The 65-year-old Turner said he returned to coaching because of an opportunity to work again with Panthers coach Ron Rivera – who was on his coaching staff for four seasons in San Diego – and to coach the talented group of offensive players led by Newton.
”He’s an amazing player for his position,” Turner said Tuesday on a conference call.
The versatile 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton has carried the ball 828 times over the past seven seasons – by far the most in the league by a quarterback during that span. By comparison, Seattle’s Russell Wilson has run the ball 578 times during his six seasons in the league.
While it’s logical to question how much pounding Newton’s body can take – he turns 29 in May – it’s also hard to argue with his success.
He’s averaged 5.2 yards per carry and has scored 54 touchdowns rushing, which is the most by a QB in NFL history. And Newton tends to play better when he’s more involved in the running game.
”He’s a real threat to defenses,” Tuner said. ”So he will always have that threat to run.”
That should be music to Newton’s ears.
After Newton carried the ball a career-high 139 times last season and led the Panthers in rushing with 754 yards, he said ”that’s my edge.”
”I wouldn’t expect you or anybody else to take it away,” Newton said following Carolina’s season-ending playoff loss at New Orleans. ”And when I say you, I mean the media as a whole. I’m comfortable running the football, I feel like I help the team when I’m running the football, and as long as I’m playing this game, I’m going to run the football.”
Turner suggested that he and his son Scott Turner, the team’s new quarterbacks coach Joel Iyiegbuniwe Color Rush Jersey , will look to improve Newton’s throwing mechanics.
Because he’s so big Newton has a tendency to rely on his strong arm and throw off his back foot, often resulting in high throws that lead to incompletions or interceptions. Turner said that while sometimes those types of throws are necessary under pressure, the staff ”is going to work hard to get his weight transferred and have good technique when he is throwing.”
Turner said the Panthers overall system won’t change much, although he wants to be able to stretch the field vertically to force defenses to cover the entire field.
He believes Newton has the arm strength to do that.
Turner said he had a brief conversation with Newton after being hired.
”We didn’t get into a lot of football,” Turner said. ”As he expressed to me – and I feel the same way – there is excitement and nervousness. When you have change there is nervousness. Sometimes that nervousness is good and it gets your attention. It’s not status quo and you use that as a time to improve.”
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TORONTO — A year ago at this time, Francisco Liriano was pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays amid speculation that he would be traded.
The left-hander is again a subject of trade speculation as he returns to the Rogers Centre on Friday night as the starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, who will try to end a nine-game losing streak in the opener of a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Tigers (36-46) lost 4-2 to the Oakland Athletics at Comerica Park on Thursday afternoon. The Blue Jays (37-43) had the day off after completing a 3-4 trip with a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday on Alex Bregman’s two-run, walk-off homer.
Both teams are expected to trade some veteran players by the July 31 deadline for deals without waivers.
Liriano (3-3, 3.94 ERA) will face Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (0-5, 6.80). Both pitchers will make their second start after returning from the disabled list.
The Blue Jays did trade Liriano on July 31 to the Astros, who went on to win the World Series. In the deal, Toronto received outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who has become a regular.
Liriano signed with the Tigers as a free agent on Feb. 23.
He will make his 12th start of the season in the series opener. Liriano went on the DL with a strained right hamstring after making his start on May 26 and did not pitch again until Saturday when he took the loss at Cleveland Roquan Smith Color Rush Jersey , allowing three runs (two earned), four hits and three walks in four innings.
All of the runs came in a 40-pitch first inning. He did not allow another hit in the next three innings.
“I was rushing things,” Liriano said. “I hadn’t pitched in a while and I was trying to do too much, trying to do more than I can do, and I ended up missing pitches. … Everything feels great. Leg feels good, body feels nice.”
The 34-year-old has faced the Blue Jays seven times in his career, including five starts, going 1-4 with a 5.40 ERA. He last pitched against Toronto on Aug. 5 with Houston when he took the loss after allowing one run, one hit and one walk in two-thirds of an inning in relief.
In 18 career appearances, including 17 starts, at the Rogers Centre, Liriano is 8-4 record with a 4.03 ERA and 98 strikeouts.
Stroman also returned from the DL on Saturday when he allowed six hits and one walk while striking out five in five scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels. He did not factor in the decision of a game the Blue Jays won 4-1.
He had not pitched since May 8 because of inflammation in his right shoulder, a problem that shortened his spring training. Stroman believes that in retrospect he probably should have taken a couple of more weeks to build up the shoulder before starting to pitch in the regular season.
“When I’m going good Anthony Miller Color Rush Jersey , I feel like I’m pitching at 80, 85 percent and that’s where I’m at right now,” Stroman said. “Earlier in the season, I was max effort, I was pitching at 100 percent every pitch and now I’m back to being very free and easy. Once I’m free and easy, I can do whatever I want.”
Stroman said the shoulder “feels way better.”
“I’m moving way easier, I can pause, I can mess with my delivery now, I can do many things I wasn’t able to do previously in the year,” he added. “Feels great.”
In two career starts against the Tigers, he is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA.
The Tigers won two of three games against the Blue Jays at Comerica Park on June 1-3. Detroit will try to win its first season series against Toronto since 2013. The Tigers lost two of three games at the Rogers Centre last season, the fourth straight series they have dropped in Toronto.
