Cam Newton
In 2011, the Carolina Panthers decided to make quarterback Cam Newton the first overall pick of the National Football League Draft. Newton came to the Panthers fresh off of helping Auburn University win the national title while also taking home the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top football player in the process. Newton joined a Panthers team that wasn’t good as they were coming off of a season in which they were just 2-14, but that didn’t prevent him from being named as the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year as he passed for 4,051 with 21 touchdown passes while throwing 17 interceptions. In a short period of time Newton had established himself as a quarterback that the Panthers could build a team around, but there was still a learning curve for him.
In 2011, Newton had a completion percentage of 57.7, but he improved as the season went along which helped the Panthers finish the season with a record of 7-9 after winning their last four games. In 2013, Newton became a more efficient quarterback with a completion percentage of 61.7 as the Panthers won the NFC South for the first time since 2008. Last season injuries forced Newton to miss a pair of games and his record as the Panthers starting quarterback was just 5-8-1. But due to the putrid play in the NFC South, the Panthers were still able to win the division with a record of 7-8-1. However in 2015, it all appears to be coming together for Newton and the Panthers.
Through five games in 2015, the Panthers find themselves with a record of 5-0 as a more assertive Newton is leading the charge. Newton only has a completion percentage of 55.4, but he has stepped up and made the big plays when the chips were pushed to the middle of the table which was further magnified this past Sunday.
The Panthers traveled to face an old nemesis in the Seattle Seahawks. Since 2012, the Seahawks have defeated the Panthers four times including last season in the NFC Divisional Playoffs which was the only meeting that was decided by more than five points over this current stretch. The Panthers have been right there with the Seahawks, but they’ve been unable to get over the hump. That changed on Sunday when the Panthers traveled to Seattle and knocked off the Seahawks.
In the game the Panthers were trailing the Seahawks by a score of 20-7 midway through the third quarter which has typically been where they would begin to cave in against Seattle. But this time around the Panthers rallied which culminated in Newton finding tight end Greg Olsen for the game-winning touchdown with just 32 seconds left in the game to come away victorious. The comeback victory by the Panthers over the Seahawks shows that they will be a player this year in the NFC with Newton leading the way.
When Newton arrived in the National Football League, there was plenty of adjusting for him to do. At Auburn, Newton played in a spread offense where if he didn’t see his first passing option as being open, he could easily improvise and take off running with the football. But things are a bit different in the NFL due to the fact that quarterbacks must make the majority of their plays from within the pocket. Newton had a stellar rookie season due to the fact that former Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski adjusted the game plan around Newton’s strengths. But as Newton’s time with the Panthers has gone along and as he has spent the last three years with the same offensive coordinator in Mike Shula who was previously his quarterbacks coach, he is more comfortable, and more importantly, becoming more assertive from within the pocket.
The Panthers are undefeated this season in spite of the fact that the team lost wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin in the preseason to a torn ACL. Benjamin was tied for the Panthers team lead in receiving yards last season with 1,008 and he was expected to be an even bigger contributor in his second year in Charlotte. But Newton is now displaying a trait that the good quarterbacks possess which is that he is making the receivers around him better while also producing in spite of the fact that he doesn’t have Pro-Bowl caliber talent around him.
For Newton and the Panthers, there work is far from done this season as they are in first place in the NFC South, but they appear to be settling in for a grueling battle with the Atlanta Falcons for the top spot within the division. And win it comes to potentially winning the division and getting to the playoffs, Newton is going to have to make plays from within the pocket in order to get the Panthers to where they want to go this season which is ultimately the Super Bowl. Newton has never backed down from a challenge on the football field as his teammate in cornerback Josh Norman can attest to when he attempted to pick a fight with the quarterback during training camp and got more than what he had bargained for. More importantly Newton has been up to the task of shedding his image as a spread offense quarterback as he is morphing into a pocket passer which is something that we should expect from a guy that refers to himself as Superman.
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