USA TODAY International Edition
TURNER LOVES COACHING NEW QB PUPIL NEWTON
It was no surprise that Norv Turner gushed this week about the connection with his newest high-profile quarterback pupil, the dynamic Cam Newton. “He’s into football,” the Panthers’ new offensive coordinator told USA TODAY. “He understands the game so well. Because of his style, people may think he’s not a student. But he puts a lot of time into it. He’s been awesome to work with.” When Turner, 66, bolted from Mike Zimmer’s staff with the Vikings in the middle of the season a couple of years ago, it seemed like his coaching career was finished. But he was lured back to the grind by one of his former assistants, Carolina coach Ron Rivera, with the enticing challenge of building an offense around one of the NFL’s most impressive, multidimensional talents. Thus, another type of NFL matchup: Link a former MVP who led Carolina to Super Bowl 50 with a guru whose resume includes a Super Bowl title and a rich record of developing quarterbacks. “The main thing is to get him in a good rhythm,” Turner said. “There’s a big emphasis on quick decisions. Just get the ball out. That will take some of the wear-and-tear off his body. And it helps the offensive line.” This is clearly a work in progress. Turner returns to Washington to face his former team on Sunday with an inconsistent, 19th-ranked offense challenged by injuries and an inexperienced group of wide receivers. Three O-line starters were lost before they even got out of training camp, and the most accomplished receiving threat, tight end Greg Olsen, has been rehabbing a broken foot for several weeks. Turner might ultimately prove to be the right coordinator at the right time in Newton’s career, but this will be best measured in victories, resourcefulness and efficiency rather than 300-yard passing games. To that end, while the Panthers (3-1) are on the heels of the Saints (4-1) atop the NFC South, Newton, in his eighth season, is on pace for a career-best completion rate (65.4 percent). And Carolina also has the NFL’s top-ranked rushing attack (154 yards per game), which includes the boost Newton has always provided as the electric improviser who can easily go off-script to make big plays. “He’s bailed us out quite a few times on third downs,” Turner said. From the instant he stepped into the NFL, Newton has represented the socalled quarterback of the future. He has stung defenses with RPOs (run-pass options) long before Doug Pederson made it a fashionable term. But absorbing Turner’s system means flowing with old school principles, too. Turner has had offenses that featured running backs Emmitt Smith, Adrian Peterson and Stephen Davis. “In this era of throwing the ball 50 times, we’re more about quality rather than quantity in the passing game,” Turner said. “We want to have an efficient passing game.” Newton has passed for 300 yards once this season, when he threw 40plus passes for 335 yards at Atlanta. The Panthers lost. In the three victories, he has averaged 183 passing yards. Yet his completion percentage is significantly better than the career mark of 58.5 that he entered the season with. So while Newton is not throwing it as much for a unit that ranks 25th in passing offense, he is throwing it better in some ways. Balance is the ticket. The Panthers are close to a 50-50 run-pass ratio (122 rushing attempts, 130 pass attempts), which is unheard of in today’s NFL. Of course, Newton still ranks among the NFL’s most productive running quarterbacks with 165 yards and 3 TDs (only Deshaun Watson and Blake Bortles have rushed for more yards among quarterbacks), which complements lead running back Christian McCaffrey. Said Turner, “You have to do what your team does best.” Turner is no different from Rivera when it comes to anxiety that can increase when Newton is running. He’s never had a “running quarterback,” and hardly one who celebrates TDs by pretending he’s Superman. Yet Turner can roll with it. He’s evolving, too, given the talent at hand. It’s a matter of being smart and minimizing risk. “Cam loves to run,” Turner said. “We’re just picking our spots. It happens three ways: with designed runs, RPOs and on scrambles when he creates something on his own.” Turner knows what he’s working with: “Cam is a complete quarterback.” And even better if that means he’s a winning quarterback.