🏈 Cam Shoulders The Blame

Meet the new Cam Newton: older, wiser ... and maybe the reason for the Panthers' misery. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: Meet the new Cam Newton, who may be the man of Panthers fans’ nightmares ... LeBron wishes you a spooky Friday the 13th ... and the 5 most popular wagers for a full football weekend. Cam Newton wasn’t always like this. On Thursday night, after the Carolina Panthers lost 20-14 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Newton held his hand up and took responsibility. He admitted it was on him. He said he had to be better. He conceded that he hadn’t upheld his part of the bargain. He understood that not only would fingers be pointed at him after the team’s second straight defeat to open the season, but that they should be. He was gracious, mature, pragmatic and on point during his postgame media conference. It stood out because, as noted, that wasn’t always the case. Cam Newton didn’t always behave like this, largely because he didn’t have to. You don’t have much explaining to do when you’re one of the most gifted athletes in the game, perhaps the best short-yardage mobile quarterback in history, and the leader of a team that looks like it’s going places. Yet perspective may begin to shift when you’re no longer the chief goal-line option in the pivotal moments, when you’ve lost eight straight starts, and when you’re getting booed by your own fans. “Sometimes you find yourself in a blender,” Newton told reporters. “And the only person that can get yourself out is yourself.” [STORY IMAGE 1] Newton and the Panthers have a problem – actually a bunch of them – and the solution doesn’t feel imminent. We’re not even two weeks into September and critics are lining up to write off their season. There’s an overwhelming sense of uncertainty and a lack of clarity regarding the quarterback, who underwent offseason surgery on his shoulder and then sprained his foot during the preseason. Is Newton not playing like himself because he’s still recovering from those issues? Or – most worrying for Panthers loyalists – is this the new Newton, only 30 years old but nine years into taking a physical pounding season after season? “I have to be better,” Newton said. “No matter what physical condition I'm in. I didn't get the job done and it's frustrating. I wish I could say something other than that, but that's the fact. I'm a brutally honest person with people, and I'm a brutally honest person with myself. And it's time for me to look myself in the mirror and do some real soul-searching, because I had opportunities tonight and I didn't get it done.” He didn’t sound like that when he was at the peak of his abilities. After Super Bowl 50, the culmination of a season where the Panthers were the best team in the league but lost their nerve in the title game, I was assigned to shadow Newton in the hour or so after the conclusion of the game. In truth, there wasn’t much to write about. Newton gave terse, monosyllabic answers to some reporters’ questions; others he met with just a shrug and a stare. He slouched out of Levi’s Stadium soon after, and while what was interpreted as a petulant response to defeat did his image no favors, it seemed like he would be a QB force for a long time to come. That window may be closing. Newton managed 3,395 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, but his team hasn’t won since Nov. 4 of last year, at which point Carolina’s 2018 campaign began to implode. He hasn’t thrown a TD in four straight starts; all of the Panthers’ offensive points on Thursday came from kicker Joey Slye. On the decisive play at the end of the fourth quarter, they used Newton as a bizarre decoy — and it didn’t work, a direct snap to running back Christian McCaffrey being spotted early and snuffed out. (That final play will continue to be scrutinized and dissected, but [it seems pretty clear that not going with a QB sneak on a 4th and 1 on the two-yard line was a true anomaly]( not easily explained.) Newton couldn’t get anything going against Tampa Bay. He passed for 324 yards but was wildly inaccurate, awful under pressure, consistently getting plastered by the Buccaneers’ pass rush, and a complete non-entity as a runner. Newton, third all time in rushing yards for a quarterback, has carried 5 times for minus-2 yards this season. [STORY IMAGE 2] The Panthers also had a chance to win in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, and in some other timeline, perhaps the Panthers are 2-0, with everything looking rosy. That’s why you hand your QB a $100 million contract: to turn those tight ones in your favor. The blueprint is now written. Opponents are going to pack the box and bottle up McCaffrey for as long as Newton and the receivers fail to gain traction. With doubts over his long-ball capacity, Newton’s accuracy – the weakest part of his game – is going to become his most important. “Obviously Cam was terrible,” [FS1’s Nick Wright said on]( [First Things First](. “Cam at this point, he’s either injured, or he’s finished. I choose to believe it is the former. This is tough to come back from – 0-2 – when one of those losses is against the projected worst team in your division.” In Mike Sando’s preseason analysis in The Athletic, Newton was placed as a Tier 3 QB by a panel consisting of 55 NFL personnel. Most of the doubts stem from his physical capabilities and whether he is simply too beat up these days. Newton is supremely gifted