Getty ImagesApparently, Panthers fans were so giddy about rookie quarterback Cam Newton’s performance in his debut that they forgot to vote for him in NFL.com’s Pepsi Rookie of the Week contest.
Packers receiver Randall Cobb won the award instead. Cobb scored two touchdowns in the season opener at Lambeau Field — one on a 108-yard kickoff return, despite coach Mike McCarthy’s order not to bring it out, and the other on a pass reception that came after he ran the wrong route.
Though Cobb’s accomplishments were significant, Newton’s 422 passing yards, a record for a rookie debut, seem to have been more noteworthy. But that’s one of the realities of a popular vote; players from the more popular teams tend to do better in the final tabulation.
Newton and Cobb will go head to head this weekend in Charlotte, when the Packers face the Panthers.
The other finalists for the award were Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, and Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson.
That truly shows how many more Packers fans there are than Panthers fans.
Newton probably should have won, but Arizona is terrible. Cobb’s numbers came in a nationally delivered game against a very good Saints team.
Cam was robbed.
Take away the acknowledged bad penalty call and Newton’s stats are 381 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, PR of 83.2. Against Arizona.
Same jackasses that voted Jimmer Fridette College Player of the Year.
I would also think the national tv game had some to do with that also.. IMO Cam should of won. That’s what I voted. I seen both games, fan of neither.
I voted for Doug Baldwin!
Good point on Newton, but the fact that he had his performance in relative anonymity compared to Cobb couldn’t have helped either.
Tough to get used to that name without “Tex” in the middle of it.
Every single time I see the name Randall Cobb I think of Randall “Tex” Cobb. The ORIGINAL Randall Cobb. This then reminds me of Michael Doakes. Showing my age perhaps.
Go Bears!
This is why fan votes should not be a significant part of pro-bowl selection or anything else. As much as I doubt Newton’s ability to sustain high calibre play, he was the best rookie in the league last week. Cobb was very good, but Newton was better
Since the TDs were done based on something Cobb did wrong, imagine what he will do when he does it right.
What is this American Idol? Anyone on the planet knows Cam Newton was Rookie of the Week. He won’t win a popularity context, but he will kick your butt on the field. Ask Andrew Luck and Kellen Moore.
interesting. I’m an Alabama fan, and I HATE $cam Newton. However, you cannot tell me he isn’t the rookie of the week. Heck, if Brady didn’t have the game he had, he could have made an argument for player of the week for the league!
Newton threw for some yards against a cover zero defense that still managed to blow coverages. When they finally decided to pay attention to him as opposed to containing the run, he looked horrible.
Cobb performed against a Championship team in the Saints.
Easy choice.
Lol it’s funny watching Packers fans rationalize Cobb being greater than Cam last week. It’s going to be fun watching Rodgers in the playoffs when he doesn’t have a 21 point lead after the week’s scripted plays. Can’t take off every 3rd quarter and half the 4th and expect to win every time.
scudbot says:Sep 17, 2011 6:08 PM
Take away the acknowledged bad penalty call and Newton’s stats are 381 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, PR of 83.2. Against Arizona.
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1. No one is taking away any acknowledge bad call because they are part of the game. Some will go against the a team and some will be made in favor of the same team.
2. Even if you want to take that away Newton’s performance is still great for a QB making his very first regular season start.
Secondly if we want to start playing what ifs then I guess take away Cobbs kick off return when he took the ball 8yards deep when he should have downed it then he finishes with pretty predestrian stats.
“It’s going to be fun watching Rodgers in the playoffs”
I can agree with that part of your post, at least
I could have thrown for 400+ against that cards defense last week. Everybody likes to overlook the BS Unnecessary roughness call that negated an interception and subsequently allowed the 79 TD pass to occur. Take away the bad call and Cam’s numbers are nothing to speak of, considering the defense!
