheRumGone]

I've loved watching Cam operate this year, he's made a heck of a lot of smart calls at crucial times. He flipped the playcall on DeAngelo's touchdown run against the 49ers when he recognized the linebackers shading toward the original play direction. Anyone who rags on his quarterbacking intelligence hasn't got a clue, especially at his level of experience.

 

it would actually be pretty cool if you did a write up of these kinds of things

[Chaos]

If by everyone you mean the media and the fans.

 

 

You can bet your ass that 31 DCs and their squads dont doubt his abilities.

 

Yes, I guess I was referring to the douches of journalism who form the opinions of the uninformed masses.

[Mr. Scot]

I've loved watching Cam operate this year, he's made a heck of a lot of smart calls at crucial times. He flipped the playcall on DeAngelo's touchdown run against the 49ers when he recognized the linebackers shading toward the original play direction. Anyone who rags on his quarterbacking intelligence hasn't got a clue, especially at his level of experience.

 

You've hit on a common draft misconception here.

 

The issue with quarterbacks that come from spread offense / read option systems vs those that play in a pro-style system isn't an intelligence question.  It's an experience question.

 

It's harder to predict how they'll do in transition because you've got nothing to go on if they haven't played that style of offense.  It's the same thing you'd have to factor if you're picking a defender for a 4-3 system who's always played in a 3-4 or some other alignment.

 

There are definitely ways to gauge how intelligent a quarterback is, but judging by the system he plays isn't one of them. 

 

Make no mistake.  The transition from college QB to pro QB is a difficult one, and having to learn an entirely new offensive system makes it tougher - sometimes much tougher - but it's not a  be all / end all thing.  You've certainly got examples of non-pro-style QBs making the transition (Newton) and pro-style QBs who don't (Clausen).

 

There'll be further examples in this year's draft, though obviously not for us.

[fieryprophet]

You've hit on a common draft misconception here.

 

The issue with quarterbacks that come from spread offense / read option systems vs those that play in a pro-style system isn't an intelligence question.  It's an experience question.

 

It's harder to predict how they'll do in transition because you've got nothing to go on if they haven't played that style of offense.  It's the same thing you'd have to factor if you're picking a defender for a 4-3 system who's always played in a 3-4 or some other alignment.

 

There are definitely ways to gauge how intelligent a quarterback is, but judging by the system he plays isn't one of them. 

 

Make no mistake.  The transition from college QB to pro QB is a difficult one, and having to learn an entirely new offensive system makes it tougher - sometimes much tougher - but it's not a  be all / end all thing.  You've certainly got examples of non-pro-style QBs making the transition (Newton) and pro-style QBs who don't (Clausen).

 

There'll be further examples in this year's draft, though obviously not for us.

 

I think something that helped answer that on Cam's behalf was that he learned four different offenses from high school through college and thrived everywhere he went outside of being stuck behind The Golden Calf of Bristol at Florida. But a lot of scouts assumed that because he hadn't worked in a pro-style offense that he couldn't, when the truth was he simply hadn't tried it.

[fieryprophet]

it would actually be pretty cool if you did a write up of these kinds of things

 

I should, I've got a list of things I've picked up on this year, everything from timely audibles to coverage recognition and playcalling. Cam's really expanded on his understanding of the offense this year, as seen by his command of two minute drills.

[Mr. Scot]

I think something that helped answer that on Cam's behalf was that he learned four different offenses from high school through college and thrived everywhere he went outside of being stuck behind The Golden Calf of Bristol at Florida. But a lot of scouts assumed that because he hadn't worked in a pro-style offense that he couldn't, when the truth was he simply hadn't tried it.

 

Unfortunate truth: Scouts assume a lot of things.

 

One of the qualities any good Director of College Scouting needs to have is the ability to tell the difference between scouts who analyze and scouts who assume, and staff appropriately.

 

[thefuzz]

I should, I've got a list of things I've picked up on this year, everything from timely audibles to coverage recognition and playcalling. Cam's really expanded on his understanding of the offense this year, as seen by his command of two minute drills.

 

Agreed.

