Cam Newton report

Jon Gruden school of QB collecting

 

Good qb's, even rookies, elevate their teammates level of play.

Clausen might have made them all worse.

Just like the fans knew Clausen sucked, I'm pretty certain his teammates noticed.

 

you mean like you said Matt Moore elevated them?

I don't know of a rookie that elevated anything. The best case scenarios - Flacco, Roethlisberger, Ryan - didn't elevate teammates, they were led. The idea of any rookie pulling the mess we had last year is unrealistic. Again, a separate issue from whether he's hated from last year or whether he can be something.

 

I expected Clausen to fail given what he was stepping into but he looked extra bad doing it. If he's twice the player he was last year he probably still comes up short.

Hard to say if he would be sufficient with better execution from the other ten, I don't think I'd bet on it.

 

Man, I was so excited last april:

http://walterfootball.com/scoutingreport2010jclausen.php

 

Sorta, but I say develop Clausen, just have a backup plan. A veteran and a rookie who can challenge. I think expecting a second round rookie QB with rookie WRs and 60% of the OL was reserves who were drafted no earlier than the 7th round and a lame duck coach with an idiot OC to perform at an acceptable level is from the Barney the Dinosaur school of make believe. (I have children, so bear with me).

 

I see why. He didn't lose these characterstics. The offense was not rookie friendly (Davidson said that, I just can't find it--it was when he decided to simplify). It took Gettis/Lafell a while to learn it marginally well. Smith was blanketed. I don't know what he was supposed to do. The games we won, he was not bad. He had time to throw and he hit open men. New staff, new system, experienced players around him.

If he is a bust, then we can't do anything about it now. Drafting another player high who could bust (Newton has more red flags than a middle eastern, turbined airline passenger wearing a down coat in july) is like President said, Grudenish. There are no free agents who we want, the draft has no QB who deserves a first round grade, IMO. Frankly, I am not in love with Clausen, I just think you develop the offense to be more QB friendly and one that plays to your QB's strengths. You heal the line and fix the problems around the QB.

Then you see what you have. Heck, I could take the best heart surgeon in the world and put him in a poorly-lit tent with inexperienced nurses and he would not compare to average surgeons. Protect Clausen and he will be fine. What do YA Tittle, John Unitas, and Steve Young have in common? They all would have sucked as Rookie QBs with the Panthers in 2010.

 

we'd probably have still seen too many dumps even with another vet receiver, and skittishness in the pocket even if the current line hadn't been awful under its circumstances.

I don't think we ever got to see much of what I felt he did best - throw further than 10 yards downfield.
Don't get me wrong, he's not a cannon arm, but he was accurate at the outs and deep passes.

 

Well, at least Jimmy isn't short.

Oh wait, yeah, he is. He can couple not looking like an NFL QB with not playing like one.

And in Brees worst year, 2003, he had a passer rating 10 points higher than the Pickle. Brees is a future HOFer.

If Jimmy had shown anything last year, we wouldn't be having this conversation. He lacks the physical gifts to be a top 15 NFL starter.

 

JImmy looked worse than Moore in Moore's rookie season.

We need another guy. Dunno that it's Newton, dunno that it isn't, either. I know it isn't Clausen.