Cam Newton Overcomes Weather, Colts Late Surge to Keep Panthers Undefeated

Cam Newton ran when there was nowhere to run, threw when there was no time to throw and was nearly forced to catch the passes himself. In an ugly game full of ugly moments, his Carolina Panthers won ugly, 29-26—and it was beautiful.

For NFL fans who hadn't gotten a chance to familiarize themselves with the kind of magic Newton's been working all year long, Newton put on a show for the national Monday Night Football audience. Battling through a downpour, poor protection and a host of weather-induced miscues from everyone around him, Newton just kept working, kept executing and kept making great plays.

A heavy dose of read-option runs kept Newton involved, even when they weren't asking him to throw. Newton accounted for 41 of the Panthers' 140 hard-earned rushing yards; his threat to run also kept the Indianapolis Colts honest when tailback Jonathan Stewart toted it to the line. Stewart's 82 yards and a touchdown were vital to keeping the chains moving when Newton's receivers weren't getting it done.

The awful conditions made Newton's job hard enough, but the Panthers' pass-catchers had a horrific case of the drops that repeatedly prevented him from putting the Colts away. Prominent drops by Ted Ginn Jr. and the normally steady-handed Greg Olsen took gobs of yards and at least one sure-fire touchdown off the board. Kicker Graham Gano missed an extra point.

Somehow, though, the Panthers' physical dominance of this game felt relentless, insurmountable for all but the dying minutes of the contest. The Panthers led at halftime by a score of just 10-6, but it didn't feel like the game was in doubt. Even as the Colts scored their first touchdown with just 7:04 left in the game and then their second touchdown at the 2:27, the game still felt like the Panthers' to lose.

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

When Carolina's injury-ravaged pass rush looked gassed for a third straight drive, though, and a rejuvenated Luck started moving the Colts down the field, doubt crept in. After Luck took one last shot at the end zone—one that was nearly intercepted—Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri nailed a last-second game-tying field goal in the dying seconds. It looked like the tables had permanently turned.

As Colts returner Quan Bray took the overtime-opening kick out to the 45-yard line, the narrative began to coalesce around Luck. Color commentator Jon Gruden talked up the "fire" in Luck's eye as, for the first time all season, he was playing like the Pro Bowler he is. This was it, it seemed: Luck was going to send the tens of thousands of hardy Panthers fans who stayed to the end home soaking wet and devastated.

Only, he didn't.

Panthers captain Luke Kuechly made a fantastic third-down tackle to force a Vinatieri field goal. Under the old overtime rules, that would have ended the game. Thank goodness the rules have changed, and the football-watching world got to see how much Newton's grown. He started picking up yards in chunks, picking up big gain after big gain with on-the-money throws.

His would-be game-winner to a wide-open Ginn, which Ginn inexcusably and inexplicably dropped, was one of the best passes of the season:

Instead of a walk-off touchdown, the Panthers settled for an answering field goal. Luck would get one more chance to hand the Panthers their first "L" of the season. That's when Kuechly stepped back in and got the ball back to Newton with his first interception of the season.

Newton completed a short pass to Jerricho Cotchery to get the Panthers five yards closer, and that was all the help Gano needed: He lined up to take the 52-yard game-winning field goal on a disintegrating grass field during a hearty rain and then blasted it through. 29-26, Panthers.

"A win's a win any way you get it," Panthers captain Luke Kuechly told ESPN after the game. He, of course, made a few key plays that helped the Panthers seal that win.

Bob Leverone/Associated Press

Yet, it's Newton's superhuman efforts that made Kuechly's plays meaningful. Newton's stat line doesn't look amazing (16-of-35 passing for 248 yards, two touchdowns and an interception), but add in a couple of those stomach-wrenching drops and the picture of what Newton accomplished Monday night becomes clear.

Doubters will continue to point at Newton's completion rate, passer rating and other traditional metrics of quarterback success to pooh-pooh what he's done for the Panthers this season. But anyone who watched all of this signature performance saw how Newton is generating offense for the Panthers almost singlehandedly—and how he, when combined with Kuechly, cornerback Josh Norman and the suffocating Panthers pass defense, is every bit as good as the Panthers' 7-0 record suggests.