I have always felt that Cam Newton either wasn’t a perfect fit for the NFL or wasn’t being used perfectly by the Carolina Panthers of the NFL. And not for the usual reasons brought-up when debating a dual-threat QB.
Newton would have been an indomitable NCAA/NFL fullback had he not been blessed with a rocket arm. His running ability, or at least his scrambling ability, has often seemed meager compared to what most terrific rushers at the quarterback spot are able to do when pressured. “Superman” is dynamite when throwing on the run or galloping downfield, but he often can’t avoid pressure. He’s not Fran Tarkenton when under a heavy rush in the pocket – he’s a big target with a tentative 1st step who can’t get out of the way.
So in Newton you’ve got a dual-threat QB who has never given an NFL team the #1 advantage of having a speedy tackle-breaking quarterback – the consistent ability to escape the rush and “break” a defense by making plays outside the pocket. Steve Young has criticized Newton for not staying in the pocket _enough_ but that’s because Young has missed out on the last 20 years of football analytics and development. It doesn’t matter where plays come from as long as they’re made, but Cam gets slammed holding the ball too often to stay 100% healthy or avoid whopping negative yardage that kills drives.
After about a decade of the pleasures and problems of having the Auburn graduate behind center, the Panthers finally have a new face taking snaps. Undrafted Kyle Allen stepped into the void and produced an impressive 38-20 win over Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals last weekend.
Las Vegas sees the Allen-for-Newton swap as a positive, not a negative, and the Panthers’ betting lines have shrunk with the action headed into this Sunday’s date with the Houston Texans.
Who: Carolina Panthers at Houston Texans
When: Sunday, September 29th, 1 PM EST
Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, TX
Lines: CAR (+4) at HOU (-4) / O/U Total: (47.5)
The Panthers had not won a game in 2019 until beating the Big Red, and will face a stiffer challenge on the road against 2-1 Houston. Newton is nursing a Lisfranc injury which will sideline him through next week. He could lose his job if Allen continues to be productive and light-up the scoreboard with an aerial attack.
Allen connected on 19-of-26 passing for 261 yards and 4 TDs against Arizona, finding veteran TE Greg Olsen in the end zone multiple times and connecting with top draft pick D.J. Moore on a 52-yard-TD strike. Christian McCaffrey was firing on all cylinders as well, racing for 153 yards on 24 carries behind a rejuvenated crew of Carolina blockers.
The OL may be without a key cog this week in guard Trai Turner, though, who left last week’s game with an ankle injury and is questionable to go at Houston.
Whoops – an update and a morose one for the ‘Cats:
The Carolina Panthers are preparing for a Week 4 matchup with the Houston Texans, and they will have to go without their starting right guard on Sunday as Trai Turner has been ruled out for Sunday’s game with an ankle injury.
Turner left last week’s game against the Arizona Cardinals and has been unable to practice for most of the week, so this move was semi-expected. With Turner out, I’d imagine the Panthers will move Daryl Williams to right guard and give Greg Little the start at left tackle like they did on last week when Turner had to exit the game in Arizona.
The Texans are 2-1 but the offense is off to a slow start, and much of the struggle can be directly correlated with the offensive line. The unit ranks 28th in the league according to pro scouts.
While Carlos Hyde has emerged in an otherwise lackluster running game, Deshaun Watson has been spreading the ball around with mixed results. Smartly, coaches allowed the former Clemson phenom to work some Read-Option against the Chargers last weekend, causing 50,000,000 NFL fans to turn the TV off in disgust as the NCAA-style offense is too different and interesting and not the same thing we’ve all been watching for 100 years. No, really, Texans fans might have wanted to tune-out because the ground game went nowhere yet again. But the threat drew the Bolts to the line of scrimmage, and Watson flourished passing over them.
The Texans also have one of the better defenses in the league, ranking in the top 3rd of the league in sacks in the early-going of 2019-20 with veteran edge-rusher Whitney Mercilus leading the way.
There’s a lot of hype surrounding Allen right now, and that’s great, but he’s probably in for a rough Sunday at a a noisy venue against a world-class defense.
If Carolina’s line wasn’t missing a key man, he’d get enough protection to make things happen…but the Texans will get to the pocket and give Watson a few short fields to make plays on.
Take Houston to cover (-4).