Earlier this week, Bill Voth wrote a piece stating the Panthers need to decide which kind of quarterback they want Cam Newton to be. Bill argued Newton’s success early this season, before he was ‘unleashed,’ showed he can be a better quarterback when he focuses first on passing.

Newton’s ability to run does make him unique, but there seems to be a correlation between his increased involvement in the ground game and his drop-off as a passer. Of course, that’s not the only factor at play — Newton’s offensive line and ‘weapons’ have not been of much help this year — but using him as a rusher is shortsighted and effects the quarterback’s rhythm.

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Read-option plays and designed runs were fine ways to acclimate Newton to life in the NFL, but at this point in his career, they may be detriments.

To see how Newton’s rhythm can get thrown off, let’s look at an example from last week’s game in Minnesota.

This play below is in the middle of a Panthers’ drive. After he gets the snap in the shotgun, Newton scans the field. He looks to his left, but nothing’s open. He then senses pressure coming from his backside, where tackle Byron Bell has been over-powered. Newton is used to this kind of pressure by now, and he reacts well on this play. He locates Kelvin Benjamin to his right and drills the pass with perfect accuracy to a spot where only his big receiver can catch it. The gain of 16 yards keeps the chains moving.

Scan the field, sense pressure, deliver an accurate throw — that was a textbook quarterback play.

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Passes like the one above can indicate your quarterback is heating up. It would seem wise to allow him to keep throwing. Instead, the Panthers call a read-option a few plays later. When Newton keeps the ball, he picks up 10 yards. But we want to look beyond the box score.

You can see how little Newton wants to do with any of the defenders in the open field. He does not attack the first defender and goes laterally toward the sidelines:

After this run, passivity permeates through the offense, and Newton’s play takes a dip.

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On this play, Newton boots out to the right, looking to throw downfield. None of his receivers come open, so he should throw the ball away. But when a few defenders begin to cloud his field of vision, Newton nearly makes a killer mistake. He throws the ball to the one place it cannot go, putting the pass right in front of the cornerback in the flat. The Vikings’ defender almost jumps the route and, if he had caught the ball, could have taken it back for six points:

Newton remains out of rhythm on this play. He’s looking to take a shot down the field on 3rd-and-five, but in the left frame, you can see his feet are an issue. He’s off balance after he didn’t drop back in a tight drop. Poor mechanics typically show up when Newton’s been knocked out of rhythm. The right frame shows him falling away from the throw as he uncorks a deep ball headed down the left sideline:

Receiver

Philly Brown created some decent separation here. The ball should come in right over Brown’s outside shoulder. Instead, the pass floats, Brown slows up to track it, and the ball sails out of bounds:

Had Newton thrown an accurate pass, this may have been a play that energized the offense. So you have to wonder if the read-option called earlier in the drive had an effect on the quarterback’s rhythm. Especially since the same sequence repeated itself on a later drive.

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When he’s in the pocket calm on this play, Newton steps up when he feels pressure. Once again, he delivers a perfect pass to Benjamin. It’s a similar pass to the completion highlighted above. The difference is Benjamin is a bit deeper and earns a good chunk of yards after the catch.

Newton could perhaps get into a rhythm, but the Panthers dial up another run play for him:

Why risk the health of your franchise quarterback for a low-reward quarterback draw? Running back Jonathan Stewart averaged 7.1 yards per carry in this game. If the Panthers needed a simple run play, they could have just handed off to Stewart. But this drive goes in the tank after a designed quarterback run, just as the other did. Of the five remaining plays in the drive, three are incomplete passes.

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The designed quarterback runs and read-option looks are not helping the Panthers’ offense. This isn’t a cherry-picking exercise based off a few games, this is a trend that began last season.

In the playoff loss to the 49ers, the Panthers called a handful of designed quarterback runs in the red zone. They were predictable and ultimately stopped with ease. Again, why expose your quarterback to hits when you have several other options, including fullback Mike Tolbert on this play:

It’s no secret the Panthers have not assembled a sufficient supporting cast for Newton. Oftentimes, it feels like offensive coordinator Mike Shula calls designed quarterback runs just to churn out a few yards. They are random, and usually ill-timed. Newton could get a few yards when his teammates may not, but continuing to use him like that is just a quick fix. One play may net some yards, but it throws off Newton’s rhythm and jeopardizes his long-term health.

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Newton should run, but it should be on an improvisational basis. As Bill mentioned in his post, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers do this, and it works well for them. As a scrambler, Newton is capable of making even more spectacular plays than those two.

When Newton spins out of pressure, he can be lethal, like on this touchdown run in Week 9 against the Saints:

A scramble like this — and not a designed run — is when Newton can look like Superman:

When Newton creates as a scrambler, he is special. No one should take that ability away from him. But the designed runs the Panthers use in an attempt to pump a few yards into their stagnant offense negatively affect their quarterback.

Newton proved early this season that he could excel as a pocket passer without the use of designed runs. Those plays have run their course in Carolina.

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