LOL @ We’reFineThere
its fans of all teams giving opinions…sorry you dont have rodgers on your team but get over it…and YES if your wondering cobb is our 5th wr and 6th recieving option
Cobb won in his game Cam did not. In this fantasy era people get too involved with stats.
Also Cobb won because there are no Carolina fans. I have met one or been at a bar where they where cheering their team on. They don’t exists.
@We’reFineThere, it was a lot of fun last year watching Rodgers in the playoffs. I don’t get your point, you don’t think he can play unless they are in the lead? Think again, he is pretty much flawless all the time.
“Lol it’s funny watching Packers fans rationalize Cobb being greater than Cam…” I could not care less what the results of fan voting are or who gets named Rookie of the Whatever based on it. Newton turned in a surprising result as compared to his preseason, but the 422 yard figure is a fluke due to the erroneous penalty called and his stats weren’t really all that great except for total yardage.
hey fudgepackers, the season is 16 games long. dont think you can coast the next 17 weeks or so. homers
I don’t even care for the guy, but Cam should have won.
Well the Panthers get a chance to show he shouldve got the award this week, when they go up to Lambeau Field.
Must have been the 100 votes I put in that put him over the top.
“Can’t take off every 3rd quarter and half the 4th and expect to win every time.” That’s exactly my beef with McCarthy’s play calling. Last season AR had to confront him about the Chicken Little strategy in the second half of games. It improved somewhat after that but the Packers D still was in a position of having to save games a lot.
I am a packer fan, and I would have voted for Newton’s performance. I mean the guy broke a 61 year old record of Otto Graham. While the cards might not be the great, it was his first start with no OTA practices in the offseason.
It’s the rookie of the WEEK award. I’ll take a wild guess Cam Newton gets it sometime this season. If he plays like he did against the Cardinals, he’ll get it several times.
Cobb had an epic game.
This is a good example of why fan voting sucks.
mightyleemoon says: Sep 17, 2011 7:15 PM
Newton threw for some yards against a cover zero defense that still managed to blow coverages. When they finally decided to pay attention to him as opposed to containing the run, he looked horrible.
Cobb performed against a Championship team in the Saints.
Easy choice.
—
I thought the Saints lost to the Seahawks last year…and not in the championship. Cam should have won, What a Joke!
– Signed,
Non-Panthers fan
patrick peterson are you kidding me? how terrible.
Randall Cobb will break the Rookie NFL record this year for most KR TD’s in a single season with 5, and he’ll shatter Josh Cribb’s career return TD’s of 8 by next season. Believe that.
jaggedmark says:
Sep 17, 2011 5:59 PM
“That truly shows how many more Packers fans there are than Panthers fans.”
No kidding. The team that won the super bowl vs. a 16-year old team that is coming off a 2-14 season. Ya think?
Give the Panthers a chance. They make an NFC title game every five years on average. Can the Packers say that?
This has NOTHING to do with a lack of Panther fans or one team being on national TV or not.
Seriously? In a locked out year, Cam Newton – fresh off a Heisman and a National Championship and a #1 overall draft selection was the most talked about football conversation of the past 8 months.
It was the first game of the year.
EVERYONE was aware of Cam and his game.
Cobb was a 2nd round pick from KY. He’s the #5 guy on a team stacked at WR. I’m guessing even those that saw the game had to look up his name to remember who he is when it came to voting.
Ain’t saying the selection was the correct one – just saying the decision wasn’t based upon ignorance of Cam’s performance.
Ummmm..maybe the fans know that if you take away the bs roughing call newton’s numbers are average at best. he should of had 1 td and 2 ints, not the other way around. his numbers are inflated.
buckybadger, Packer fan living in South Carolina. Panther games are on TV. There are Panther fans here.
Panthers are one of the most successful expansion franchises ever. There were some pretty lame years in Green Bay prior to Favre and even with Favre. The bandwagon fans that come out the year after a team has won a super bowl are pathetic and give the real fans a bad name.
Cam should have won ROTW.
