The first two years of Cam Newton’s career have included a bad habit of sulking when things go poorly. In his third NFL season, Newton plans to put on a happier face during unhappy times.
Newton said, per the Associated Press, that his approach in 2013 will be this: “Next play.”
“Oh man, I had it bad,” Newton said regarding his reactions to adversity. “I still do have it to some degree.”
He’s trying to get rid of it, because it can be counterproductive.
“There are times when I am worried about the play where I overthrew [Steve Smith] -- and now it is three plays later,” Newton said. “If I let that affect me the next ball is not going to be complete or it might be intercepted. It’s like a snowball effect. For me it’s about moving on and understanding that mistakes are going to happen. But you have to bounce back and make the most of each and every play.”
New offensive coordinator Mike Shula and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey have been working on getting Newton to forget about bad plays more quickly.
‘They’ve been doing an unbelievable job with being that gnat in my ear, saying, ‘Cam, forget about it. Go to the next play,’” Newton said. “And that’s a good thing.”
Newton will need to find a way to deal not only with bad plays but also bad games. By the time he heads to the podium for a post-game press conference, he needs to leave the long face in the locker room and focus on what he can learn from the loss in order to turn the next game into a win.