The title may be a bit dramatic, but Cam Newton and Alex Smith are definitely involved in a spat. And, to make matters worth, a bunch of NFL players are involved in this war on Twitter, including Panthers’ Jon Beason and Thomas Davis and 49ers’ linebacker Patrick Willis, just to name a few.
It all started with an Alex Smith interview – “I could absolutely care less on yards per game, I think that is a totally overblown stat because if you’re losing games in the second half, guess what, you’re like the Carolina Panthers and you’re going no-huddle the entire second half. Yeah, Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games. That’s great. You’re not winning, though.”
These comments created quite an uproar over Twitter. Smith, a mediocre quarterback at best throughout his career, could not keep his comments to himself, and just had to “chirp” Cam and his Panthers. This was not such a great idea, especially since things he said weren’t exactly true. Many of the Panthers’ games were close towards the end, therefore, Carolina was not in no-huddle the entire second half of games. Also, Cam only had three 300-yard games, and the last time I checked, the number three was not defined as “a lot”.
Smith, who did finish 13-3 last year, was not an all-pro quarterback despite the great record. Perhaps the defence had something to do with it? In fact, Cam averaged 55 more passing yards per game last year over Smith, and he was undoubtedly involved in many more touchdowns.
On the other hand, Smith did have more wins than Cam, and football, like all sports, is all about winning. San Francisco this year asked Smith to manage the game rather than lead it. They figured they would let their stellar defense and fabulous running game do the winning for them. The plan obviously worked as the ‘niners played in the NFC championship.
All the Twitter chirping prompted some backup, as Jon Beason, Carolina’s starting MLB, came to the defence of Newton and told Smith how he would have lost his job if Manning would have chosen San Fran over Denver. Mind you, many quarterbacks in the league would lose their job to a healthy Peyton Manning.
To end off, Smith has to realize that he does less for his team than Newton does, and that’s a fact. Put Newton on the 49ers and who knows how last year would have ended. But of course, that’s speculation and we can only imagine. So for now, Smith can chirp all his wants, showing the confidence he has in himself, and his team…we’ll just see if he can in fact be the last piece to San Fran’s puzzle.
…and that is the last word.
