Jeff Schultz

[up state jacket]

"Cam Newton did not have a good game." Now I know why he gets paid the big bucks.

 

[BuzzStone]

I don't think Cam played bad. He could have played better but he had no time for anything. He was the best offensive player on the field by far.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I don't think Cam played bad. He could have played better but he had no time for anything. He was the best offensive player on the field by far.

I confess I was doing other things while watching the game so maybe I missed something about Cam. Whenever I looked up it seemed like he was off target on several passes, even missing a few guys who were wide open. He also seemed to have little pocket awareness, allowing him to get stripped of the ball more than once. Lastly, why did he not dive on the fumble toward the end of the game? That still baffles me. That fumble was the whole ball game for Carolina yet he backed away from the scrum when he was the closest player to the ball.

Maybe my expectations prior to the game were too high for Cam but I thought Peyton played much better. Both quarterbacks played against really tough defenses but Peyton was the one who did not lose control of his game.

 

[kg01]

I lean more to @Northeast Stinger line of thinking. Newton looked off all game although his receivers and line certainly didn't help him much. The pressure clearly got to him and it erupted late once it appeared the game was out of reach.

The non-dive on the fumble appeared to be a total brain-lock. Did he think it would be ruled an incomplete pass? If so, why did he start toward recovering it then retreat? He was just so 'in his own head' the whole game. Him falling out on the sideline after the touchdown and throwing the tantrum in the endzone after the non-roughing call on their last drive were pretty shameful.

It's too bad that folks will probably kill him for it and forget the high level at which he played all season up until this game. It's also a shame the OL won't take the brunt of the criticism. Them dudes got killt from minute one to minute none.

 

[Techster]

Cam made some spectacular runs and throws, quite a few of his passes were dropped, and on the interception, it went right through his WR's hands into the safety's. He also played erratically at times, which was direct result of Denver's smothering defense (BTW, that's why they say defense wins championships...one of the best defensive performances I've seen in a while). Wasn't his best game, but the numbers don't tell the whole story.

Also, could have handled the post game presser, but I don't blame him for sulking. I would too if I got beat up all game and the press kept asking the same questions over and over and over...

 

[collegeballfan]

Inexperience in a big game coupled to pre-game expectations for the whole Carolina team, especially Newton.

The QB's had to play a mental game due to the stifling defenses and Manning's experience showed, "Been here before".

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Funny.

I wondered at the time if he was worried about injury and his future career but it seems to me that if he had been aggressive in that situation, diving and curling up around the ball, the chances of a career ending injury were negligible. Any other injury that might have resulted would have had the entire off season available for healing. Anyway, sometimes you only get one shot to go to the Super Bowl. Made little sense to throw the game away at that point and hope for another day.

 

[Nook Su Kow]

Von Miller is a straight beast. I'm not a sports columnist, but I think that's a fair assessment.

 

[CuseJacket]