Cam Newton Probably Out For The Rest Of The Season

The Carolina Panthers would like this season to end as soon as possible. They are experiencing blow after blow after blow.

The latest one involves Cam Newton who is going to miss the game against Atlanta Falcons, because of his problematic shoulder.

This was confirmed earlier today by Marty Hurney, Carolina’s general manager.

According to various sources, Newton will also skip the last match against the Saints, to avoid further complications and speed up his recovery.

Panther’s quarterback is dealing with this nagging injury for quite some time. According to the player, he picked it up in the last quarter of the game against Philadelphia Eagles all the way back in October.

Cam Newton wasn't so sure about potential surgery on his shoulder after last night's game… pic.twitter.com/sNRAJfyXSc

— News Talk 1110 & 99.3 WBT (@wbtradio) December 18, 2018

Despite what many think, this is probably the reason for a significant drop in Newton’s performances. Since the above-mentioned match, his stats went from MVP to below average.

The arrival of Norv Turner, the new offensive coordinator, sparked one of the best starts in Superman’s career. In the opening eight matches, when Carolina had a 6-2 record, he threw 15 touchdown passes and 4 interceptions, having excellent percentages and ratings. Even at this moment, when he spoiled that opening, with 9 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in the next 6 straight losses, Newton has a career-best percentage of completed passes, 67.9%.

So far in this campaign, he posted 3,395 yards with 320 completions from 471 passes.

In the last contest against the Saints this Monday, Newton had one of the worst performances this season, not being able to toss a single TD pass, having one interception and 131 yards through the air. It was the fourth-worst passing yardage in his professional career.

After the game, he openly spoke about the injury, saying that it is not the justification for the bad performances he had in recent times, but it certainly had some influence on them.

“That’s not a scapegoat. That’s not something that I want people to bail me out on. It’s just something that is reality.” Newton told at the press conference.

“No matter how much you push, no matter how much you ice, the anti-inflammatory you take. Trust me, I’ve done it. Acupuncture, massages. There’s not a night that goes by without me getting some type of work done on my arm. You just don’t have the strength.”

And when looking deeper in his stats, there is a confirmation for that, as Newton failed to provide a single 20+ yard TD pass since the game against the Eagles.

His replacement for the upcoming clash with the Falcons is going to be Taylor Heinicke. For the 25-year old this will be a first-ever start for the Panthers. He went undrafted in the 2015 draft, before ending in Minnesota. Heinicke stayed for two years with the Vikings, then went to Houston, and in the end finished in Charlotte. What is a positive thing for him, is that he knows Norv Turner from the time spent with the Vikings.

https://twitter.com/TacosNSlurpees/status/1075470633688010754

Over the recent weeks, Heinicke was often replacing Newton in the situations which demanded Hail Mary’s or some big-time throws. During the preseason, he tossed two TD’s, rushed for one and had one interception.

The Panthers have less than 1% chance of reaching the playoffs. They would need an unreal turn of events to take place in order to enter the postseason, so basically, there is no pressure for the backup QB in this one.

Also, Falcons are one of the worst, if not the worst, offenses in the NFL, so he just might get the chance to post some good numbers which could improve his CV, for some future jobs.