The prodigy son is back! Carolina Panther’s Cam Newton scored two touchdowns in his first two plays in the team against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
“No disrespect to them,” Newton said. “But I’m just floating at an all-time high frequency. It’s almost scary.”
Newton brought much-needed energy to a Panthers team that had lost five of its past six games and faced long odds against the Cardinals, who entered the day with an NFL-best 8-1 record.
He scored on a two-yard run around the right side less than four minutes into the game, lunging through linebacker Isaiah Simmons and into the end zone. He followed with a two-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson on his second play, which the two had worked on for the first time Friday.
“We worked on that a couple of times to get the timing of it down,” Anderson said. “We knew it was going to be there.”
Newton finished with 8 yards passing and 14 yards rushing. Those aren’t the numbers that made him the NFL MVP in 2015, but they were a good beginning considering Newton spent only three days on the playbook. These two scoring plays came in the same stadium where Newton made his NFL debut in 2011 after Carolina drafted him first overall out of Auburn.
“I was reading about Moses, and God spoke to Moses in the desert,” Newton said. “And where are we at?”
Running back Christian McCaffrey said Newton brings energy like nobody he’s ever known. Walker said he felt it, too.
“Just him being himself, him bringing the juice and energy he brings, it helps this team a lot,” he said. “It helps us all relax, be comfortable to play great football.”
Coach Matt Rhule wouldn’t say for sure that Newton would start, but added: “We brought him here to play.”
Newton made sure to remind everyone that he was grateful for the opportunity: “I’ll put it like this: This time last week I was eating a bowl of cereal,” he said. “That puts things in perspective.”
