Jacksonville Jaguars 10 – Carolina Panthers 16
The story, to Grey Scherl at least, is Cam Newton‘s first win: Cam Newton finally gets a win, but it’s over the still ailing Jaguars. These are two of the three teams to take first round quarterbacks, but while Cam has been the starter more or less since they announced he was drafted, plenty of people expected Blaine Gabbert and Jake Locker to sit this season and start next year. Well, the Mizzou alumni started his first NFL game today and…to be honest, neither quarterback was very productive. Gabbert had an INT, Newton couldn’t even rush 30 yards. Jacksonville gave up a SAFETY. I’d call this a defensive game, but that’s really just due to neither team having an offense worth speaking of.
And Daniels piles on with a tweet-style thought: At this point, the only question is if Cam Newton or the Bills are getting the cover of Sports Illustrated first. I vote Cam.
My Take: I’d love to talk about Gabbert, but he played like you’d expect a rookie to, but the story is really, clearly Newton. He’s among the best looking rookie QB’s I’ve ever seen. He wasn’t great this week, but he played well enough to get his team the win and well enough that I really, really wish his team were in the AFC away from my Packers. The Panthers defense, which everyone constantly forgets, is not bad at all. They’ll be covering for Newton’s mistakes this year and maybe next, but as he gets it, they are not far from contention.
