Clutch Cam: Cool QB drives Carolina’s NFC romp.
Quarterback has been unflappable in Panthers’ run to Super Bowl
As he has done throughout his MVP-caliber season, Cam Newton only gets better as the magnitude of the moment intensifies.
And he’s not surprised by any of it.
“So much of what I do, I’ve thought of this moment way before this moment,” Newton said late Sunday night, well after his Carolina Panthers had demolished the Arizona Cardinals 49-15 in the NFC Championship Game. “You are put in a big-game situation like this, you’ve played it out so many times in your mind. It’s like that dream now becomes a reality.”
Newton said last week that he never gets nervous, and he looked anything but jittery in his first conference championship game. Aside from throwing one interception, he had total command of the game.
He threw two touchdown passes. He ran for two more scores. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 335 yards, but statistics don’t capture the extent of Newton’s impact on the game.
“He’s awesome,” cornerback Josh Norman said. “He put on his cape and he flew.”
During the Panthers’ postgame celebration on the Bank of America Stadium field, fans started serenading Newton with chants of “MVP! MVP!” He certainly looked the part Sunday.
He threw an 86-yard touchdown pass to an unlikely target, wide receiver Corey Brown. He threw his second touchdown pass, a 5-yarder to receiver Devin Funchess, when the game was out of hand in the fourth quarter.
He showed why he is a nightmare to contain, much less stop. Newton was equally dangerous with his legs, running for 47 yards on 10 carries. He scored on runs from the 1 and 12.
Newton does not always amass gaudy statistics, largely because he doesn’t have the most impressive group of receivers at his disposal. But he has been the league’s most valuable player this season.
Always poised and composed in the waning moments of close games, Newton engineered four game-winning drives this season, which was tied for the most in the NFL.
He finished the regular season by accounting for a league-leading 45 total touchdowns. And he is the only quarterback in NFL history with 100-plus touchdown passes and 25-plus rushing touch- downs in his first five seasons
Coach Ron Rivera expected Newton to be at his best Sunday, in part because the quarterback was used to a big stage. He had played in high-profile games at Auburn, where he led the Tigers to an unbeaten season and a national title in 2010.
He appeared to be at ease in the moment Sunday.
“He’s having an amazing time, man. You see it,” defensive lineman Kawann Short said. “This is what he lives for.”
There has been little, if anything, that has rattled Newton. And he has spread the ball around to a variety of playmakers.
Tight end Greg Olsen is the most consistent pass-catching threat of consequence on the Panthers. But Newton completed only one pass to Olsen in the first half for 12 yards. Still, Carolina led Arizona 24-7 at the break.
With less than six minutes to play, Newton stayed in the pocket in the red zone and released a pass despite taking a hit.
Funchess made the catch in the end zone, a touchdown pass that punctuated an outstanding NFC Championship Game performance.
“We could have put a 50-burger up there, but Coach pulled us back,” Norman said.
Throughout a season that has included one loss, Newton knows there’s only one way to finish the season in two weeks.
“We’re not going to just take pictures,” a composed Newton said. “We’re trying to finish this thing off.”