and at 6’5“, 245 pounds, he brought a physicality to the position that has never been seen before. He is still well worth watching. Off the field, he seems to have better perspective on things – as well as an extraordinary dress sense – plus a better grip on how to deal with disappointment. In some ways he is a new, better Cam Newton. But the old version was one of the best QBs in the league. The new guy has a heck of a lot to prove. And even this early in the season, he’s running out of time to do it. [STORY IMAGE 3] Here’s what others have said ... Luke Decock, News & Observer: “If the opening loss was unfortunate, Thursday was inexcusable, a short-week loss to what was supposed to be the worst team in the division. Supposed to be — past tense. The Panthers can’t win with Newton playing like this and they certainly can’t win without him. He may not be right, but this is as healthy as he’s ever going to get. Maybe that’s why [Coach Ron] Rivera keeps insisting Newton is fine. The alternative is too grim to contemplate.” Ryan Phillips, The Big Lead: “While he’s always been interception-prone and has never posted a passer rating higher than 99.4, there’s no doubt Newton was a dynamic offensive player. His arm strength, size and running ability made him dangerous for defenses. The guy we saw Thursday night was something completely different. It was almost like he wasn’t all there. Mostly, the joy of playing football was gone. I hate to think it may have been beaten out of him after years behind a porous offensive line.” Riley McAtee, The Ringer: “The Panthers have used QB sneaks with Newton more than any other team with their respective quarterbacks, and he converts on those opportunities more than 80 percent of the time. To decline to rush Newton on three occasions in this game isn’t just odd, it’s completely out of character. Newton spent all offseason rehabbing an injured shoulder and is now showing serious accuracy issues and an uncharacteristic aversion to hits. For the 0-2 Panthers, that’s more than a cause for concern—it’s a reason to panic.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - [Steve Rushin at]( [Sports Illustrated]( rues the death of paper game tickets and the stories they leave behind. - Is Jonquel Jones ready to be the face of the WNBA? [Lindsay Gibbs at]( Report]( profiles the Bahamian star of the Connecticut Sun. - In Moscow, Evgeni Malkin opens up about his lost season, loneliness and NHL future to [Rob Rossi at]( [The Athletic](. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( Friday the 13th wouldn't possess the same spooky oomph that it has if it wasn't for, well, the "Friday the 13th" horror franchise. So, in honor of that, here's a throwback to the time LeBron James dressed up as the fictional (or is he?!) Jason Voorhees. And no, that's not him marching to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after his application to trademark "Taco Tuesday" [was denied]( ... it's from last Halloween. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] No. 6 Ohio State at Indiana (FOX, Saturday, 12 p.m. ET) Big Noon returns for Week 3 with the Buckeyes attempting to crack the Top 5 in the rankings. FOX’s 4 p.m. ET game on Saturday has Arizona State visiting No. 18 Michigan State, and the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners at UCLA will air at 8 p.m. ET. Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins (FOX, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET) The latest installment of one of the most storied rivalries in the NFL goes down on Sunday, with the Cowboys trying to prove they’re worthy of their Week 1 hype. And at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX, stick around for a highly anticipated Saints-Rams rematch. WWE Clash of Champions (WWE Network, Sunday, 7 p.m. ET) Every title in WWE will be on the line during the company’s latest PPV (free for new subscribers to the WWE Network), as Kofi Kingston defends the WWE Championship against Randy Orton, Braun Strowman challenges Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship, and Sasha Banks vies for the Raw Women’s Championship with Becky Lynch. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Top 5 Most Popular Football Wagers For the Weekend Philadelphia (-2) vs. Atlanta New York (A) (+6.5) vs. Cleveland Florida (-8) vs. Kentucky Minnesota (+3) vs. Green Bay Penn State (-17) vs. Pittsburgh While this weekend offers a veritable smorgasbord of football wagers, both professional and college, fans have zeroed in on the battle of the birds in Atlanta. According to our insights, 85% of moneyline tickets are on Carson Wentz & Co., and the over of 52.5 has seen significant action, as well, with 80% of the money on that side of the total. Meanwhile, sharp money has started to load up on New York vs. Cleveland after the line moved by a whopping 4 points in the wake of Sam Darnold’s mono diagnosis. [WHAT THEY SAID] “The hard days are the best because that’s where champions are made.” — Gabby Douglas [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download the FOX Sports app for live scores and streaming [App Store]( [Google Play]( Available on: [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] Forwarded this message? [Sign up](. Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2019 FOX Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. FOX.com Business & Legal Affairs - Manager Digital Media P.O. 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