FOXBORO, Mass. — There aren’t many phone booths left in 2017, but Cam Newton found one at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
The Carolina Panthers star quarterback has been heavily scrutinized during the 2017 NFL season, as the Panthers’ offense was ranked dead last in the NFL coming into Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots and Newton’s quarterback rating was sitting at an abysmal 69.7.
But that all changed on a brisk fall afternoon against the Patriots’ struggling defense.
Newton shredded New England’s secondary, throwing for 316 yards and three touchdowns while adding a rushing touchdown in the Panthers’ 33-30 win over the Patriots.
“Cam’s our leader and we trust him and when he plays like that it’s hard for any team to beat us,” tight end Ed Dickson said after the game. “We know he’s getting healthy from his shoulder injury and everything like that, but we’re building off this win, we’re going to continue to build off it.”
The 28-year-old star didn’t get off to a hot start, as he threw a horrid interception in the first quarter. Newton thought he had Devin Funchess open down the right sideline, but he floated a wobbly pass that was picked off by Malcolm Butler.
Newton, however, nearly was perfect from that point on, rattling off 10 straight completions and transforming into the Superman of old before a stunned Gillette Stadium crowd.
He hit Christian McCaffrey in the flat for 11 yards, Funchess for 9 and McCaffrey again for 12. He then found Fozzy Whitaker on a screen pass for a 28-yard touchdown to tie the game at 10.
It was more of the same on the next drive, as Newton picked apart the Patriots’ secondary for gains of 13, 11, 43, 4, and finally a 10-yard scoring strike to Funchess to give the Panthers a halftime lead.
The 2015 NFL MVP continued to give the Patriots fits in the second half, as he hit Funchess for a 16-yard touchdown to increase Carolina’s lead to seven in the third quarter. His 7-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter gave the Panthers a 14-point lead and also made Newton the first QB to rush for 50 career touchdowns in the Super Bowl era.
But Tom Brady and the Patriots tied the game with three minutes remaining, meaning Newton had to prove he was back by putting his team in position to win the game and not give Brady a chance to steal another win, as he did the week before.
Newton drove the Panthers’ offense down to the Patriots’ 31-yard line, with help from a penalty by Stephon Gilmore, and Graham Gano did the rest by drilling a game-winning 48-yard field goal.
Newton was brilliant in his reemergence as one of the league’s most dynamic quarterbacks, going 22 of 29 for 316 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing eight times for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Although Newton wasn’t thrilled to discuss his performance after the game, his teammates gushed about his ability take the game over.
“It definitely adds juice to your game when you see your quarterback go out and perform the way he did today,” linebacker Thomas Davis said. “We know what he is capable of and it’s been very reserved the first couple weeks. I feel like the playcalling hasn’t been aggressive, but we opened up the playbook today and it showed. You could see it in his performance; he was juiced and he went out and played like Cam today.”
The Panthers moved into a tie for the best record in the NFC with the win, and now the NFL is on notice — Superman is back.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
