Week 2 NFL: Bills Go for State Championship of either New York or New Jersey

There are significant limits to Kraft's morality, at least since his wife's death. Remember when he promised to abide by whatever punishment the NFL chose to impose on the team during Deflategate? Remember how fast his word went out the window when Brady was suspended?

 

It's almost like the management of all football teams is populated by kind of shitty human beings that care more about the team's success than, say, legalities.

 

Kraft presides over a public trust, even before his once-crappy team became a legacy franchise.
I am not around my books but I believe these were the very words he used, public trust.
The Peter episode is part of the Jeff Benedict book Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL, if anyone has it.

 

That’s why they let him keep all that money.

 

I'm amazed Kraft was never admonished by the league. Does he still go to games? Has he addressed it at all since camp opened? Or is this thing dependant on the tape droping.

 

It's all the above. Too many hits in and out of the pocket. We know he's playing hurt. The real question is is Newton playing injured?

Is the mid-foot sprain still bothering him? Is his shoulder fully recovered? Is it a combination of the two? None of which are his fault.

What he can help, but never has since he got to Charlotte and it's not helping: Lousy footwork and mechanics. The arm strength and athleticism has far outdistanced these issues. It's difficult to separate the issues now and pinpoint what has gone wrong and how to fix it. Or if sitting him until he gets healthy.

Then again, did you see the backups? Bad and worse. I'm waiting for someone to take the Panthers to task to consider bringing in Colin Kaepernick (liberal owner who won't think twice about upsetting his uptight, conservative peers, was willing to sign Eric Reid, etc. ... ). If nothing else, Norv Turner wouldn't have to design an entirely different offensive scheme.

The offensive line is awful. Matt Paradis is not an upgrade over Ryan Kalil. Neither of the tackles are very good, and Daryl Williams was a bigger swinging gate against Tampa Bay than Mike Remmers was when Von Miller abused him during Super Bowl 50.

What we can pinpoint: The Carolina Panthers' offense is a mess. Four field goals against Tampa's defense? Ugh ...

 

Cam couldn't sneak that hard and a half at the end of the game?
At this point, he isn't Superman, or even Clark Kent. May not be Jimmy Olson.

 

Russell Wilson does not agree.

 

Sam Mills-
Newton needs to play football and forget about all the other garbage.
He's 30 years old - time to decide whether to be a player or be a clown.
Another reason I can't stand watching this anymore - why can't so many of these dudes act like men?

 

Wilson's a great scrambler, maybe the best of this generation of QBs. But he's not a runner like Newton, RGIII and Kaepernick are/were. There's a big difference. Wilson excels at evading pressure and keeping a play alive, but rarely looks to run as a first option and the Seahawks don't expose him to designed runs very often. In fact, a lot of Wilson's success finding big plays the passing game comes from his ability to scramble until the coverage breaks down.
Newton has 934 rushing attempts in his career, and has had more than 100 in seven of his eight full seasons. The other year (2016) he finished with 90 in 14 1/2 games (he got a concussion against Atlanta, left that game and missed the next one) so he might have had over 100 that year as well if he was healthy.
Wilson has only had 100+ attempts twice, and not since 2015. He hasn't had a rushing touchdown in 22 games, since about halfway through the 2017 season.

 

Geez man - I'm not sure if another QB has taken more hits than Newton. Seems plenty manly to play hurt, which he clearly seems to be doing. You think the problem is that he's wearing some weird shit at press conferences, vs. the fact that he's taken hits like a running back for almost a decade now, between college and the NFL? The guy made a Super Bowl, and it was mostly via his arm and his legs, as opposed to riding a defense in, a la Kerry Collins or Trent Dilfer. Critiques like this always feel like thinly veiled racism to me, whereas if you said something like, "He's been hit so many god damn times, I think his skills are permanently degraded and the Panthers need to move on," that's something you can argue to me.