Listen to the C3 Podcast on Stitcher

Cat Chronicles is a fan focused website dedicated to discussion concerning the Carolina Panthers. This is an opinion and entertainment site only, which is in no way affiliated with the Carolina Panthers, the NFL, or any sports player or organization. This site is by fans for fans, so please join in the discussionbecause without you football is just a kid's game.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Boomer Esiason's Bigoted Top 5 NFL Overrated Players



Boomer Esiason recently released a Top 5 Overrated NFL Players list, ranking Cam Newton #1 overrated NFL player. The bulk of Boomer’s claim rested on two premises.  First, “He is not Peyton Manning; he is not Drew Brees; he is not Tom Brady, or Aaron Rodgers,” he stated.  Second, he questioned if Cam made players around him better or if they made him better than he really is? Now really we could just stop there. Boomer obviously hasn’t looked at the Panthers’ roster lately or followed the organization over the last five years. Did he notice the 2-14 team Cam inherited? This team had serious personnel deficiencies on both sides of the ball prior to last season.  While Gettleman addressed these deficiencies on defense, there are still glaring personnel weaknesses on offense. The offensive line has been in shambles for years, Carolina has never had a strong receiving core, and the backfield has ran half-staff because of Jonathan’s Stewart's chronic injuries. I guess Boomer views Steve Smith’s 2011 and 2012 resurrection as a result of him simply turning on a switch. The three years, he languished in obscurity must of been because he didn’t make Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen better, but just chose to under-perform.

Boomer’s claim is just another example of the longstanding disdain for Cam Newton by a substantial portion of the national media. This is nothing new, but by this point it has become so commonplace, one has to wonder does this have anything really to do with Cam himself, or is there some underlying prejudice involved?  Is it Cam or is it the “new age” quarterback?  Because these guys aren’t the “prototypical” statue quarterbacks that the Boomers were, there is this strange belief that they they aren’t athletic quarterbacks, but just great athletes who just happen to play quarterback.  Their success is rarely attributed to their quarterbacking ability, but instead attributed to “freakish athleticism.”

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to why that is…..I’ve got my own, which will be coming to the website soon. Let’s just say Cam Newton and RGIII are viewed as guys whose successes are because of their athleticism, while Boomer’s boy Andrew Luck’s quarterbacking foregone greatness says a lot. If you can tolerate Boomer until his take on Trent Richardson, he describes Luck as “an All-World quarterback.”  So what has Luck done to establish himself as “All World” already?  Was it his one playoff win?  Is that all it takes?  What does it say to just accept Luck’s greatness, but then call Cam overrated in the midst to comparing him to quarterbacks with Super Bowl rings and who on their way to the Hall of Fame.

Please Boomer, point to the stats that so clearly delineate Andrew Luck as an “All World” quarterback, but regulate Cam to a “good” quarterback.  Take a look at their career stats, and you’ll see that this supposed gap doesn’t exist.

Cam Newton

Year QBrec Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD Int Int% QBR Sk Yds 4QC GWD
2011* 6-10-0 310 517 60.0 4051 21 17 3.3 55.04 35 260 1 1
2012 7-9-0 280 485 57.7 3869 19 12 2.5 54.22 36 244 1 1
2013* 12-4-0 292 473 61.7 3379 24 13 2.7 43 336 4 4
Career 25-23-0 882 1475 59.8 11299 64 42 2.8 114 840 6 6
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/31/2014.

Andrew Luck


Year QBrec Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD Int Int% QBR Sk Yds 4QC GWD
2012* 11-5-0 339 627 54.1 4374 23 18 2.9 64.99 41 246 4 7
2013* 11-5-0 343 570 60.2 3822 23 9 1.6 32 227 4 4
Career 22-10-0 682 1197 57.0 8196 46 27 2.3 73 473 8 11
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/31/2014.


I’m not saying that Cam Newton should be proclaimed an elite QB right now, but I don’t think Andrew Luck should be either just yet.

