Newton Needs To Turn Numbers Around

Figuring that Carolina Panthers rookie Cam Newton will start the team’s season-opener on Sept. 11 isn’t exactly a stretch. If not, than new head coach Ron Rivera sure has an odd way of getting his team ready for the regular season. Second-year quarterback Jimmy Clausen started the first preseason game, a 20-10 victory over the New York Giants, but Newton has started the last two, though both were losses. Clausen has actually posted better numbers than Newton, but Rivera and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski appear ready to hitch their wagons to Newton.

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Smith's Bond With Graves Extends Beyond The Game

Fred Graves, now the wide receivers coach for the Carolina Panthers, remembers going on a recruiting trip to Santa Monica (Ca.) Junior College in 1998 to watch Chad Johnson, hoping to bring him to Utah where he was on Ron McBride's coaching staff. The more Graves watched Johnson (now Ochocinco), the more he noticed Steve Smith, a 5-foot, 9-inch bundle of fire and muscle. As a receiver, Smith was raw but he had a knack for making plays and his competitiveness drew Graves to him.

During a visit to Santa Monica, Graves asked Smith what he was doing that evening. Smith told him he had to work at Taco Bell, an after classes job that required him to ride the bus there and back. Though neither realized it at the time, it was the start of a friendship that developed during Smith's two seasons at Utah and has brought them together again with the Panthers this season.

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Panthers Take Another Step Back In 24-13 Loss To The Bengals

CINCINNATI – The biggest question surrounding the Carolina Panthers all summer has been whether or not Cam Newton will be the starting quarterback this season? But it turns out the Panthers have much bigger questions. For the second straight week Carolina’s defense looked dreadfully porous allowing the Cincinnati Bengals, who had scored just 10 points in their previous two preseason games, to roll up 269 yards and 24 points in the first half alone.

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Smith Hoping For Big Offensive Night In His Return Thursday

CHARLOTTE — Steve Smith’s timing couldn’t be any better. Smith announced Monday he’ll be back in the starting lineup this Thursday night when the Carolina Panthers travel to face the Cincinnati Bengals.
That good news comes after a lackluster performance by Carolina’s offense in a 20-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins this past Friday night and with an upcoming game in which top draft pick Cam Newton is expected to see his most extensive playing time with the Panthers.

Newton, Smith and the rest of the starters are expected to play about three quarters as coach Ron Rivera is treating the team’s third preseason game as if it were a regular season game. “It will be fun,” Smith said after Monday’s practice. “Today was probably our best practice. We were going on all cylinders.”

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Panthers Struggle Around Newton In His Second Game In 20-10 Loss To Dolphins

MIAMI GARDENS — Cam Newton isn't likely to save the tape from his second NFL pre-season game for posterity. Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner whom the Carolina Panthers made the first pick in last April's draft, showed calmness and leadership against the Dolphins Friday night at Sun Life Stadium, but was unable to get much accomplished against a Miami defense that played its starters against him most of the way. Newton was a respectable 7-of-14 passing for 66 yards while playing the first half, but guided the Panthers to just three first downs. Carolina's deepest penetration in the half was to the Miami 48 on the next-to-last play of the half.

"It went alright, but it could've gone much better," Newton said. "We couldn't find a way to (keep the offense) on track. To have all the three-and-outs we had, that's not acceptable."

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A Thought About Carolina / What 2008 And 2009 Tell Us About 2011

The Carolina Panthers fell apart last year after a decade of ranging from average to very good under John Fox, including two championship game appearances and another 12-4 season just two years earlier. Their collapse made me wonder: does it matter how a team did in the two years prior to a horrible season, in determining how they bounce back? So, I used the pro-football-reference team game finder to locate all teams that went 3-13 or worse in a season since 1990. I kicked out the first two years of the expansion Cleveland Browns, and looked at the remaining 41 teams to compare how they played (by simple rating) and how many wins they had in the two seasons prior to that 13+ loss season.

As it turns out, yes, knowing that the Carolina Panthers went 20-12 over the previous two seasons means we should shade them to be slightly better than your typical really bad team in 2011. First, though, we want to know what is typical. As it turns out, the average team that won 3 or fewer games in a season finishes 6-10 the next year (which is just another way of illustrating why Overs on teams with win projections under 6 are a good idea).

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Assessing Cam Newton

Throughout the 2011 season like I always did as a front-office executive, I will track the performance of the top 15 drafted players, analyzing their production prior to them slamming into the rookie wall, which is inevitable. This project is not to second-guess coaches, general managers or even the players, but it has always been an interesting study. Someone has to go No. 1, but is it really the best player in the draft? Were they taken for need, or was it just a flat-out bad pick?

Cam Newton is a tall, handsome young man with striking features, a broad, chiseled chin and a big, bright smile that lights up a room like several hundred halogen lamps. As one woman told me, he could be a male model during the offseason. In short, Newton has charisma, confidence and is very poised for a young man. While his youthfulness still shines through, along with moments of immaturity, he has grown up quickly in the last several months.

Let's take a quick walk down memory lane.

