Why the Panthers Need to Keep NFL MVP Cam Newton Playing

Cam Newton led his Carolina Panthers on a drive that won the game as time expired, likely locking up the MVP and certainly knocking out the New York Giants. Now Newton's Panthers have two meaningless games before the playoffs start—and Newton had better start and finish both of them.

If there had been any doubt that the Panthers can beat any team with any style, as long as Newton's doing his thing, it was erased this Sunday. Missing starting running back Jonathan Stewart, facing the desperate, dangerous Giants in New Jersey with almost nothing at stake, Newton led his team to a whopping 38 points.

Barring a 45-point game from the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday Night Football, the Panthers will hold their claim on being the NFL's top scoring offense. Despite starting Fozzy Whittaker at tailback and another prominent Ted Ginn drop, the Panthers rolled up a 35-7 lead in the game's first 40 minutes.

The much-anticipated battle between Panthers cornerback Josh Norman and Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. turned disturbingly literal.

A couple of rounds of fisticuffs drew plenty of social media criticism, but Beckham's blindside, headhunting helmet-to-helmet shot drew the four-letter ire of Norman himself, per Steven Overmyer of CBS-2 in New York:

Crucially, Beckham avoided ejection. As quarterback Eli Manning and the Giants offense mounted a furious comeback, the war between Norman and Beckham raged on. According to Pro Football Focus' Nathan Jahnke, Norman lined up across from Beckham on 56 of Beckham's 58 outside-aligned snaps.

A few Panthers mistakes allowed the Giants to keep drawing closer: a blocked field goal, a bobbled exchange that became a lost fumble and a Newton third-down pass batted down by Jason Pierre-Paul's club-wrapped right hand. When the seemingly inevitable game-tying touchdown came, there was only one man fit to score it: Beckham.

When he scored, stepped over Norman, danced, styled on it, went over to the sideline and played to the crowd, Newton's don't-worry-I-got-this head-nod became the iconic video clip of the game, the week and maybe the season:

As MVPs are wont to do, Newton calmly went out and won the game. He used his arm, his legs and his head in picking apart the Giants defense and getting kicker Graham Gano a shot to seal the game with just a few seconds left on the clock.

When Gano's kick went through the uprights, the Giants were eliminated from the playoffs and the Panthers had clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Neither team has anything left to play for in this regular season.

But while the Panthers desperately need Newton healthy and available for the playoffs, they can't take him off the field for two seemingly meaningless games against the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Why?

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

Routine is a huge factor in NFL success. On a winning team, going out and doing what you do week after week can be a positive feedback loop. You build on what you've been doing in the daily rhythm of the NFL work week, go out and execute on Sunday, then go through the exact same process all over again, down to the hour.

Even the simple disruption of a bye week can completely flip a team's momentum. The Denver Broncos were 6-0 going into their bye and are 4-3 in the seven weeks since. The Green Bay Packers were 6-0 before their bye and have gone 3-4 after that. Taking starters, especially Newton, off the field for the next two weeks will not only disrupt the Panthers' rhythm, routine and preparation, it will send the signal to the rest of the team to lay off the gas pedal.

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Once a team settles for giving anything less than its best, it's hard to flip that switch back on. Given the free pass to the second round they've so thoroughly earned, sitting Newton now would mean the Panthers will go from Dec. 21 to Jan. 16 without playing a meaningful game.

That's an unacceptable level of rust before a win-or-go-home game against, say, the Seattle Seahawks.

If the Panthers are going to make good on this incredible season—if they're going to go as far as Newton can take them—they need to play every remaining game the way they've played every game so far: with everything they've got, and Newton leading the charge.