Cam Newton made his first home start as the Panthers quarterback since early in the 2019 season on Sunday and scored a pair of first half touchdowns, but the second half saw Washington move in front and secure a 27-21 road win.
Newton didn’t like losing, but he reflected on why it was still “a special day for me” despite the loss. Newton told reporters that November 21 was the day he was arrested while he was enrolled at the University of Florida and charged with burglary, larceny and obstructing justice for allegedly stealing another student’s laptop computer and later throwing it out of a dormitory window when officers arrived to investigate the allegation.
Newton did a pretrial diversion program as part of a plea deal that led to the charges being dropped and wound up as the top pick of the 2011 draft after leading Auburn to a national title. Newton said he sees it as his “resurrection day” and that he thinks good things will come for the Panthers after this loss.
“I wanted to enjoy the moment today,” Newton said, via Steve Reed of the Associated Press. “It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to or we wanted it to, but yet we can learn from it. We have to realize that nobody is going to lay down. I didn’t expect that. I know a lot of other guys didn’t expect that, but it’s still going to come down to us executing the given plan. For me, I am excited what the future holds and it’s going to start with us tomorrow and going over the film and locking in and doing that as best as we could.”
The Panthers will try for better results in Miami next Sunday and then they’ll have a bye week that Newton can use to get more of the offense under his belt for the stretch run.