NYT: Panthers Prosper as Quarterback Cam Newton Grows
New York Times
By VIV BERNSTEINNOV. 6, 2015
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mud, dirt and torn-up patches of sod lay in a heap outside Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday — the remains of the field after Monday night’s game between the Carolina Panthers and the Indianapolis Colts, which was played in a monsoon.
It was a messy game, aside from the mud. The Panthers blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and then fell behind by a field goal in overtime. In front of a national television audience, it was classic Panthers, a throwback to the days when late collapses were standard fare.
But these are not those Panthers. They found a way to pull out a 29-26 victory and are the lone undefeated team in the N.F.C., and one of just four teams at 7-0 in N.F.L. Week 9. So it seems almost appropriate that the Panthers will have a different field to play on when they host the Green Bay Packers (6-1) in a showdown on Sunday. For a franchise that has never started a season with seven wins in a row, this is all new ground.
“It hasn’t been pretty at times,” quarterback Cam Newton said Wednesday, “but yet winning is the most gorgeous thing about sports.”
Newton knows to appreciate the moment. A franchise quarterback who was taken No. 1 over all in the 2011 draft, Newton had sulked his way through struggles and losses early in his career.
Questions about maturity dogged Newton for years. But he has largely put that to rest over time, and the Panthers were confident enough to hand him a five-year, $103 million contract extension in the off-season that made him among the highest-paid players in the league.
Newton, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound force, led the Panthers to a 23-6 fourth-quarter advantage with two touchdown passes against the Colts. But when Indianapolis made its run, scoring 17 consecutive points to tie the game, there were moments when the Panthers and Newton could have buckled. There was a short drive just before the two-minute mark when the Panthers had a chance to put the game away with a first down but went nowhere, allowing the Colts another chance to come back and tie the game.
In overtime, there was a perfect pass from Newton to the speedy Ted Ginn Jr. that was sure to be the winning touchdown until Ginn, streaking down the sideline, dropped the ball.
A younger Newton might not have been so unaffected. But against the Colts, he calmly helped keep the Panthers in the game by directing a drive to a tying field goal in overtime and securing enough yards after a Luke Kuechly interception to get Graham Gano close enough for a 52-yard winning field goal.
Newton, who runs a no-huddle offense that buys him time to make critical decisions at the line, was in control throughout.
“I think Cam has taken a pretty typical path toward leadership,” tight end Greg Olsen said. “I think he did it naturally. I think he did it both by his play and by the way he does things off the field. I think when you come in as a young player, as he did, with such expectations and such high regard with what he accomplished, first overall pick and all that, obviously there’s a lot of expectation placed on you. He’s done everything and more to surpass those expectations both from his performance and his development into a leadership position.”
Newton and the Panthers have been building toward this for years, beginning in 2011, when Ron Rivera was hired as coach and Newton was his first-ever pick. Newton is now an elite quarterback in the N.F.L., the only one to have thrown for at least 3,000 yards and rushed for at least 500 in each of his first four seasons. He is on pace to reach those figures again this year.
Newton’s numbers do not put him at the top of the league; he ranks well behind in passing yards, touchdowns and completion percentage. But the Panthers are ranked No. 1 in rushing, in part because of Newton, who has 286 yards and four touchdowns.
Rivera and Newton have helped Carolina capture the South Division in the last two seasons and reach the playoffs twice in a row for the first time in franchise history. It seems more than likely the Panthers will extend that playoff run this season.
They have never been in this position before. And it may be hard to call the Panthers a Super Bowl favorite yet, given the loss of wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the preseason, and a defensive line that has not found a replacement since dumping the problematic Greg Hardy.
But along with Newton and a running game led by Jonathan Stewart, two elite linebackers — Kuechly and Thomas Davis — and a shutdown cornerback, Josh Norman, the Panthers have enough tools to raise those lofty expectations.
“Yes, very dangerous,” Rivera said. “Because the truth of the matter, the only expectations that need to be raised are ours. The only standard we need to play to is ours. The thing that you have to be careful about is the outside noise. People are going to talk — ‘16-0, 19-0!’ So that’s one of the things you try to tell everybody: ‘Hey, manage the expectations.’
“I think we’ve gone through enough in my five seasons here that certain things we’re able to cope and deal with.”