Cam Newton: Panthers May Be 0-2 but Future Is Bright for Carolina and Rookie QB

Bad news for the Carolina Panthers:

An 0-2 start to an NFL season is the kiss of death when it comes to making the playoffs, the kiss of death for a winning season.

Good news for the Carolina Panthers:

You've got the Nayslayer.

Yes, the Nayslayer, the slayer of Naysayers.

You've got Cam Newton, and if someone came up to you before the season started and told you after two games that the Nayslayer would be second only to Tom Brady in passing yards after two games, well, you might be buying everyone barbecue for the rest of the season.

Yet, there is Newton the Nayslayer, looking like a veteran quarterback, passing like few thought he could, keeping his team in the game against a mighty Super Bowl favorite like Green Bay on Sunday.

Yeah, there's the Nayslayer, throwing for a mind-boggling 422 yards in his opening game as a rookie signal-caller. Then, for those who wanted to call it a giant fluke, well, there was the Newton the Nayslayer, slaying more naysayers faster than you can say, another beer please.

You might wonder about the wisdom of letting an NFL quarterback put the ball up for grabs 83 times in two football games when his name is not Brady or Manning.

Throwing caution to the wind, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski has done just that and the Nayslayer has put up 854 yards, second only to Brady's 940.

Keep in mind that, before the season started, you were looking at a pair of really, really good running backs there in Carolina: DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Now, the absolutely sane procedure would have been to feature the offense around that pair and let Newton show us his ball-handling skills—you know, handing off to those guys more often than not.

But no, perhaps Chudzinski, in a moment of total insanity, thought to himself: "I'll let our rookie quarterback air it out and then some, and then we'll throw it even more."

With that contrarian philosophy in the meeting rooms, the Panthers lost a close one to the Cardinals out there at University of Phoenix Stadium. That University of Phoenix must have a helluva football team to build a stadium like that and then be nice enough to let the Cardinals use it.

Sunday, those pesky Panthers with the Nayslayer at the helm went toe-to-toe with the Lads of Lambeau and really hung in there with the Pack.

Sure, it's 0-2, but it's not an ugly 0-2. It's not an Indianapolis Colts 0-2 or a Kansas City 0-2 or a Seattle Seahawks 0-2.

This is an 0-2 with hope.

A lot of it.

And the Nayslayer.