More Cam/Panthers
By now, we're pretty sure you saw the interview Wednesday in which Cam Newton offered a rather candid and pointed look at his critics.
We have discussed this with a fair amount of measure this week, and if we had to put the percentage of people cheering for the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning over the Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton in the Super Bowl, the breakdown would be at least 80-20 and more likely 85-15.
Cam's views - here's one story, and here's another from CBSsports.com with a little more context - it as part of the gig. The phrase he used about being an African-American quarterback and scaring people because there's no to "compare" Cam with is at its core true. He's the first of his model - he's the product of Daunte Culpepper and John Elway hybrid, and that's some pretty good pieces.
As for scaring people, well, he should scare defensive coordinators mostly. As for football fans, not so much.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning speaks during a press conference following the NFL football AFC Championship game between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016, in Denver. The Broncos defeated the Patriots 20-18 to advance to the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) It's a very interesting topic and one that has been well-discussed this week.
Here's another one, in which Bill Barnwell of Grantland.com looks at the 10 moves that made the Panthers the best team in the NFL. (Included in that list is a couple of very shaky moves that have prevented the Panthers from being a dynasty over the last three-to-five years.)
Of note in that list is the way the Panthers have connected on home runs in Round 1 of the draft since taking a chance on Cam Newton fall into their lap in 2011.
As that story details, there was far from a consensus that Newton was going to be a franchise quarterback five years ago. In fact, Barnwell tells us, that he surveyed 24 NFL GMs at the time and a whopping 11 said they wouldn't take Newton in the first round and one said he wouldn't draft Cam at all. Wow.
Here are the draft home runs for Carolina since 2011:
Former Auburn defender Nick Fairley runs drills for NFL football scouts during Auburn Pro Day on March 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Todd J. Van Emst)2011 - Cam Newton, No. 1 overall. (Side note: This may be right there with the 2005 draft as the deepest and most significant of the modern-day NFL. You had the soon-to-be tabbed - or dabbed - MVP in Newton. NFL defensive line studs Von Miller at 2, Marcel Dareus at 3, Aldon Smith at 7, JJ Watt at 11 and Robert Quinn at 14. You had two of the four best WRs in football in AJ Green at 4 and Julio Jones at 6. All-Pros Patrick Peterson at 5 and Tyron Smith at 9 and Mike Pouncey at 15. That's a ton of talent. And if you look at the teams that missed early in that draft - Jacksonville with Blaine Gabbert at 10; Tennessee with Jake Locker at 8; Minnesota with Christian Ponder at 12; Detroit with Nick Fairley at 13 - those teams struggled mightily.)
2012 - Luke Keuchly at No. 9. (And to make matters worse, the Panthers got All-Pro corner Josh Norman in round 5 of that draft. If the 2012 draft was redone, the Panthers likely got two of the three best players in it, since Andrew Luck still likely would have gone No. 1)
2013 - Star Lotulelei at No. 14, and the defensive tackle who spent some time atop Mel Kiper's big board fell to the Panthers in the middle of round and has been a star for Carolina. (In round two, the Panthers picked another defensive tackle in Kawann Short, and those two dudes anchor the middle of the Panthers front.)
2014 - Kelvin Benjamin, the FSU wide out was pick No. 28. After a solid-to-very-good rookie year - he had 73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine TDs in 2014 - he has missed this year with a knee injury.
The lesson here of course is you want to get to the Super Bowl, it helps to have three or four really good drafts in a row.
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Super gauge (with Rushmore)
It is so strange how the passing of times can be measured in lots of ways by the various Super Bowls.
Granted, it's easy to be nostalgic when the Super Bowl hits a flush number like 50 (although we are still a little disappointed that the NFL shunned the Roman numeral 'L' for the numeric 50 this year, but unless we missed the email no one checked with us on the front end).
Think of the moments we've looked back on just this week.
