Panthers legend Steve Smith offers accurate critique of Cam Newton

Smith was not afraid to offer his thoughts on the play of Cam Newton.

Carolina Panthers legend Steve Smith has been very vocal about the current state of the team. For starters, let me just say that I like that a lot. He is not afraid to speak his mind and is usually accurate in his opinions. This time, he critiqued the play of quarterback Cam Newton.

In particular, he noted on the Garcia and Bailey Show Monday that Newton’s footwork has been sloppy as of late. Of course, his injured shoulder certainly is not helping things, but if a quarterback has sloppy footwork, that spells a recipe for disaster. For the record, I agree with his assessment here. Several times, I have noticed that Newton has had inaccurate timing with his throws. That messes up things for the receivers of course and from there, the play gets blown up.

"“Everybody wants to say ‘His shoulder’s the reason why he overthrew a six-foot-five wide receiver’. No: His footwork was the reason he overthrew a six-foot-five wide receiver,” said Smith. “His footwork was the reason that (he missed Jarius Wright, who was open in the endzone. Or the back-shoulder throw that he threw a million miles per hour to Curtis Samuel. Footwork.”“It has nothing to do with soreness. Is (his shoulder) sore? Absolutely. … But just watching the game, an overthrown ball is just like a dropped pass. There are some things that you can correct, and then there’s some opponent things (that) happen that causes you (to make a mistake).”"

Smith’s comments are very interesting here. For one, Newton is making mistakes that can be corrected. He can do so by watching film and working on his technique more and practice. I get that it’s easier said than done. Sometimes players do things while in the middle of a play, and they don’t even realize they’re doing them. Maybe Cam Newton does realize he is doing them and just does not feel comfortable in the pocket at the moment. If that’s the case, that is something the Panthers need to address immediately.

Whatever the case may be, the offense looked slow and sluggish on Sunday. There were too many missed reads and too many mental mistakes. They need to clean that up if they want to have any shot at dwindling playoff hopes. Against the Saints on Monday, the Panthers need to be perfect. This is a team that you cannot make mistakes against. If you do, you could be in for a long day. Carolina needs to be able to go toe-to-toe with them offensively. So far over the past couple of games, they have struggled. Newton has been one of the bright spots of the offense, but there is no denying that they have some issues on that side of the football.

We will see what  Cam Newton and company are made of Monday. This is a must-win game not only to save their season, but to show the rest of the country that they can still be considered a contending football team. Contending in this case means that they can considered among the best in the National Football League. This year, it looks like they will not be contending for a Super Bowl anytime soon. However, a win on Monday could be a nice building block for next season.