Black and Blue Review
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has a complicated relationship with words. Sometimes they’re clear and reveal his charisma. Other times they’re jumbled clichés. And then there are the times he sets himself up for misinterpretation.
That’s what happened Wednesday when Newton talked at relative length about his ankle issues. After he underwent surgery in March, he’s still feeling pain in his ankle. So this quote, in particular, seemed potentially problematic:
“We kind of teased about it a couple weeks ago, how the doctor kind of downplayed how the surgery was going to go. I just thought this was a surgery just to clean up the ligaments and what not. But after reading a lot of reports from you guys, hearing about so much of ligament repair and this major ankle surgery that may hold Cam Newton off for a couple months, that’s when I started scratching my head like, man, this may be bigger than I thought. And something I thought may have a cast on for a couple weeks end up to be a couple months. I’m still in that mode where I’m trying to realize that I’m still trying to recover from a major ankle surgery that was displayed to me originally as just a regular little cleanup.”
On the surface, that reads like Newton was misled, but let’s go beyond the surface.
It’s unlikely he was ever told this was minor surgery, but a lot of times Newton hears what he wants to hear. He doesn’t just play Superman on TV, he almost has the mentality that he is truly a superhero. There’s a part of him that believes he’s invincible. So when doctors and trainers explained it would take about a year from the date of his surgery to feel pain-free, there’s a decent chance he thought, “Eh, maybe for normal people, but not for me.”
Newton is surprised the ankle still stings because he thought he would be past all that by now. But he’s not actually invincible, and he doesn’t have special healing powers.
Newton visibly tweaked his ankle at least three times during training camp, but he rarely missed a rep. Were those setbacks? Apparently not.
As strange as it may sound, doctors and trainers told him playing was part of the rehab process. His ankle is structurally sound, but the pain probably won’t go away anytime this season. So while Newton has a remarkably high pain tolerance, you can’t blame a guy for thinking twice about running on something that may send pings of pain through his body.
And something is clearly holding him back from running. He’s rushed just eight times in three games, an incredibly low number especially since he had at least eight carries in 17 of his 48 games before 2014.
Perhaps the Panthers have been too conservative with him. Perhaps he’s leery about his ankle. Or perhaps what really happened is the cracked ribs he suffered in August threw everything out of whack.
Consider this: Newton rushed only twice in each of the past two weeks. But in the preseason against the Patriots, when he was just starting to have confidence in the ankle, he had two scrambles in just over two quarters. Of course, that was also the game when he hurt his ribs.
“The ribs set him back a lot. It made it very difficult for him to do the rehab he needed to do,” head coach Ron Rivera said when he was asked about Newton’s comments. “Part of the whole rehab plan was always to have him on the field once we got to training camp. You can’t make up for the type of turning and twisting that he’ll do as a quarterback. You can’t simulate it in a training room.
“Having him on the field is what we really needed. So him hurting those ribs and missing the 10 days slowed it down, as well.”
Ultimately, Newton’s ankle is still healing. He’s not going to be pain-free for a few more months, but the pain is slowly dissipating each week. He’s going to start running more, something that may happen as soon as this Sunday.
If his carries go from two the past two weeks to eight against the Bears, does that mean his ankle healed especially fast this week? No. The Panthers may have brought him back a bit too slowly as far as the game plan goes.
Also, his ribs have been a bigger factor in his unwillingness to run than his ankle. Imagine the prospect of taking a shot from a huge defender running at full speed. Then think how if Newton took a big hit to his tender ribs, how many weeks he could potentially miss. Not running minimized the risk of further setbacks.
Newton will never actually be Superman, and he may not completely be himself this season. But you should start seeing signs of the player you used to know relatively soon.
“My body is mending up, slowly but surely,” Newton said. “That’s giving me a lot of confidence when I am thinking about running the football and throwing the football as well.”
BBR NUGGETS
- So. Much. Drama. — BBR
- Former Bears GM Jerry Angelo admits trading Greg Olsen was a mistake. — CSN Chicago
- If you could, save the “He’s doing nothing on the field, but making $$$!” for just a second. It’s pretty cool to see an NFL defensive end tweet out something like this. — Twitter
- Young Philly Brown. — Twitter
- Panthers tickets sales have dropped slightly — Forbes