It’s sad…. People think that Packers fans are trying to “rationalize” Cobb winning this honor. We don’t have to. He obviously had the votes to win. If you don’t agree, quit crying and vote for someone else. He won. The end.
Randall says it’s God’s will.
pappysarcasm says: Sep 17, 2011 7:47 PM
I could have thrown for 400+ against that cards defense last week. Everybody likes to overlook the BS Unnecessary roughness call that negated an interception and subsequently allowed the 79 TD pass to occur. Take away the bad call and Cam’s numbers are nothing to speak of, considering the defense!
__________________________________________
You realize that was two different drives right?
mhs8031 says:
Sep 17, 2011 10:16 PM
jaggedmark says:
Sep 17, 2011 5:59 PM
“That truly shows how many more Packers fans there are than Panthers fans.”
No kidding. The team that won the super bowl vs. a 16-year old team that is coming off a 2-14 season. Ya think?
Give the Panthers a chance. They make an NFC title game every five years on average. Can the Packers say that?
HA HA HA HA HA HA YOU MORON
Are you actually comparing the Panthers to the Packers in football championship history?
Since the Panthers started in the league the Packers have been to the NFC Championship 5 times winning 3 (1 against the Panthers) and 2 Superbowls The Panthers 3 winning one and no Superbowls
So the Packers average is an NFC title game every 3 years on the Average in your teams meager history so STFU
BTW #1 overall pick vs the # 64 Pick Newton is supposed to be the Super Star Cam set a Rookie record Cobb tied an all time NFL Record for a KO return That means in all KO returns EVER So far more bang for the Buck
BTW who has a better Chance to go to an NFC championship game sooner? Panthers or Packers?
What is with this argument about the roughing call? Don’t call the penalty and you have no IDEA of how the game turns out, it changes too many variables. Newton deserved the praise. People were questioning if this guy was even smart enough to understand an NFL playbook. Definately looks like we don’t have another Alex Smith here.
McCarthy stopped scripting plays last year. If you’re gonna rip Rodgers than at least rip him in an informed intelligent manner. You just sound like the gf who tries to spit knowledge about football. What a loser
13forgbp says:
Sep 17, 2011 10:26 PM
Ummmm..maybe the fans know that if you take away the bs roughing call newton’s numbers are average at best. he should of had 1 td and 2 ints, not the other way around. his numbers are inflated.
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Here is a fine example of the idiotic reasoning demonstrated by so many Packer fans on this thread. Then they back each other up in droves.
How exactly are his numbers inflated by the bad call? Didn’t Newton still have to make the read and complete the pass? The bad call afforded him nothing more than the oppurtunity. Besides, wasn’t it Packer fans who ridiculed Vikings fans for using this same line of logic (“if the refs made the correct call”) when it came to the Saints-Vikings NFC Championship game in general and Favre’s first interception in particular (since it shouldn’t have counted because of the “no-call” hit below the knee on Favre)?
And if we’re going to put bad calls into play then Cobb’s KO return shouldn’t count because he is illegally assisted by a teammate at his own 23 yard line. Cobb gets spun around and Kuhn grabs him; preventing him from falling down, which is technically a penalty. Guess a blown call helped Cobb pad his stats as well.
Finally, Cobb made just two, albeit outstanding, plays. He had one other reception for 3 yrds, one other KO return for 27, and one punt return of 5 yrds. Newton was more indicative of sustained good play throughout his game.
Packer fans had to look up Cobb’s #? hahaha. Do you know any Packer fans?
Cobb won because there are only 37.5 Panthers fans. We back our guys.
You Bears/Queens “fans” whining about Rodgers need to watch him play.
I can’t believe all these people really care about player of the week. Winning the super bowl is all that matters in the end, and until the packers are dethroned they are the best. And that kills me to say being a bears fan.
Was nice to see Doug Baldwin as a finalist. I think we will see good things from him in the future he shows a lot of promise.