Cam Newton isn’t to blame for the Carolina Panthers’ ugly season.
Sure, the fourth-year quarterback hasn’t played well but so much of the quarterback position has to do with the talent around him. That was clearly on display Monday night when Mark Sanchez, who was laughed out of New York, torched the Panthers in a blowout victory.
Imagine how Newton would perform if he had the Eagles’ offensive line, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, and Darren Sproles around him? Or a functional offensive line for that matter?
Instead, Newton is suffering from a poorly-designed roster that has replacement-level talent at running back, wide receiver (outside of Kelvin Benjamin) and especially up front on the offensive line. They have been steamrolled three weeks in a row.
Because of the importance of the quarterback position, it’s easy to place all the blame on Newton but he’s just a symptom of a bigger problem. Carolina needs to put their franchise player–who is due for a big raise–in a position to succeed.
Here’s what else we learned in Week 10:
Palmer injury may not derail Cardinals: Losing Carson Palmer for the season is an obvious blow, but it’s not one the Cardinals cannot withstand. Arizona has already won two games with career backup Drew Stanton at quarterback earlier in the year, including a tough division game with San Francisco. Stanton is in a pretty good situation to succeed. For one, head coach Bruce Arians is a brilliant offensive mind and has worked closely with Stanton for three straight seasons, going back to his year with the Indianapolis Colts as the offensive coordinator. Stanton has a multitude of weapons to work with–three legitimate receivers and a emerging running back–so Arians will try to make it easy on the veteran quarterback, who has less than five career starts. It definitely helps when you have a defence playing as well as Arizona’s has. More than anything, that may be the key to maintaining their spot atop of the NFC West.
Seahawks rediscover their style: The Percy Harvin trade didn’t just clear salary cap space or help mitigate a potential locker room problem, but it allowed the Seattle Seahawks to get back to their identity on offence. When Harvin was around, the Seahawks put such an emphasis on getting him the ball in space that it took away from their biggest strength, which is running the football. Against the Giants Sunday, it was clear that Pete Carroll’s team got back to their roots. The Seahawks set a franchise-record by rushing for 350 yards with five touchdowns on the ground. With Russell Wilson struggling, Carroll handed the keys to the power running of Marshawn Lynch and it paid off in a big way. His physical running style broke the will of the Giants in the fourth quarter. Makes you wonder if the Seahawks may hold onto to Lynch after all next season, despite early speculation of the contrary.
Chiefs outplaying expectations: Coming into 2014, the Kansas City Chiefs looked like an obvious regression candidate. They lost quality starters in free agency and opened up the season with two straight losses, including an ugly one to a bad Tennessee Titans team. But head coach Andy Reid has gotten the team back on track. The Chiefs have quietly won six of their last seven–and these haven’t been gimmes like last year. Kansas City has won tough road games in Miami, San Diego, and came back from a 10-point deficit to beat Buffalo on Sunday. That’s not easy for a team nearly devoid of offensive playmakers. Reid and his staff have done an outstanding job getting the most out of an underwhelming roster this season and he should be in the coach of the year discussion if this keeps up.
What does Marc Trestman do now? The Chicago Bears are a beaten group. They have been embarrassed in two straight games (allowing a total of 106 points) and looked pitiful in front of a national audience in a 55-14 loss to Green Bay Sunday night. The easy move would have been to fire defensive co-ordinator Mel Tucker, who’s group looked unprepared and uninspired against the Packers. Trestman said that’s not going to happen, so will the former Alouettes coach considering sitting his quarterback? He called him out publicly and said he needs to play better. Sitting Cutler would be a drastic move–considering Jimmy Clausen is the primary backup and how poorly the defence has played–but it may be a last ditch effort. Not much is going right for Chicago right now. The Bears have yet to win at Solider Field and Cutler has greatly regressed in a year when many expected a breakout. If Trestman doesn’t show obvious progress in the team’s final seven games, he could find himself out of a job by the time the season ends. A lot of people could lose their jobs in this debacle.
Good weekend for Bears alumni: It wasn’t a bad weekend for all Bears. In fact, it was a banner weekend for alumni of the California Golden Bears. Aaron Rodgers matched an NFL record with six passing touchdowns in a half, Lynch ran for a season-high 140 yards and four touchdowns, while Lynch’s college teammate and former backup in Seattle (Justin Forsett) continued his breakout season with 2-0 carries for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Even seldom-used Denver Broncos back C.J. Anderson joined the party with 90 rushing yards and a 51-yard receiving touchdown against Oakland. It was a strange coincidence, but these ex-Bears had a heck of a performance on Sunday.