Cam Newton has still had (statistically) a phenomenal year

[Amare's Right Hook]

...for a tight end

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

Did you watch the games early in the year? He had multiple chances to win games and either missed passes or made mistakes.

 

[PTBG]

Cam Newton The Best First Two Seasons Ever?
Advanced NFL Stats: Cam Newton: The Best First Two Seasons Ever

This Sunday, Cam Newton will finish his second NFL season. As the final whistle blows in the Panthers' final 2012 contest against New Orleans, Newton will have finished the greatest first two seasons we've ever seen out of an NFL quarterback. And at least in the realm of the regular season, it isn't particularly close.

Newton enters Sunday with the following career statistics: 574-for-969 passing (59.2 percent), 7,672 yards, 40 touchdowns, 28 interceptions; 246 rushes for 1413 yards (5.7 per carry) and 22 more touchdowns. Newton's 8,584 net yards -- including 70 sacks taken for 501 lost yards -- the Panthers star has an exactly 800 yard lead on Peyton Manning's old 7,784 net yardage mark, the previous best for any quarterback in his first two seasons. Newton still has one game left.

Newton's 7.9 yards per attempt ranks fourth (Ben Roethlisberger, Dan Marino, Mark Rypien). His 62 total touchdowns ranks second (Marino). Newton's only major category away from the top: a 2.8 percent intereception rate, still 16th of the 78 quarterbacks since 1933 to start at least 20 games in their first two seasons. Only Andy Dalton attempted more passes than Newton of those above him on the list.

Looking deeper, Newton has compiled 244.2 EPA and 5.04 WPA. In the Advanced NFL Stats era -- dating back to 2000 -- only Aaron Rodgers has more EPA in his first two years as a full-time starter (at least 10 games started). Given the poor quality of the Saints defense this season, chances are Newton will pass Rodgers by Sunday's finish -- Rodgers mustered 246.2 EPA in 2008 and 2009, meaning a +2.0 EPA performance from Newton gets it done. He's hit that mark 11 of 15 times this season.

Newton's 5.04 WPA ranks fifth, behind Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Tony Romo and Daunte Culpepper. A plus-0.61 WPA or better performance Sunday would pass Ryan and leave Newton in second; a plus-0.19 WPA or better performance would pass Romo and leave Newton in third. Although he's managed over 0.61 WPA just once this season, he's hit at least 0.19 nine times.

There are the facts. Newton's statistical accomplishments through the first two seasons of his career will be the most prolific of anything we've seen in the NFL, ever. He compares favorably to Aaron Rodgers -- Newton has arguably been better -- despite Rodgers getting three years to marinate behind Brett Favre.

And yet, we still have writers like NFL.com's Adam Schein calling Newton one of the NFL's "biggest scrooges," declaring he has to be saved and calling his 2012 season a "public regression" and a "black eye." Can this be anything but pandering to the fans who wish to believe the worst of Newton?

This group and the writers bending their words to please them should stop and take a look at what's happening on the field. Newton has performed to a level nobody could possibly expect out of a quarterback at his age and development point in his career. To see what Cam Newton has done in his first two seasons and call it anything other than fantastic is lunacy, or worse.

Nobody can be sure if Newton will ever win a championship -- likely the only thing he can do to truly silence his critics. Dan Marino, despite his apparent talent and incredible performance, fell short. But of one thing we should be sure: Cam Newton has already accomplished amazing things, and to expect anything less out of the rest of his career is simply wrong.

 

[AlbertPullhoez]

Cam had a good second season, he's gonna be an elite NFL QB soon. They get a better coaching staff, start properly using those RB's and fix that shytty defense Cam and the Panthers will be fine.

Cam took way too much flak this year, anybody that watched a Panthers game this year could easily see Cam Newton was NOT one of the many problems the Panthers had.

 

[MMS]

Cam is already an elite QB

he just needs an average defense and a reliable run game

Deangelo Williams AND J Stewart are overrated as an outside fan looking in

i dont know if it has to do with the Line or with their own ability, but they have never impressed me foreal

 

[Marvel]

Cam is already an elite QB

he just needs an average defense and a reliable run game

Deangelo Williams AND J Stewart are overrated as an outside fan looking in

i dont know if it has to do with the Line or with their own ability, but they have never impressed me foreal

Yeah, Cam has been beasting. The work he put on the Falcons was

The Panthers defense has made it hard for Cam. They gave up a lot points early and blew leads as well. If Chip Kelly goes there the offense will be fine. The defense has HUGE wholes though. Not good when you play in a division with offenses like ATL and NO got.

 

[MMS]

its an old defense too they cant stay healthy either

its gonna take 1-2 good draft classes imo before they are really competing at the level they should be(9-11 wins a year)

i dont know nothing about they money but if they could now would be primetime to get gamechanging FA on D

 

[FaTaL]

Nah, he dug his team into too big of a whole earlier in the season...


Playing with a bad record and no expectations/pressure isn't that impressive to me

thats a bad team man, running game is wack and defense isnt much better


i dont think rivera is the answer

 

[Killah Ray]

thats a bad team man, running game is wack and defense isnt much better


i dont think rivera is the answer

He's not, if he wanted to take a demotion to d-coordinator I'd be

But as a head coach he's one of the most conservative muhfukkas I've ever seen....especially given the type of QB you have....

 

[Mr swag]

Cam has been killing it the 2nd half of the year. No one noticed cuz they knocked Themselves out of the playoffs in the first half

 

[Tuc2DaBoot]

How can folks give props to Cam for beasting in a wasted season when Luck AND RG3 took teams with bad defenses (minus Colts D-Line) to the playoffs? Both the Colts and Redskins finished with worse records AND arguably had the harder schedule (especially the Colts with the NFC North AND the Redskins with the AFC North). Hell, the Colts were missing their head coach for over half the season...

What did Cam do this season as a QB that he didn't do last season?

 

[mastermind]

Both the Colts and Redskins finished with worse records AND arguably had the harder schedule

the Colts actually had one of the easiest SOS in the NFL.

the Panthers had one of the hardest SOS in the NFL this year

http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/type/playoffs

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

3600 passing yards, 19 TD 11 INT on 58.4% completion is statistically phenomenal?

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

the Colts actually had the easiest SOS in the NFL.

the Panthers had one of the hardest SOS in the NFL this year

2012 NFL Playoff Standings - National Football League - ESPN

That link clearly shows that the Colts did not in fact have the easiest SOS in the NFL.

 

[mastermind]

That link clearly shows that the Colts did not in fact have the easiest SOS in the NFL.

I meant for playoff teams, but the Colts did have one of the easiest schedules while the Panthers had one of the hardest.