2018 was the first season with Norv Turner as the Panthers offensive coordinator. During the first half of the year, it appeared the Panthers offense had turned a corner as the team was averaging 27.5 points per game during their first eight games. However, after Cam Newton suffered a shoulder injury, which eventually landed him on season-ending injured reserve, they struggled down the stretch, particularly during close games. The good news is, Newton appears to recovered nicely from offseason surgery and there’s no reason to think the Panthers can’t regain the same offensive form that led them to a 6-2 start last year.
Couple that with the second year in Turner’s system and how good receivers DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel have looked during training camp, there’s a chance the Panthers offense could be even better in 2019. On Monday, Turner spoke to reporters about a variety of different topics, including how Newton has performed during the early stages in training camp.
Is it kind of nice with the relationship you and Ron (Rivera) have that he trusts you so much to run the offense while he takes a little bit more of an interest in the defense?
“We have a great away from football relationship and a great in football relationship. He knows what we are doing on offense. We spend a lot of time talking about what we are doing on offense. Obviously, he likes the style of it. We were together for quite awhile in San Diego, and we had a lot of success. There are certain things that we are going to do that we are always going to make sure we are on the same page [so] that he understands what we are doing and why we are doing – because if it doesn’t work the way we planned it, it can show up anywhere.”
Yesterday, Cam said he doesn’t feel like he has to be Superman anymore. How important is that to tell him what you want him to do and what you want him to be?
“Are you believing that? Wait until the first game. He has a great feel for our offense. He is doing a great job of seeing what’s happening. He said that during the middle of the year and after the Seattle game where he felt like everything had slowed down so good for him and he plays like that. Obviously part of his game is the physical nature of the game, the run the ball, the zone-read stuff, the RPOs and we are not going to take that away from him. We don’t need to do that right now, and we’ll pick our spots. He’s obviously a very complete player, and he understands he has a lot of talented players around him, and he’s doing a great job in these first five days of spreading the ball around to everyone.”
“Yeah, it’s great that he says it. Wait until it is third and goal and he takes off and dives over about five guys. We know the way can play and we hope he doesn’t get put into that situation as often and we use all of our guys.”
You mentioned after the Seattle game last year, things started to slow down for him a little bit. What are you most trying to get out of him the next few weeks? What are you hoping he takes out of training camp?
“What happens is during this period in the first two and a half weeks, we have about 10 installations. So we work on something real hard, and the next day we go on to some other things, and we go on some other things. Today, we had a good session of red zone, and we come back and start working on our two-minute offense. So really in camp, you’re trying to handle every situation you possibly can. Then as you get further into camp and playing in the preseason, you start working how it is in the game. Yesterday we had 12 straight third downs. In a game, I told them, you get one third down. If you convert it, you get a first down, if you don’t convert it, you punt it. So, it becomes you start managing the game as you move on.”
As dynamic as McCaffrey is, are there any ways you want to limit his workload, so he is fresher at the end of the year?
“I think it is one of the most misunderstood things. Think there were four or five [players] that had more touches. I’m concerned about Christian’s touches, and he had about 320. The carries take more out of you than the completions. He about 210 carries. I’ve had about six guys that had over 400 touches, so he isn’t even close to some of the guys I’ve been with. So he was on the field 90 percent of the time, that’s documented. A lot of the times, he’s running the swing, he’s getting out of the way. But we are not going to minimize his carries or touches. He’s a dynamic player, he’s one of the most dynamic players in the league. He makes it easier for our line. He’s makes it easier for our quarterback, he makes it easier for our receivers.”
Up Next: Norv On Will Grier, Year Twos And More
