Giving Cam Newton More Time to Throw Should Be a Priority

by Ivanofftheterrible on Feb 16, 2012 5:00 PM EST in Panther Player & Position Reviews

Winning in the trenches usually means winning in the nfl. Giving a QB more time gives a team more chances to win. Take a look at the stats below.

Cam 517 attempts, 35 sacks, 6.8% sack rate

Brees 657 attempts, 24 sacks, 3.7% sack rate

Eli 589 attempts, 28 sacks, 4.8 %sack rate

Brady 611 attempts, 32 sacks, 5.2% sack rate

Dalton 516 attempts, 24 sacks, 4.6% sack rate

I'll discuss why these stats matter after the jump.

Brees, Eli, Brady, and Dalton all went to the playoffs. What did they have in common? Protection. With protection comes time, more time to make plays. It's not the only reason that these teams made the playoffs, but it helped. I chose to compare Cam's stats to three elite quarterbacks and a rookie for comparison's sake. Some may argue that Eli is not elite, but he has two more rings than you do.

As you can see the closest sack total to Cam's is Brady with 32, but that is with 94 more attempts. Part of this is Cam making rookie mistakes, which he will correct. Now compare him to Dalton and it's scary. Scary to imagine what Cam could have done if he didn't get sacked 11 more times. Every time the Panthers attempt to throw the football there is roughly a 7% chance that Cam will get sacked. How do we improve this stat? Improve the offensive line.

If we don't trade out of our spot, and there is no ‘steal' to be had, we should take the best offensive lineman available in the draft. Protect our number one asset. Give Cam the time that he needs to make plays. That is how we can bolster our offense and win more games.

Tweet Comment 27 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Good article, but I would like to add a thought. One must take into account Cam’s propensity to move outside of the pocket to extend plays. There were many a time where Cam would roll out of the pocket due to the O-line either breaking down, or to get a better angle on a pass, or just simply run with the ball. No most of the time, this rolling out paid huge dividends for the offense, but there were also times where it cost us big, because Cam did not either throw the ball away or “Clausen” it (check it down).

I think almost every mobile QB is going to have inflated sack numbers just due to the fact that they will hang on to the ball longer to make the most out of every play. Sometimes it will lead to a big play or TD, and sometimes it will lead to a big sack. Cam will get better, and if the O-line gets improved at all, then yes, those numbers will go down. But I would never expect Cam to ever be in the bottom 5 or so of QB’s in terms of being sacked.

Proud Member of Cat Scratch Reader and coiner of the (minus Bowers) meme

by Ivan459 on Feb 16, 2012 5:11 PM EST reply actions

good point

Comparing Cam to these more traditional-style pocket passers may not be the most valid stance to take as far as illustrating a need on the OL. What I’d like to know is the number of Cam’s sacks that were inside versus outside the pocket. This would give us a better idea of how much an upgrade at OL would help and thusly in what round we should look to draft OL. Another interesting thing to consider would be the number of broken tackles that would have been sacks if Cam wasn’t 25% clydesdale on his father’s side.

by Floods on Feb 16, 2012 5:52 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

True for Ben R. Not so for Cam.

Cam’s sacks mostly came so quickly, from blocking breakdowns, or inadequate blitz pickups, that he had no chance to get set, much less because he was “extending” a play.

by bigdavis on Feb 16, 2012 7:33 PM EST up reply actions

True, and this point would be further validated by what Floods was saying above by viewing inside the pocket sacks vs outside the pocket sacks. Granted most of his inside the pocket sacks were immediate blocking breakdowns like you said. I honestly wouldn’t mind at all getting some O-line help in this draft.

Proud Member of Cat Scratch Reader and coiner of the (minus Bowers) meme

by Ivan459 on Feb 16, 2012 7:48 PM EST up reply actions

Not really.

There were quite a few blatant missed by the offensive line this year (that nasty hit by Orakpo stands out).. But they did an amazing job. Especially considering they’ve been used to blocking for Delhomme, Moore, and Clausen (none very mobile). Also, many times this year, when Cam’s mental clock would run out, he’d take the wrong approach to escape the pocket, which is back and around. We saw him try that a lot in the middle to late portion of the year and fail, resulting in a sack. The ends in this league are also too fast for him to do that.

To be honest, the biggest reasons his sack percentages were higher, is because we are a down the field passing team. Long passes for a lot of big chunks, not short catch and runs (aside from a lot of screens). Brees never gets sacked for 2 major reasons: Number 1 – He’s the damn man, and has incredible experience as well as an amazing feel for when to get rid of the ball; 2 – Most of their passes are quick hits less 10 yards down the field as well as a nearly equal sample of creative screens. Most of the same for Brady and especially Dalton, who managed around 700 less passing yards than Cam on 1 less attempt.

Quicker designed passes result in a lower sack %, as well as the experience at the quarterback position. Honestly our offensive line blocked incredibly all year long both rushing and passes. This is in a completely new system, marred by injuries, and no off-season to prep. I give our offensive line an A for the season. Although I really wouldn’t mind an addition of talent like DeCastro, especially if we can manage to keep Wharton’s salary or restructure. And my god can you imagine if Otah ever gets healthy and plays like he can? An O-line of Gross, DeCastro, Kalil, Wharton, and Otah? Plus a lot of experience depth behind that.

