Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers put together a terrible offensive performance on Friday night against the New England Patriots, but the reigning MVP isn’t too concerned about it.
Playing deep into the third quarter, Newton never got into a rhythm, never found his comfort zone and looked altogether disheveled.
He finished with a final line that would make Geno Smith blush with shame: 100 yards on 13-of-29 passing with no touchdowns and two interceptions, adding nine yards on one carry, which was pretty much negated by a loss of seven yards on a sack.
Newton displayed atrocious mechanics throughout the contest, throwing off his back foot, throwing while flat-footed and across his body on many occasions — it was just ugly football.
As you’d expect from a leader of his caliber who has learned some hard lessons, Newton didn’t deign to make a mountain out of a molehill. “It’s preseason,” he said.
And while Newton’s performance was ugly, he wasn’t the only one stinking up the joint for Carolina on Friday night. Receivers dropped passes, and a tipped pass accounted for one of Newton’s two interceptions.
“Well, we took our turns making mistakes and any time that happens, you know you’re going to get those kind of results,” Newton said, per the team’s website. “There’s no need to panic. It just comes down to having a good week of practice and the truth of the matter is that we played a great team. You know, great players who are coached extremely well and they are very stingy. That’s all it comes down to.
“We will be better from this. I’m glad it happened. I’m not glad we lost but I’m just glad that we had an understanding that we’re not that good yet. We will be better.”
The only real silver lining was that the Panthers generally did an outstanding job of protecting Newton in the pocket.
It’s possible Newton and the rest of the starters will get one more chance to sharpen things up next week. Head coach Ron Rivera isn’t ruling out the option to let them play for a bit next week, but perhaps a solid week of practice will soothe any concerns he has after last night’s mistake-filled performance.
After nearly reaching the pinnacle last year and falling short, Carolina has extremely high expectations this year. Based on pure talent, the roster is probably the best overall in the NFC, if not the entire league.