Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton Quiets the Doubters in Impressive Debut

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was fantastic against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Newton was poised in the pocket and looked like he had been in the league for four or five years already. 

This is incredibly promising news for Panthers fans, who have had to listen to the naysayers' doubts about the former Heisman Trophy winner. Newton will grab all the headlines this week and rightfully so, although it is important to take a step back and realize it was one game.

The next test for Newton and the Panthers will be against the defending champion Green Bay Packers. It will take another sterling performance from Newton in order for Carolina to pull off the upset. Even if the Packers crush the Panthers next week and Newton struggles, he showed enough today that he will eventually become a franchise quarterback.

One of the concerns about Newton going into the season was his accuracy. That wasn't an issue at all against the Cardinals, as he completed 24/37 passes for a staggering 422 yards. It was a record-breaking performance from the rookie quarterback, but the statistics aren't what matter. What matters is how Newton looked in acquiring the numbers he did.

Newton showed off that he can make all the throws, whether that be a nice touch pass or a dart to a receiver—he can do it. The poise he showed in the pocket was fantastic and never did the rookie get rattled by the moment. Newton did everything in his power to will the Panthers to a victory, but the defense and special teams made one too many blunders.

Carolina suffered through a miserable season a year ago with Jimmy Clausen leading the offense. It seems that Panther fans will be rewarded this season with an exciting football team, as long as Newton is taking the snaps.

Many experts predicted Newton would struggle mightily in his rookie season, but after watching his debut against Arizona, it's hard to doubt the kid. What will be interesting is to see how many analysts backtrack on what they think of Newton.

Merril Hoge has been critical of Newton and Greg Cosell hasn't exactly given him a ringing endorsement—although to be fair, he has said it's way too early in the evaluation process to know exactly how good he will be. But with a real game under his belt, it wouldn't be surprising if the Newton bandwagon started to pick up steam.

Of course, it will take more than one good game against an Arizona defense that looked suspect on Sunday. Regardless of the defense at hand, it was a more than impressive performance from Newton and is something that deserves everyone's attention. 

If Newton really wanted to make believers out of the doubters, an upset win against Green Bay next weekend would do the trick.