I love the idea of drafting a lot of different guys at 8 or 9, so I’m very excited to see who we take.

by quiteunequal on Feb 17, 2012 3:08 AM EST up reply actions

While I agree with the overall sentiment of your article

I think it might be a good to take notice of how many sacks were due to blocking issues, or by the QB forcing them himself.

Ivan459 basically just wrote everything I was going to, so read his shtick!

Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano

by AParker on Feb 16, 2012 5:12 PM EST reply actions

Read my shtick, or else

Proud Member of Cat Scratch Reader and coiner of the (minus Bowers) meme

by Ivan459 on Feb 16, 2012 7:48 PM EST up reply actions

Good article, but I'm not sure we need to address the O-Line very early.

We have two promising players returning from injury, along with the further development of our other O-Linemen.
And by the very nature of Cam’s plays, his sack numbers should be higher. IMO, teaching Cam to throw the ball away, and the maturation of our O-Line will reduce the sacks.

I don't want to draft Michael Brockers or Devon Still. Member of the Copleites

by Son of a Newton on Feb 16, 2012 5:15 PM EST reply actions

i wonder how many sacks total were from cam running out of bounds trying to make a play. i remember 1 that was credited to clay matthews in the gb game.

"Don't tell me about the pain, just bring me the baby" Cam Newton

by braves&panthers4ever on Feb 16, 2012 5:54 PM EST via Android app up reply actions

Good Point. Theres probably a couple of fluky ones like that.

i.e. Cam extending a play and being tackled one yard behind the LOS.

I don't want to draft Michael Brockers or Devon Still. Member of the Copleites

by Son of a Newton on Feb 16, 2012 6:41 PM EST up reply actions

And how many sacks were avoided because Newton is ..... well Cam Newton

"Nah, you look like Elijah Wood." - danmerqury

by OldhamA on Feb 16, 2012 7:11 PM EST up reply actions

Very True.

I don't want to draft Michael Brockers or Devon Still. Member of the Copleites

by Son of a Newton on Feb 16, 2012 9:53 PM EST up reply actions

I am so happy I got to see this play live and in person. Only game I went to all year and I got to see this beaut!

Proud Member of Cat Scratch Reader and coiner of the (minus Bowers) meme

by Ivan459 on Feb 17, 2012 3:03 AM EST up reply actions

they unsettled him in the pocket that day.

only against minnesota and tennessee did i see him look so uncomfortable. you kind of felt like he had to take it over with his legs, right?

by bylinebrown on Feb 17, 2012 8:47 AM EST up reply actions

I dont think Our O-Line reallt needs to be addressed.

Cam was a rookie and rookies naturally take more steps as they are getting use to the speed of the game, also he was playing with a rookie RT who will either improve or be replaced by a healthy Otah

I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was

by pcroadrage on Feb 16, 2012 6:31 PM EST reply actions

i'd love to have a special tackle, reiff or schwartz are kinda my faves where we draft

but i do think overall, we invite some of that to extend the play. a little bit like a roethlisberger whose also a threat to take off down the field. at the same time, cam did get hit too hard a little too much in the pocket for my any whatsoever comfort. washington, minnesota, tennessee, detroit, there were some ugly protection situations. i’d add they were outstanding with the run to this convo though. i mean, it was beast.

by bylinebrown on Feb 16, 2012 6:44 PM EST reply actions

Pretty simple

The less Byron Bell the better. Nice story, horrid lineman

by TXPanther on Feb 16, 2012 7:56 PM EST via mobile reply actions

when he took sacks they did seem to happen fast not like clausens when he just held the ball

Maybe somewhere in the draft it wouldn’t be a terrible idea but not necassarily a top two round priority. A

"If I have to find Jesus does that mean he is hiding ?" THE SOESBEAST " death solves all problems, no man no problem" Joseph Dzhugashvili

by allthatremainsstillowns on Feb 16, 2012 7:57 PM EST reply actions

This math doesn't make sense to me

You’re taking the number of sacks over the number of pass attempts to come up with the sack rate? Shouldn’t it be A / (A + B)
where A is the number of sacks
B is the number of pass attempts
so A + B ends up being the number of pass plays were called

by Atlantapanther on Feb 16, 2012 8:50 PM EST reply actions

I believe it’s saying out Of the attempts to pass (A), [number] were sacks (B). Not that there were [number] of sacks and [number] attempts.

by DoubleT-Stewart on Feb 16, 2012 11:05 PM EST up reply actions

No

Newton attempted 517 passes this season. He was sacked on 35 plays where he didn’t attempt those 517 passes. Which means he was sacked 35 times out of 552 possible times. That should be the sack rate. Otherwise 517 and the 35 sacks become unrelated numbers.

by Atlantapanther on Feb 16, 2012 11:31 PM EST up reply actions