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Preseason Game One Final - Panthers 20 Giants 10

Jimmy Clausen started his second season with a bad flashback to his rookie year. Cam Newton began his NFL career with the kind of up-and-down performance that should have been expected from a quarterback who played only one full season on major-college football. But it was the Panthers' third-string quarterback who sealed the 20-10 win Saturday over the New York Giants in the preseason opener in front of an announced crowd of 71,936 at a damp Bank of America Stadium.

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Giants @ Panthers / Rivera Is Seeking a Few Good Men

                             
The Carolina Panthers won’t answer all of their questions in the first preseason game against the New York Giants at 8 p.m. tonight at Bank of America Stadium. But what Carolina will get is an opportunity to evaluate several players and positions. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he will not know who will be his starting quarterback until Week 3 of the preseason, but he is going with Jimmy Clause for the first preseason game.

However, Rivera is likely to get an idea on how other competitions at receiver, defensive end and cornerback will shape up.

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Santella Savors Taste Of NFL Training Camp

Wise and realistic, Anthony Santella expects, much like one of his soaring punts, his NFL high won’t maintain its current altitude. His pro football dream could end soon, although he’s been known to overcome great odds before. His competition at the Carolina Panthers camp on the campus of Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., after all, is veteran Jason Baker, who’s been punting in the league for 10 years.

“He’s been nothing but helpful,” says Santella, the former Wauconda and University of Illinois star, who says the same about longtime kicker Olindo Mare, who’s also in camp with first-year head coach Ron Rivera’s Panthers. “It’s always good to go against someone like that,” Santella adds of Baker. “But it’s highly unlikely I’m going to take his job. ... His form, you can tell he’s really mastered it.”

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Newton's theory of training camp - learn, have fun

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The first thing you notice is the size. Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Cam Newton looked big in street clothes at the scouting combine, but in full uniform he is the tallest guy in his huddle and at 253 pounds -- real weight -- he is as big as his tight ends. The second thing you notice is Newton's playful approach to the game. He is serious when taking the play call, and serious when he runs a play, but at times when the play is done, he will do something child-like, such as skipping to the sideline after a handoff or goofing off with a teammate.

Maybe that's who Newton is: A kid in a man's body.

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New Deals, Young Star, And Hope In Carolina

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Cam Newton made his first pass as quarterback of the Carolina Panthers recently when he gave up trying to buy jersey No. 2 from Jimmy Clausen and settled on No. 1. How fitting. The Panthers are in desperate need of a public relations makeover after a disastrous 2010, and Newton, the No. 1 overall draft pick in April, is going to be the new image of this franchise. He will be their No. 1, sooner or later.

But the Panthers, whose fiscal austerity last year in advance of the looming lockout was blamed in part for a league-worst 2-14 record, are not putting the franchise entirely on Newton’s back. The Newton era begins with a new coach — Ron Rivera, the former San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator, replaces John Fox — and a jaw-dropping spending spree.

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Kasay Left a Lasting Mark On Panthers' Franchise, Fans‎

When I think of the Carolina Panthers' various incarnations of Fan Fest through the years, I think of two Panthers players above all else - the late Fred Lane and John Kasay. I think of Lane because that's where he burst onto the scene. The running back was one of the very few players to make a mark on the field at Fan Fest and then continue that momentum for months.

I think of Kasay because of the way he acted at every fan day like the one coming up Saturday - he knew they weren't just another practice but were truly for the fans. After the Panthers released the last of the original Panthers last week, I asked readers on my "Scott Says" blog to email me with some of their favorite Kasay memories. I received far too many to publish them all here - thanks to all who participated. But this edited sampling should give you an idea of what Kasay meant to fans:

"That's No. 4 going out there"

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Richardson Pays Visit To Camp

Carolina Panthers owner/founder Jerry Richardson took a brief respite from answering questions Wednesday at training camp by directing his own inquiry at anyone who had negatively wondered about his financial commitment to the franchise. “Does anybody feel just a little bad about calling me cheap last year, just a smidgen?” Richardson asked following NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s fan forum.

With the team sinking to a league-worst 2-14 and fan enthusiasm equaling the level of a funeral procession, many fingers pointed at Richardson as the team remained well under the salary cap and was a virtual ghost in the free agent market. Last season’s lockout didn’t refer to any labor situation but rather Richardson’s bank account as he gained a reputation for frugality among Panthers fans that didn’t settle well with those shelling out big bucks for tickets.

But a year later Richardson suddenly became footloose and fancy free with his funds, and Carolina has been breaking the bank to re-sign its best players.

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Beason To Drew Brees, Matt Ryan & Josh Freeman WATCH OUT !!!

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Jon Beason has a message for NFC South quarterbacks Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman: Get ready, this isn’t the same Carolina Panthers defense you’re used to seeing twice a year.“They’re going to have to do their homework this year,” Beason said confidently on Monday.

“It’s not gointo be, hey, we know about the Panthers and we know about their scheme. It’s going to be a completely different defense.”

In a word, Beason describes the new scheme being installed by coach Ron Rivera and coordinator Sean McDermott as “aggressive.”

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