They Cam, They Saw, They Conquered

Cam Newton shows us he is still a franchise quarterback

By Ethan Joyce

Evan Pike / AP

Well done, Cam. Right after ESPN The Magazine puts you on the cover, you rise to the occasion.

For those who missed the article, the subhead on the cover read, “Remember him? Cam Newton’s on a mission to remind people he is a franchise quarterback.”

Well, if Sunday against the Giants was the first step, that performance—223 passing yards with three passing touchdowns and a running touchdown—was a good start.

Even though the offense looked good, the Giants defense is awful, making every Panther look good: the defense sacked Eli Manning seven times and picked him off once, and DeAngelo Williams looked like the feature back of old with 120 yards on 23 carries. That kind of thing won’t happen every game for Cam and company.

The offensive line is still the biggest problem on this team. It even stood out yesterday, with Cam having to scramble on a good amount of his dropbacks in order to keep most plays alive. People seem to have forgotten how important the non-skill players, a.k.a. the linemen, are on an offense.

Look at the recent success of Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson last year. Both quarterbacks were dropped into great situations. Both also have good o-lines, phenomenal weapons, and great coaching staffs.

I am not trying to play the "aww, poor Cam Newton" card here, but these are all things the Panthers do not have. Jordan Gross is an All-Pro left tackle, but he can’t do it all by himself up front. Ryan Kalil is a serviceable center in this league, but he could get injured at any point.

Steve Smith has been a great option his entire career, but until another receive takes some pressure off him, he will have trouble getting open. Ted Ginn was wishfully brought in for that reason, but I'll never be completely sold on him.

Williams and fellow running back John Stewart are both often injured and seem to only be good for three-yard runs. Also, thanks to their massive contracts, the team is on the borderline of the cap, making it hard to bring any weapon in for Cam.

These are all things that common Panther’s fan can see, and they know a lot of changes have to come to make this team an NFC South challenger again.

But, back to Cam's ability on the field, look at the player comparison listed below and try to guess who they are.

Player A: 16 reg. season games played, 60 percent passing completion, 32.3 passing attempts per game, 4,051 passing yards, and 21 passing touchdowns.

Player B:  16 reg. season games played, 63 percent passing completion, 33.1 passing attempts per game, 4,110 passing yards, and 26 passing touchdowns.

Player A is Cam Newton’s 2011 stats, his first year in the league; Player B is Tom Brady’s stat from the 2005 season, the last year the Pats won the Super Bowl. That was the same season where most fans began to accept that Brady would be an all-time great.

And that stat line for Cam doesn't include the 706 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns.

We should also point out that those offensive lines from the Super Bowl Pats were phenomenal. The Panthers line in 2011 was solid but can’t begin to compare to the championship Pats.

Since Michael Vick came into the league, fans and NFL teams alike have been enamored with the dual-threat quarterback.

But even Vick never had a season where his rush/pass totals for yards came close to Cam’s—Vick’s most successful season was in 2011, when he had 3,892 combined yards.

In my opinion, Cam Newton is one of the greatest athletes we have seen at the QB position. The production, the ability and the durability are all there. The only thing that he has lacked on is maturity.

But now, I think he is ready to show people what he’s made of again, and he wants to show people he can be a leader. Hopefully the Cam sulking-behind-a-towel routine is gone for good.

But one thing is certain: the spotlight for franchise quarterbacks is harsh. We will know by the end of this season whether he can be Superman or not.