Inside the numbers: Cam Newton's game on Saturday

I think Rivera really wants to limit his running because injuries are possible, and it’s preseason, even though he’s bigger than most defensive players.

If Clausen plays better, this will be his last year in Carolina. He might not make it to the trade deadline. He wasn’t great, but he looks better than starters on some other teams. Don’t be surprised if the 49ers come calling, even if it isn’t until next season. He showed some promise, IMO.

The key for me was the run blocking. This looks like it’s gonna be another year of two RBs over 1,000 yds, and over 5 ypc.

Last, but not least, we held the Giants 1st team to no TDs. Our D looked good.

I’m more excited about this season than I have been in a long time.

I’m pleased with the amount of positive reviews coming cams way. I thought, what with all the nay sayers, that they would slate him because on paper his accuracy was poor, or because he didn’t throw a td. I’m sure a lot of fans left boa feeling really positive.

Also it was interesting to see rivera’s take on cam post game. He said cam seemed to get a bit excited when the offence got near the red zone, which was effecting his throws and that would improve with time. Anyone at the game think this was a fair assessment? Difficult to tell cuz he’s always bloody smiling :)

Jimmy Clausen did a great job (minus the 1 bad throw/misread). If he proves to be the best then he should start. I, as much as anyone, want to see what Cam can really do but I also want to see the team succeed more than I want to see Cam play. His time will come.

As far as Cam’s performance. It was much better than what I was expecting. CB’s made some nice plays but he didnt really throw any interceptable balls. Which in my opinion was great. He was reading defenses much better than what many believed he was capable of. Also, it appeared to me that he did a fairly good job at going through his progressions. It could have been better and of course it will get more complicated, but under the circumstances he did a good job. The main thing I was concerned about before the game was how he would do under center. I assumed that his snaps would have been more evenly split between shotgun and under center. I’m not sure of the count, but it seemed to me that the majority of his snaps were from under center. He didnt have any fumbles, no bobbled snaps, and his drop backs looked decent enough. If I didnt know better, you would have had a hard time convincing me that he came from a spread offense and had limited experience taking snaps from under center. His QB rating could have been better as could his completion percentage. But that will come with time and practice.

With all that being said, Cam is definitely on pace to being OUR franchise qb. Something we have never really had. JC will eventually become some other teams starting qb and possibly their franchise qb. But who knows. I believe we will continue to see vast improvements in Cam’s game and he will demand more from his teammates. Not just get them fired up after a hard hit like Jake used to do, but be fired up from the opening kickoff.

On a side note…I’m already looking forward to this time next year when Andrew Luck is compared to Cam and hoping that Cam has set the bar very high. Lucks loss in not becoming a Panther was a much better gain for us in getting Cam.

Are they going to replay the preseason game on one of the local stations anytime this week? If so what channel and time? I was out of town and would love to see Cam and co in action!

Well… and everyone else for that matter… CJ, Smitty, Beast, TD, Gamble, Capt, etc.

and it sounded like his mechanics broke down after that, but the one thing I noticed about Cam in comparison to Jimmy was his decision making. Really enjoyed how the ball was coming out of his hand as soon as his back foot hit during the drop back. And, on the flip side, was disappointed that it was taking Jimmy a lot longer to get rid of the ball.

This could be a product of the more vertical routes, but it’s always nice to see the ball in the air quickly after the drop back.

Looks like they have Jimmy pegged as the starter for the week one, seeing as they played him for the first quarter, seemed pleased enough, and then let Cam play the 2nd and 3rd. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

He never faced the Giants 1st Team Defence. The only player from GMens 1st Team was Chris Canty by the time Cam came in the game.

Nevertheless he looked good for a rookie but you can tell he has happy feet when pressed . He’s also not used to the speed fo the game. Overall you guys got a good one. I think he will get you back to the Play offs again.

Is that it’s very difficult to correct problems with mechanics when you are playing every week. It was well documented in this article that when Cam started feeling the pressure, he reverted back to throwing off his back foot. He is strong in the pocket. More so than just about any QB I’ve seen. He’s so big, he just drops back and even with chaos all around him, he stands in there as if he were by himself. He looked good with the first team, but I’m worried that when teams realize that all you have to do is put pressure on him in order to cause bad throws, we’ll get blitzed on almost every play.

I still think that Cam needs to sit for a while, work on his mechanics in practice and then start midway through the season, assuming we aren’t winning under someone else. That way there is less pressure on him to be great from the word go. He’ll have time to mature and develop into the QB that everyone wants him to be.

You can have a bad throwing motion and still be accurate. Phillip Rivers is a good example. However, his footwork is the biggest issue. It causes him to throw high and low. His last play in the game Saturday is a good example of this. It was 3rd and around 7 and he threw a strike to a tight end (I think) but the ball was low and the receiver had to go down low to get it and as a result ended up being short of the first down. Had that ball been up where the receiver could have caught the ball while still on his feet, the receiver could have fallen forward for a first down.

Also, JC doesn’t have to be better overall to start. My reason’s for sitting Newton have to do with him having the tools to be successful. B/C once he’s ready to play, it’s his job to keep or give away. There won’t be a competition next year. That’s why I don’t think we need to rush him. Let him correct his issues before trying to start. Let Jimmy play and maybe we’ll get something for him if he plays well enough. If he doesn’t we can just release him. Newton will be better of sitting and watching and working on his mechanics in practice.