Cam Says...

[Snaggletiger]

Mike Shula is butt-tight. There's no sugar coating it.  Cam kind of tries to spread the blame for letting the Seasquawks almost come back after being up 31-0.  What he's saying is Shula just about caused an incredibly embarrassing loss.  dot I am a gay twerker that has no balls!!!!  I also have no idea how to use the quote function to post stories, so I annoy the piss out of others.  I like male genatalia in and around my mouth....you know it.

In Sunday's NFL Divisional Round playoff game against the two-time defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks, the Carolina Panthers had a 14-0 lead by the time the ball had been snapped six times and rolled to a 31-0 halftime advantage.

The Panthers ended up with a 31-24 victory to advance to play the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC championship.

"It was just a tale of execution," Carolina quarterback Cam Newton said at his postgame press conference. "We needed a little bit more of that in the second half. There was a lot of guys playing with their butts tight, coaches with their butts tight. Hell, at one point, the fans and myself was butt tight, too. But yet you've just got to find ways to get your groove back going."

Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula didn't agree with the former Auburn star's assessment. The former Alabama coach said the Seahawks and the situation had a lot to do with how the second half played out.

"It's a fine line in keeping it wide open and also trying to call plays that are really good that also will keep the clock moving," Shula told ESPN. "(The Seahawks are) really good. I don't think there is anybody here that doesn't think they are really good on defense."

Seattle led the NFL in scoring defense for the fourth straight season in 2015.

Newton said he understood the wisdom of eating up the clock with such a big lead.

"A lot of plays were eliminated due to our philosophy, at times, was just to play keepaway," Newton said. "We don't have to take shots down field nor do we have to come up with this guru of a play call when, at the end of the day, the best thing we've got going is time."

Once Seattle got off the canvas, though, the Panthers couldn't put the Seahawks back down after knocking them silly in the first half.

"I think the playoffs bring out, more than any other time, the impact of the big mo, and that's momentum," Newton said.

With their playoff victory, the Panthers have a 16-1 record in the 2015 regular- and postseason, even though they've given up at least 20 points after halftime in five of their games.

The second half against the Seahawks was the first half this season in which the Panthers failed to score. In their 17 games, Carolina has outscored its opponents 297-121 in the first half. That margin shrinks to a 234-211 advantage after halftime.

"We've just got to find ways to complete a full game of football," Newton said. "We've been known to kind of let the foot off the throttle. For us, we've just got to get that killer instinct."

Carolina coach Ron Rivera said it's important to keep the big picture in mind when looking at the Panthers' second-half concerns.

"I'll be honest: I get it; I understand," Rivera told reporters after the Seattle game. "But, shoot, we won those football games and look who we played against. If this was someone that was 2-14 that did this to us, then I'd be really concerned. But it wasn't. Am I concerned? Yeah. But are these things correctable and fixable? Most certainly. Let's stay focused on what we did. We did some really good things. We made some things happen. And we won the football game."

[CCTAU]

I told my wife during the game that the bamturd is choking.

Rivera said at half time they were going to keep the foot on the pedal, then I saw the crappy play calling the second half. Nine in the box? Run that pig up the middle and eat clock. Except you don't eat clock if you cannot get a first down.

Cam was absolutely right. Anyone with half a brain watching that game knew what was happening.

[The Six]

Meanwhile, New England is protecting a lead and they throw on 2nd down with 2 minutes and change to go. Some coaches have balls. Some coaches swish balls.

[dallaswareagle]

Meanwhile, New England is protecting a lead and they throw on 2nd down with 2 minutes and change to go. Some coaches have balls. Some coaches swish balls.

 Some coaches coach to win, some coach not to lose.  Big Difference.


Edit: And some coach just to keep their job.   

[Kaos]

Some coaches coach to win, some coach not to lose.  Big Difference.

Bingo.

I was nervous as hell at the half. Panthers thought it was in the bag. They were already making party plans.
 
Hate Pete Carroll with a blinding turquoise fury but when I heard him being calm, saying one play, one score at a time was how they'd get back into it --- my spidey sense went into full tingle mode.  My gut said that if Carolina came out conservative and Seattle got up off the floor and scored, it could get dicey.  I actually quit watching at 31-21.  Couldn't stomach it any more.  Granted, some of the plays they made were utterly ridiculous and wouldn't happen eight out of ten times, but still. 

Cam was right. They decided to play out the string and it nearly backfired.  You're up 31-0 at the half, you need to come out and crush their souls early in the second half.  One score and it would have been nailed completely down. 



"We gotta do better than this.  I can't keep my fucking cool when these motherfuc...." 

Obviously Cam Newton is displeased.

I honestly believe that Shula (no great OC by any stretch) has a lingering case of Prothro-itis.  If you remember, Alabama was up 31-0 or 31-3 when Prothro got snapped. He caught so much hell for that, for throwing deep, for having him even on the field -- and he struggled with it himself too -- that I honestly think he doesn't have the guts to finish game strongly.   That's in the back of his mind whenever the team gets a big enough lead that he feels safe.  Giants. Packers. Seahawks for example.   We've seen that Carolina can exert its will late in games when things are tight or the team trails. But get a lead and Shula's butt draws up tight.  He's afraid of getting Cam or Olsen or Ginn or Stewart or somebody hurt by continuing to push.  And he gets timid. 

[WiregrassTiger]

I don't disagree that Shula went too conservative. And, yes, it almost cost them the game.

Do I do different? Probably not. With their defense, I would've been trying to run as much clock as possible.

I've actually thought Shula has done a much better job this year. Hard to argue with their record, even though their defense has a whole lot to do with that. Cam has certainly shined. And, things seem to be clicking more between them. He has more confidence to let Cam do his thing.

I don't know how long Cam can do it but it's fun to watch while it lasts. I don't see him being able to last as long as Montana, Kelly, Manning, etc. But he's more fun to watch than any for me.

[Snaggletiger]

I don't disagree that Shula went too conservative. And, yes, it almost cost them the game.

Do I do different? Probably not. With their defense, I would've been trying to run as much clock as possible.

I've actually thought Shula has done a much better job this year. Hard to argue with their record, even though their defense has a whole lot to do with that. Cam has certainly shined. And, things seem to be clicking more between them. He has more confidence to let Cam do his thing.

I don't know how long Cam can do it but it's fun to watch while it lasts. I don't see him being able to last as long as Montana, Kelly, Manning, etc. But he's more fun to watch than any for me.

I'm kind of in the other camp as far as his longevity. This is his 5th year and to this point, he's only missed 2 games in all that time.  I can't recall if that was because of the car wreck or a football injury.  I was surprised to see that his completion percentage has pretty much remained constant all 5 years.  I would have thought his percentage would be much higher this year, but it's 59% with his highest ever being about 61%.  However, it's apparent that he's far more accurate where it counts because he's thrown for far more TD's and less interceptions than ever.

Problem is, his rushing attempts are up too and that's where the longevity is going to come into question.  As has been said, ideally they need to get him more weapons and allow him to cut down on the number of runs. As accurate as he's become, I think he can kick bootay for another 7-8 years if he's not taking those hits.   

[Kaos]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14559236/carolina-panthers-quarterback-cam-newton-unlike-qb-nfl

This is a pretty awesome story.  Worth the long read. 

The best part to me? 

The next year, Robert Griffin III had a DJ playing music  -- some of it sung by RG III himself -- at his Baylor pro day. Imagine for a moment if Cam Newton, fresh off his national championship/Heisman Trophy season but hounded by those associating him with a lack of desire, maturity and leadership qualities, had shown up at his pro day with a DJ. He might be playing in Canada.

Proving them wrong one play at a time.