Carolina Panthers: Newton Adjusting to the Blitz?
The Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton became on the better quarterbacks in the league against the blitz last season.
The Carolina Panthers saw some important improvement to Cam Newton’s efficiency last season. It was not just that the passing touchdowns jumped to thirty-five from where they had been in the twenties. It had to do with Newton making better decisions. One of those important places that Newton got better last season was against the blitz, according to reports from Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com.
It may be funny to think of Newton doing better against the blitz since the last game he played had a lot of it and he clearly was affected by it. Let’s take the Broncos as an anomaly and look a little deeper.
Teams blitz Newton for a couple of reasons. There was a perception in the League that Newton was a not true pocket quarterback, and therefore the blitz would unhinge him easier than some others. Teams also blitzed Newton early in his career because he was young and green.
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Finally teams blitzed Newton as the read option run attack became part of the Panthers offense. Additional defenders in the backfield could lead to more tacklers available if they fell for a fake. It was also essentially run blitzing.
Newton threw about twice as many touchdowns as interceptions when facing the blitz in his first four years, again coming from Kapadia. Until last year that would have been a better ratio than Newton’s touchdown versus interception numbers overall.
Last year though, Newton beat the blitz for six times as many touchdowns as interceptions. Note that this stat does not take into account his ability to scramble either. Teams still blitz Newton as the Broncos did and at a rate of 40%. You can’t really blame defensive coordinators for this. The pass rush is the one way to suppress mistakes elsewhere in the defense.
It will be interesting to see if Newton can keep up this rate. One of the reasons that teams would blitz is because they generally did not fear the Panthers receiving corps. Throw in Kelvin Benjamin and perhaps teams play safer because they can be gashed in the secondary.