▶ New England QB Cam Newton can relate to L.A.’S Justin Herbert’s season.
Both had individual success early, but L.A. QB waiting for wins
Cam Newton can empathize with what Justin Herbert is going through in his rookie season with the Los Angeles Chargers.
The New England signalcaller set several rookie milestones when he was the top overall pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2011. While it led to Newton being the Offensive Rookie of the Year, it didn’t translate into immediate success for the Panthers, who were 3-8 through their first 11 games. That is the same mark the Chargers have going into Sunday’s game against the Patriots at Sofi Stadium.
“I just remember as a young player I really didn’t know the nuances of how to win,” said Newton, who threw for a rookierecord 4,051 yards.
“I knew I was talented, but there’s still certain things that go into playing hand-to-hand foot
ball. Offense playing alongside with the defense, defense playing alongside with the special teams and vice versa. This game transitions so much from the collegiate level to the professional level and it’s all in a manner of plays. In college you get so many times to win or to lose so to speak. But in the NFL it kind of comes down to three to five plays that you know, that you can point back to and say this is when the game was won.”
Herbert experienced plenty of losing during his first season at Oregon, which he has said has helped him in trying to get through the valleys of this year.
Herbert is averaging 301.5 yards per game, which is third in the NFL and joined Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes last week as the only players to reach 3,000 yards in their first 10 starts. Herbert has tied Andrew Luck’s rookie mark with six 300-yard games and needs five touchdowns to pass Baker Mayfield’s first-year mark of 27 with Cleveland in 2018.