Cam knew exactly where he was going with the ball prior to the play starting at Auburn. The playcalling was extremely orchestrated and precise. He did not have to make any reads at all. Go back and watch when he throws the ball. It's usually off a fake end-around, pump fake here, throw here. Fake hand off, throw here.
He was never required to read a defense.
Both he and Vince were in about as far as you can get from a pro-style offense.
Vince was a much better runner than Cam.
Cam has a better throwing motion, more zip on his passes.
Vince dominated the MNC game.
Cam folded for the most part and let a true freshman lead the way.
That is the main difference. NFL GM's drooled over Vince's ability to lift his play, and the play of his teammates in pressure situations.
Cam fell apart when he was put up against the other top team in the nation, and he looked no where near as dominant.
Th difference between the two starts there.
Also, I always think back to the Run n Shoot days with the Houston Cougars. Fool me once with Andre Ware, fool me again with Klingler....but then the GM's were not going to be fooled again.
They may have been fooled in their eyes into thinking Vince would be a great NFL qb. They see Cam as being Vince part two, so they already know now what that type of guy can or cannot do in the NFL.
First of all, there's the pre-snap read.
Certainly, there are plays in any offense that allows the QB to go with a pass if he sees certain defense and check into a run when he sees certain defense.
Go back and look for example, on a receiver screen.
When there are 3 receivers on one side and the DB plays off one of them.
You see Newton went directly to his target because he knew his target would have the blockings to spring the play (most of the time).
And that's supposed to be what it is even in a WCO like the Texans' with Schaub and AJ, for example.
On the other hand, there are plays with 2 receivers on one side.
The X receiver could run some sort of a post or inside route to take away the safety.
The slot receiver could run a wheel route to the outside.
When Newton sees the safety coming down to take away the X receiver, he would go to the slot man.
That's two reads, not one. (And I've seen this in at least 2 games I watched so far).
Go back and watch all of his games, you will see that he can make more than one read as well as any of the top QBs in this draft class.
Go back and watch the title game carefully.
You will see that with better receivers (a dropped pass here and there), the game could have been a blow-out for the Tigers.
And that was with the Ducks defense playing extremely well.
Malzhan's game is anything but the run and shoot.
He employs a FB or HB in some plays, even when the QB is in the shotgun.
Once in a while, they even have 3 backs (not counting Newton) in a modified flexbone.
Heck, I even saw Newton line up as the wide-out in the wildcat formation and caught a TD pass on a go route.
I've seen him roll out one way, looking at two receivers who were both well covered. He turned to the inside and fired a nice pass to the receiver that ran a slant route from the other side.
That's 3 reads right there (with the TE and RB staying back to block).
- I just finish watching this play and the wildcat TD reception in the Ole Miss game as I type this.