We were reminded that in was early in 1980 when Mean Joe Greene stole the Super Bowl ad race with his Coke commercial. (Here's a fun recap of that commercial with Mean Joe and kid and the cool fact that Greene chugged 18 bottled Cokes to get the filming done. Burp.)
We were reminded that it was 30 years ago when the Super Bowl Shuffle took flight. (And as we discussed, the awful dance video was actually film with about a month left in the regular season, and that begs two questions: One, how huge of a deal would we have made about the arrogance of a team making a Super Bowl Shuffle video before the playoffs even started. Secondly, the next time Mike Ditka opens his blow hole and sounds off about some antics of today's super stars, someone needs to remind him that his team was shooting Super Bowl celebration videos in December for Pete's sake.)
We also talked on Press Row about how it was 25 years ago when Whitney Houston crushed the National Anthem. (Yes, it was later discovered that she recorded the version earlier in the day, but really, who cares. It was brilliant.)
We fell pretty sure there will be a bevy of best and worst lists coming too. In fact, we'll offer up the first of a daily Super Bowl-related Rushmore between now and the end of next week:
Today - Rushmore of best Super Bowl games. Go.
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GOP debate-light
OK, we normally do not merge the political and the sporty around these parts, but this seemed too good to pass up.
Yes, Donald Trump has announced he will skip the festivities. Here's our A2 column on the matter.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, in Gilbert, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt) It also raised the question on Press Row of who would be the favorite athlete of each of the presidential candidates. Thoughts?
As for the debate tonight, as we talked about in the A2 column this morning, here are the following talking points of interest:
First, who takes the most shots at The Donald in his absence. (We think it will be Cruz, but we could see Marco Rubio pulling a very shrew move of saying something like, "Donald is not here, and that was his decision. Can we please not waste time on meaningless issues like a billionaire disagreeing with a billion-dollar news agency. This country is broken and there's a real chance if we do not offer the American people a legitimate candidate with a legitimate plan, we are going to elect a woman who has zero idea and zero chance of fixing the real problems before us."
Second, Trump's social media responses to this could be over the top. (Again, it will be with a grain of salt, but what from The Donald is not taken with at least a little Morton's. Hey, when it rains it pours.)
Finally, how Fox handles this at the opening and throughout is intriguing.
We are excited about this. (It should be at least as fun as the NFL Pro Bowl draft was last night.)
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This and that
- We are an unabashed fan of TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer's work, especially in the college basketball realm. We support his take this morning about the Big 12-SEC challenge, and can say we are genuinely intrigued by the matchup of LSU-Oklahoma and the top two players in college hoops.
- Speaking of looking forward, know this: We are supremely excited for the second season of "Better Call Saul" which hits the air on Feb. 15. For those that do not know, "Better Call Saul" is the prequel to how "Break Bad" anti-hero Walter White's attorney "Saul" came to be. Suffice it to say it's on the short list of the best spinoffs in TV history, right there with "Laverne and Shirley" and "Fraiser" - and those are way ahead of the pack that includes "Joni Loves Chachi" and "AfterMASH" among others.
- Want to know the value of continuity in the NFL? Wednesday was the 16th anniversary of the Patriots hiring Bill Belichick. Since that time, the other 31 franchises have hired 160 head coaches.
- Novak Djokovic crushed Roger Federer in the semifinals of the Aussie Open. Crushed him.
- According to this report, Michael Sam is going to give the NFL one more shot. In an unrelated story, the 5-at-10 is debating whether to give Broadway one more shot. (Something feels like Sam and the 5-at-10 have the same shot at success in those realms.)
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Today's question
Lots of stuff to discuss, of course.
There's our first Super Bowl Rushmore, of course, and there's TV spin offs, too. Feel free to nominate who you think the presidential candidate's favorite athletes as well.
Also, there's the mailbag, too. (And we do have open lanes, so fire away.)
Today is Gregg Popovich's 67th birthday. Rushmore of Gregs? Who makes it?
Go and enjoy the day.