On the biggest stage, the biggest personalities stand out. Cam Newton, the NFL’s reigning MVP, was certainly one of the personalities the world was focusing on as it watched Super Bowl 50. In the game, the Carolina Panthers’ offense looked inept, and they were only able to put up 10 points against the excellent Denver Broncos defense. Cam’s response to losing the big game has come under heavy criticism in the week since the Super Bowl, and his play in the game itself has as well. There is a sentiment that Cam choked on the biggest stage, and was unable to pull through on the biggest stage.
Now, QBs are often given way too much credit for their team’s successes and failures, so it’s no surprise that Cam is being assigned a lot of the blame. However, the Panthers’ lack of success has very little to do with Cam Newton’s play in Super Bowl 50. After reviewing the tape, Cam shines as clearly the best player on the Panthers’ offense. In fact, seeing as the Broncos’ offense was even less effective than the Panthers’, it feels fair to say that Cam was the best offensive player in the Super Bowl.
From looking at the stats, that may seem like a strange conclusion. Newton went 18/41 for 265 yards and an interception. He was sacked 6 times, and lost two fumbles. On face, that’s bad. However, the reason Cam was the best offensive player is twofold: first, no one else (even CJ Anderson) was particularly good either and, second, when Cam had a negative play it generally wasn’t his fault. Cam was the Panthers’ most effective rusher, leading the team with 45 yards rushing on 6 carries. As a passer, he dealt with pressure in his face all day due to horrific offensive line play, and while he often put his receivers in position to win the ball and make a reception, they repeatedly failed to do so.
If you want to see Cam’s success in the designed run game, look here. By my count, Cam dropped back intending to pass 48 times in the Super Bowl. I’ve divided the play into different sections below based on the result of the play. The sections are: “Sacks,” where the fault was generally on the offensive line; “Cam avoiding sacks,” where Newton did a very good job to salvage an incompletion out of a broken play; “Contested Catches,” which were plays where the receiver had the chance to catch the ball in tight coverage; “Good plays,” where the Panthers were successful and Cam, the receiver, or both did well, “Plays that were Cam’s fault,” where Newton made a mistake that altered the result of the play, and “Inconsequential Plays” that were generally routine plays that picked up a few yards but didn’t reveal much about Cam’s performance. What follows is every pass play the Panthers ran:
Sacks
Generally, when Cam was sacked in this game it was not his fault. The Panthers’ OL was horrendous in pass protection, and on almost all of the plays that follow in this section Cam was forced to react to pressure right after he hit the top of his drop. Mike Remmers and Michael Oher were beaten badly and often by speed rushes from Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware. The interior of the line (or other players kept in to protect) didn’t fair much better. Take a look:
3-10-CAR 15 (Q1, 6:34) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton sacked at CAR 4 for -11 yards (58-V.Miller). FUMBLES (58-V.Miller) [58-V.Miller], RECOVERED by DEN-97-M.Jackson at CAR -1. TOUCHDOWN. V.Miller credited with 15-yd sack.
As this play was a fumble recovered for a TD by the Broncos, it would be easy to blame Cam for lack of ball security here. However, that’s not a fair assessment. The Panthers have a set of long developing deep routes that Cam needs to give time. He does hitch twice, but when he is hit by Miller he is beginning his windup with the intent of throwing a checkdown to Tolbert over the middle. That’s a pretty quick (and good decision to make the checkdown). However, RT Mike Remmers gets beaten badly by Miller, and because Cam is about to pull the ball back, Miller hits it head on and knocks it loose. He clearly blindsided Cam, and this is not the QB’s fault. Defenders should not be able to hit the QB that quickly.
3-8-CAR 38 (Q1, 5:10) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton sacked at CAR 30 for -8 yards (26-D.Stewart). PENALTY on DEN-21-A.Talib, Taunting, 15 yards, enforced at CAR 30.
On this play, Cam is able to make the first defender miss, but still ends up getting sacked because multiple defenders were in position to make the tackle. This was another big theme for the Broncos’ defense, and it happened on three of the sacks Cam took.
2-10-DEN 45 (Q2, :11) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton sacked at CAR 45 for -10 yards (94-D.Ware).
3-8-CAR 32 (Q3, 1:03) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton sacked at CAR 22 for -10 yards (sack split by 95-D.Wolfe and 58-V.Miller).
3-9-CAR 25 (Q4, 4:16) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton sacked at CAR 16 for -9 yards (58-V.Miller). FUMBLES (58-V.Miller), touched at CAR 18, RECOVERED by DEN-43-T.Ward at CAR 9. 43-T.Ward to CAR 4 for 5 yards (74-M.Remmers). V.Miller credited with 7-yd sack.
This is an even bigger example than the first fumble of a fumble that is not the QB’s fault. This is the play that essentially sealed the win for the Broncos, and it’s on a third and 9. Mike Remmers needs to give Cam more time to throw the ball, but he couldn’t here because Von Miller is too good for him. Obviously there’s a lot of talk about Cam’s decision to not jump on the pile, but I really don’t believe that would have changed the end result of the play. The focus on that decision is driven by the narrative on Cam playing poorly in this game, which isn’t really true.
2-10-CAR 20 (Q4, 3:02) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton sacked at CAR 6 for -14 yards (94-D.Ware).
Cam avoiding sacks
The previous section showed all of the plays where Cam got sacked, and pressure got to him quickly every time. If Cam had gone down every time he got instant pressure in his face, it might be fair to criticize him for that, much like it can be fair to criticize an RB for failing to make the first man miss. The problem with that is that for every time Cam succumbed to the pressure and went down, there was another time where he escaped the sack and was able to throw the ball away and live to fight another down. He was sacked six times, but he also had six throwaways that lesser QBs might have been sacked on. While negative plays on the stat sheet, the plays below are actually good plays from Cam because he was able to escape an even bigger negative:
1-10-CAR 39 (Q2, 4:23) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton pass incomplete short right to 88-G.Olsen [97-M.Jackson].
1-10-DEN 45 (Q2, :18) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton pass incomplete deep right to 88-G.Olsen.
1-10-DEN 35 (Q3, 13:41) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton pass incomplete short right [94-D.Ware].
1-10-DEN 28 (Q3, 6:02) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton pass incomplete short right to 35-M.Tolbert [94-D.Ware].
Cam didn’t quite get instant pressure in his face on this play, but no one ended up getting open downfield. The pressure forced a hurried throw, which ended up as a throwaway.
1-10-CAR 30 (Q3, 1:52) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 1-C.Newton pass incomplete short left to 19-T.Ginn.
3-24-CAR 6 (Q4, 2:16) (Shotgun) 1-C.Newton pass incomplete short right to 17-D.Funchess [95-D.Wolfe].
All of the other plays were on first down and 10, where the Panthers could afford to live another down with an incompletion. This play was on third down, and it was the Panthers’ last gasp, but Cam should not be faulted for throwing the ball away. He’s clearly giving effort, he just has nowhere to go with the ball. This was well defended by the Broncos. Cam should be commended for keeping the play alive as long as he did.
