Cam Newton: Why He Makes the Panthers One of the NFL's Most Dangerous Teams

Four games into his professional career, Cam Newton is turning out to be one of the better dry-game rookie quarterbacks the National Football League has ever seen.

Three times in four games Newton and the Carolina Panthers have played under dry skies and he’s put up some monster numbers – an average of 409 yards per game on 60 percent completions.

In the process, he’s turned the Panthers into a dangerous team. Not a winning team, mind you. Not yet. Carolina is 1-3 under his guidance.

Curiously, it was last week’s monsoon that limited Newton (18-of-34 for 158 yards) last week against Jacksonville, and it was that game that the Panthers won. It would have been tough for anyone to throw for big numbers in that kind of weather.

Sunday, with the skies clear, he had a 27-for-46 day good for 374 yards in a 34-29 loss to the Bears in Chicago.

The weather forecast notwithstanding, there are going to be more wins for Carolina with Newton at the helm, because he is powering an offense that has already racked up 1,750 yards one quarter of the way through the season.

At some point the Panther defense is going to start keeping Carolina in games, and when that happens, maybe Newton won’t have to throw 46 times in a game, which he has done twice already, When that happens, the Panthers will be ready to participate in the NFL as equals.

So far the Panthers haven't been able to give him a steady running game. But he does have a big-time playmaking receiver in Steve Smith, so progress is ongoing.

As it is, Newton’s ability to get the ball down the field and offer the threat that only a skilled running quarterback (33 carries, 133 yards so far) can provide is making the Panthers a dangerous team to face regardless of the supplementary crew.

It may take a while, because the Panthers were a one-win team a year ago. But the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner will take Carolina from merely dangerous to regularly victorious.

Time is on his side.