R, 26.04.2024
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LIS, WHIT & THE NFL ⟩ Üheteistkümnes nädal. Panthersite quarterback Cam on tagasi ehk Cam Newton appreciation post

Ekraanipauk mängust Foto: FOX NFL
Lisette Kampus
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“WHY DID YOU THROW A PRETZEL AT A NINER FAN?!” kirjutas üks Los Angeles Ramsi poolehoidja QB Matthew Staffordi abikaasa sotsiaalmeedialehel. Kelly Stafford vabandas: “Girl I knowwwww I’m an idiot,” ja seletas, kuidas saiarünnakule eelnes küll hunnik rõvedusi, mida San Francisco fänn Kelly mehe suunas kuuldavale tõi, aga sellegipoolest “sorry you had to witness me in my weak moment”. Kaunis, kas pole? Poliitikutele õppimiseks.

Arctic Cats kaotas ja on nüüd 4-6, Team Tallinn seevastu 5-5, võit! Ainult, et väga hästi see ei maitse, nimelt ei võtnud mu vastane asja tõsiselt. Keegi Marc, kes hoiab oma näkases fantasy lineupis terve hunniku väga häid mängijaid, on ilmselgelt ära surnud või ma ei tea, mis tal viga on, igatahes oli tal algrivistuses kolm nulli-venda. Kaks vigastustega injured reserve nimekirjas ja kolmandal bye week. Tore. Aitäh, Marc. Mis sul viga on? Kohutavalt ajab närvi, mida sa paned ennast kirja kui mängida ei kavatse. Fuck, raisk. Aga jah, ma võitsin, ja sugugi mitte ülekaalukalt, vaid kõigest 26 punktiga, mis oli Marci pingil muidugi ka mitmekordselt olemas. Nii et hea, et ta ei mänginud. Oeh, loodan, et ta saab ikka terveks.

Ent täna mitte sellest. Siit tuleb Cam Newton appreciation post with a touch of Robby Anderson.

Lisette mentioned in our very first post that the topic of Cam Newton was very sensitive for me. The Patriots had cut him in favor of the ankle-twisting, smug prick that is Mac Jones - who to this day still hasn’t made an apology to Brian Burns - and I was just so sad that now, a FINALLY healthy Cam Newton was not getting the chance he deserved. But I see this was all part of the universe's plan to bring him back to us, us being the Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers released Cam in 2019, after drafting him #1 overall in 2011. Cam is one of the first "hybrid" quarterbacks, meaning he can just as well run with the ball as throw it. At 1.96m and 111 kg, he’s the same size if not bigger than most defensive linemen, a true freak of nature in the best way possible - this human tank could move with the precision of a sports car in his prime. Newton played successfully for years behind a consistently below average offensive line, leading the Panthers to three division titles and four playoff appearances. His efforts culminated in 2015 when he won league MVP and catapulted Carolina to a 15-1 record and appearance in Super Bowl 50. The Super Bowl game itself - which was just ugly and awkward, and which we lost - was totally anticlimactic and not at all on par energy-wise compared to the season. Cam was a beast that year. My man single handedly took control of game after game and willed his team to win. It was beautiful. He was unstoppable. He was literally SuperCam.

Then came the injuries. Cam took so many hits, way more than your typical pocket-passer quarterback. Season after season he was a leading rusher on the team, leaving his body exposed to the same brutal hits that running backs absorb (quarterbacks lose their protective measures once they leave the pocket – he always left the pocket). He didn’t play most of 2019 due to a foot injury, and the Panthers cut him soon after the season ended. Most Panthers fans, myself leading the way, knew this was a terrible, unjust decision. How could we not afford our franchise quarterback the opportunity to get healthy and show he still had plenty of good game left in him. But there was an entirely new coaching staff and with it a new vision, and the vision didn’t include Cam.

March of 2020 was brutal – covid insanities were already plaguing the world over, and then one morning I woke up, and the first thing Lisette said was “We cut Cam”. First of all, she knows not to tell me important things when I wake up. It takes my emotional IQ at least an hour to reach “adult” and anything too real or negative or jarring turns me into a puddle. So yes, I wept first when she told me we cut Cam, some more after I asked how she could tell me that right when I woke up. And I have been mourning him ever since.

Turns out Head Coach Matt Rhule’s sick, twisted vision included giving a three-year contract worth 63 million USD to washed up Teddy Bridgewater, a corpse in a football uniform. And when that genius plan fell flat on its face, the vision was signing statistically-worst-QB-in-the-league, Sam Darnold, and even picking up his fifth year option which guarantees him over 18 million. We saw how that went. All this time, all this suffering, I thought “if only Cam had this team, these players, this talent.” But did I ever think that a professional sports team, on this level, would come full circle, back to the very player they banished to free agency without as much as a “thanks for all you did for the organization”? Mitte kunagi.

It is so nice when people surprise you, because just like that - or in this case, some epic pride-swallowing by the coaching staff and front office - the Carolina Panthers reached out to Cam last week and he said yes because he knows more than anyone that this is his team, and he has unfinished business. CAM ON TAGASI!!

The first two times Cam Newton touched the ball on Sunday, he scored touchdowns. His first two touches, people. Cam hasn't played in an NFL game since August, and even then, it was just preseason. His first two touches in three months - two touchdowns - against an Arizona Cardinals team that boasted the best record in the NFL going into the game at 8-1. Please be advised, Cam Newton is the only QB in the last three decades to run for a TD on their first rush attempt and throw a TD on their first pass attempt of the season.

I was so impressed to hear that after Cam's first practice back with the team, he and wide receiver Robby Anderson went out to dinner to connect. Cam knew it was crucial to get trust and chemistry going with the struggling receiver, who was having an all-around shit season. In an interview after the game, Anderson said the second touchdown, a pass he caught, was what he and Cam had specifically worked on at practice. Seriously, that gave me goosebumps. Robby needed this. The frustration from our offensive players was exploding at the seams these last few weeks (we only scored one TD in the last three games before Cam showed up) and some, like Robby, didn't feel the need to hide his disgust with Sam Darnold and his confused, junior varsity performances. This was him exchanging pleasantries with Darnold in the last game the now injured QB played in against New England. Sam had just thrown his third interception.

The point is this --- Cam elevates players around him. He brings an energy to the locker room and sideline that his teammates feed on. You could feel it and see it on Sunday: this excitement in the air that shit was about to go down. And I can't emphasize this enough --- he had two practices with limited snaps before Sunday's game. Cam signed with the Panthers on Thursday, attended first practice on Friday, flew to Phoenix on Saturday, and scored two touchdowns on Sunday. One week prior, the man had been sitting on his couch eating cereal. One USA Today sportswriter put it best: “In a matter of a single afternoon the Panthers went from a boring, dead-in-the-water organization that inspires no excitement, to a team that not only dominated the best of the NFC, but one that felt like it had something special brewing as a result. That is the Cam Newton effect.”

Hey, the world might be falling apart, but my quarterback is home.

Lis, Whit & The NFL on iganädalane artiklisari Ameerika jalgpallist, muuhulgas tuleb juttu fantasy football liigast, tutvustame NFLi meeskondi ja mängijaid ning teeme panuseid tulemustele - often stupid, sometimes lucky.

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