What ensues from all of this is that Cam isn’t overrated, Boomer, he is underrated.  Like I said, this is nothing new.  He has withstood unwarranted criticism from a dismissive media before he ever took an NFL snap.   Former Texan GM Charlie Casserly sounded just as prejudiced as Boomer when he stated that he would “take Kevin Kolb over Cam Newton 100 times out of 100 chances.”

This is just silly.  Cam Newton has been nothing less than sensational since the very first moment he stepped on the field. He took the league by storm, putting up Madden numbers in his rookie season when all circumstances seemed to suggest a difficult transition to the NFL.  During a lockout year, 2-12 team, and a new head coach, Cam defied the diminutive analysis from haters like Casserly by earning Rookie of the Year, making the Pro Bowl, and shattering rookie quarterback records in rushing, passing, and rushing TDs. 

In further contradiction to the hate, Cam has only improved each year--like any young promising player should. This past year’s steps forward as a leader on and off the field, the ability to will 4th quarter wins, a 61.7% completion rate, and a 12-4 record all support Cam’s growth and the reality that he is a NFL quarterback--not just a freak athlete who plays quarterback.

So, consider this reality laying the “boom” on the subconsciously bigoted Boomer! It's time to just accept that Cam Newton is just as viable as any other talented, effective quarterback who has yet to win a Super Bowl Championship.  Even when he does, I have a sneaky feeling it will not be because of "Cam," but in spite of him in the eyes of guys like Boomer Esiason.  How many Super Bowls did Boomer win by the way?  Should we judge him in comparison to Montana, Young, Elway, and Favre in an overrated discussion?  I'm guessing he won't fair well in such company in the end.  One thing is for sure, most people think of it like this......



By "the Professor" aka Tony Dunn.
@Cat_Chronicles

7 comments:

  1. Where are all the white RB's. Oh yeah, I forgot, the media claims that blacks just prarticed harder.

    Journalist: we are not buying your poppycock anymore. Everyone of these article types are met with harsh criticism, because they are a lie.

    Homosexual journalist will not relent until every position in football is non white. Ask Boomer who his top RB's are? There will not be a white on the list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It has nothing to do with superbowl wins. It has to do with leadership and hitting your targets not over throwing them as Cam has night in and night out. And how many times has Peyton Manning or any other QB thrown an interception then went to bench and put a towel on his head and put there head down ? The answer is never. They go to bench and help motivate team after a pic. But not Cam he has a towel on his head crying on the bench. Leadership is what a starting QB is a bout that's why Luck, and Manning and all
    the great has that Newton doesn't I agree with Boomer he top most overrated player in league today. And
    if he were playing for any other team he would not be starting or if the Panthers had a coach that new that
    he wouldn't be starting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Everyone is a racist.... except for me. I love posts like this. Rife with improper word usage and personal insults yet devoid of any reasoning. The internet and subsequent post obscurity makes everyone a tough guy and holds no one accountable.
    Cam Newton wears number 1 because he was the 1st pick overall in the draft yet refuses to act like a number one overall draft pick. Luck and Manning were number one picks and take responsibility like the leaders they are. Men act like men, children act like children.
    The Panthers were 2-14 before Newton and what were the Colts before Luck? Super Bowl contenders? Boomer may not say what you want him to say but his point is no less valid.

    Enjoy Newton aka Dante Culpepper 2.0!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Please indicate improper word usage. Additionally, the post is not made in anonymity, it's clearly on my website. See the contact information and the twitter handle in the sidebar.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I will add my name though to make it clearer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are a clown. The fact that you think Boomer is racist bc he is critical of Cam proves that. However, when you compare him to Luck you show that not only are you a clown, but you don't even know sports. So, basically you are just someone at a keyboard yelling racism bc someone criticized a guy whose jock you love sniffing. Sounds like our current day and age.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just so you know, I am white and I think Matt Ryan is the most overrated QB in the nfl (maybe I am reverse racist?). Cam is 2nd.

      Delete