 

I think that Cam is making big strides, and if we can get the accuracy dialed in a bit more, he can challenge for one of the top QB spots in the NFL.

[Mr. Scot]

Agreed.

 

I think that Cam is making big strides, and if we can get the accuracy dialed in a bit more, he can challenge for one of the top QB spots in the NFL.

 

People tend to assume when a guy's yards go down it means he's regressing as a QB (Newton's yards per season have gone down both years since his rookie year, as have his total attempts).

 

That isn't necessarily true.

 

Sometimes, "dialing it back" is a good thing, and it can be a sign of progress if other things improve.  It means he's becoming a true pro QB instead of just a "sling it all over the place" guy.  Looking at the overall stats, I definitely think that argument can be made.

 

(changing coordinators helps too)

 

Is he still inconsistent?  Yes, but not so much as he used to be.  And there's one thing that I find especially telling...

 

Newton's MO during his first two seasons was almost always to start out hot but tail off as the game went on.  This season, that's not true anymore.  In fact, some of his best moments have been late in games rather than early.  That is what you want to see.

 

Coaching changes?  Maturity?  Better teammates?  Unknown what the biggest factor is.  Don't honestly care as long as I see improvement.

 

Gonna be an interesting postseason.

[thefuzz]

People tend to assume when a guy's yards go down it means he's regressing as a QB (Newton's yards per season have gone down both years since his rookie year, as have his total attempts).

 

That isn't necessarily true.

 

Sometimes, "dialing it back" is a good thing, and it can be a sign of progress if other things improve.  It means he's becoming a true pro QB instead of just a "sling it all over the place" guy.  Looking at the overall stats, I definitely think that argument can be made.

 

(changing coordinators helps too)

 

Is he still inconsistent?  Yes, but not so much as he used to be.  And there's one thing that I find especially telling...

 

Newton's MO during his first two seasons was almost always to start out hot but tail off as the game went on.  This season, that's not true anymore.  In fact, some of his best moments have been late in games rather than early.  That is what you want to see.

 

Coaching changes?  Maturity?  Better teammates?  Unknown what the biggest factor is.  Don't honestly care as long as I see improvement.

 

Gonna be an interesting postseason.

 

Cam seems to also be playing a bit more situational football.  Forcing a bit when needed, scaling back when it's not.  It just seems to me that he is making better choices on a game to game basis.

 

.  

[Mr. Scot]

Cam seems to also be playing a bit more situational football.  Forcing a bit when needed, scaling back when it's not.  It just seems to me that he is making better choices on a game to game basis.

 

.  

 

Agreed.

 

As far as concerns, forget who it was (Gross maybe) but I remember one player saying they had to kind of keep him from getting too hyped up on the sidelines.  Rivera might have said something about that too.  That'll be important when he plays his first NFL postseason game as well.

 

Win or lose, it's indeed possible he'll have a rough first outing.  People will pounce if that happens, but they shouldn't.  It's not unusual for a young QB in his first pro playoff game.

 

[CPcavedweller]

It's a protection scheming thing. It's not who is actually the MLB but rather who is the defensive fulcrum of the play.

In a running play it can let the lead blocker know who to single out or in passing plays who the back should watch on the blitz. In a passing play, if the Mike doesn't blitz, the back is free to go out on a route.

Thank you for this sensual statement. The OP couldn't have chosen or more generic uneducated answer as the best answer. Ridiculous.

[thefuzz]

Agreed.

 

As far as concerns, forget who it was (Gross maybe) but I remember one player saying they had to kind of keep him from getting too hyped up on the sidelines.  Rivera might have said something about that too.  That'll be important when he plays his first NFL postseason game as well.

 

Win or lose, it's indeed possible he'll have a rough first outing.  People will pounce if that happens, but they shouldn't.  It's not unusual for a young QB in his first pro playoff game.

 

 

 

Truth.

 

I'm very nervous about this first playoff game for us.  Hoping that the D can hold whomever we face to less than 17.

[TheRumGone]

i dunno i just get this feeling Cam is gonna shine in the playoffs. He has always been big time in big time games his entire football career