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No one expected Cam Newton to put on a show quite like he did on Sunday.  Sure, some people thought he would score a touchdown or not have a bad completion percentage, but did they really believe Cam would throw for 422 yards, 2 TDs and a run for a TD too? This performance was even more impressive that Cam Newton was playing on the road.

Cam Newton wasn’t playing like a rookie, at all. He was throwing the ball with authority, not looking nervous for his first NFL game. He completed 64 percent of his throws, finished with over a 110 passer rating. He started out fast whether it was completing short passes or throwing deep balls for completions to get his confidence going. Cam Newton was comfortable in the pocket despite the blitzes he was getting.  Cam Newton proved to the NFL and his teammates that he can get it done at the next level.

Cam Newton and Steve Smith were connecting all day long. Cam threw his two TD passes to Smith. He threw one electrifying TD pass in the 1st quarter, when he geared up a long ball that was slightly under thrown, but Steve Smith was able to catch in stride and run to the house for a 77 yd score. He threw another one in the second quarter to give Carolina a 14-7 lead. Steve Smith had eight catches for 178 yards and the two scores from Newton.

Cam Newton had a great first half and it continued in the second half as he continued to rack on yardage and scored his first rushing TD of his career. Of course, late in the fourth quarter when Carolina gave up the lead, and found themselves trailing, Newton lead them down the field within scoring distance, but failed to convert a fourth down play by a single yard. Due to that failed conversion, Carolina lost a heartbreaker. No matter how well Newton played, he didn’t take the loss well. ”The last time I lost a game was Navarro Junior College,” Newton said.

“What do you want me to say, it feels great? It is not a comfortable feeling for me.” Newton had the most passing yards for a rookie in a NFL debut in NFL history, passing Otto Graham for the Browns, who threw for 346 yards.

Cam Newton did make mistakes towards the end by throwing three straight incompletions when at the Cardinals 11 yard line and a short pass that was a yard shy of the first down. He also threw the ball in tight spaces that resulted in incompletions and an interception. Cam Newton was also sacked four times,  but that was due to the blitzing of the Cardinals defense and the weak offensive line.

The real question is however, can Cam Newton do it again? Cam Newton has a lot of potential, now will he throw for 422 yards again next week, probably not. However, he should continue to have similar success. He will struggle from time to time as the better defenses he plays, like next week when he plays the defending Super Bowl Champs, the Green Bay Packers. This will be a real test for him as he plays one of the best defenses in the league with star players all around on defense like Clay Matthews and B.J Raji.

After one preseason game already, the Panthers QB competition between rookie Cam Newton and Jimmy Clausen (entering 2nd NFL season) is heating up. After the Panthers 20-10 victory over the Giants in their first preseason game of the season, there’s a lot to be said about the game regarding the two quarterbacks. Let’s evaluate their play against the Giants.

Jimmy Clausen: Clausen didn’t play that long, but he finished with 4/7 69 yds, 1 Td, 1 Int and a 90.8 passer rating. Jimmy Clausen played the entire 1st quarter and that was it, but we saw a lot from him in that quarter, some bad and some good. On Clausen’s second pass attempt of the game, he threw it behind his receiver and right to the giants linebacker Michael Boley, who intercepted it and returned it for the score.  Clausen had one bright highlight on the night; Clausen backed up to pass and threw a laser in between two defenders to Greg Olsen for a 18 yd TD pass. Aside from that though, it wasn’t a great performance by Clausen. Clausen for the most part was looking for short passes and was sacked twice.

Cam Newton: Newton didn’t play that well, but from what we saw it was impressive. He finished with 8/19 134 yds 0 Tds 0 Ints, and a 66.6 passer rating. Newton didn’t have any Tds, but he also didn’t make any mistakes, which is key. He only completed 42 percent of his passes, but a lot of his misses were deep throws towards the end of the half when Newton was trying to get a big play. Newton had several big plays; he had several big yardage completions including a 18, 30 and 36 yard completions in the 2nd quarter. Newton was 5/13 96 yds passing in the 2nd quarter and was 3/6 38 yds in the 3rd quarter. Most of Newton’s misses in the 2nd quarter were deep threats towards the end of the quarter when he was trying to get the big “heave” play. Newton’s performance was very positive going forward and it will be interesting how the 2nd preseason game goes. Cam Newon had this to say about his first NFL game, ”I was just trying to go out there and first off prove to myself that I could play on this level,” Newton said. “After that first little completion, I started to get the juices flowing. It was like, ‘Hey, I’m in the NFL,’ and I started to get a little swagger about myself.”

It’s still hard to tell who will be the starter come week 1, but Cam looked a bit more impressive than Clausen, but there’s still 3 more preseason games to be played and hopefully we’ll know by then who the starter will be.

The Falcons and Saints had another epic showdown in week 3. The Saints were the defending champs and were trying to maintain their winning streak. Drew Brees played great ( 365 passing yards, 3 Tds), but also turned the ball over with two interceptions. At first though he led the Saints to an early lead in the 1st quarter with a 14-7 lead with 2 Td passes behind Drew Brees ( 2 yd td pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey and 80 yard TD pass to wide receiver Lance Moore). Matt Ryan was very impressive too with 2 Td passes and no turnovers and he had an early Td pass to get the Falcons on the board in the 1st quarter. He also helped them tie the game before halftime as he led them down the field, then Michael Turner finsihed the drive with a 1 yard TD run. The Saints reclaimed the lead with Brees hooking up with Lance Moore agan for a TD. However, late in the fourth quarter, Matt Ryan found star wide receiver Roddy White to give the Falcons the lead, but as the Falcons thought they were going to win, the Saints kicked a last second field goal to tie the game and go into overtime. The Saints made the first charge towards winning by driving right down the field and had an easy field goal kick with a 29 yd attempt, but it was wide right. The Falcons then took advantage of the Saints mistake and as a result drove down the field, then Matt Bryant kicked the game-winner for the win!! Final Score: Falcons 27 Saints 24!

In a critical game that had playoff stakes on the line, no team wanted to admit defeat. The Jaguars and Raiders both came out with lots of energy and in a offensive juggernautgame, the team that had the most energy in the end came out victorious. It seemed like the Raiders were the better team when the Raiders jumped out to an early 17-7 lead behind Jason Campbell’s 2 TD passes ( one to Darren McFadden and the other to Louis Murphy). The Jags did get on the board with a TD pass by David Garrard. The score was 17-7 going into halftime. The Jaguars came out of halftime with a lto of motivation to get back in this game and they did just that behind their rushing attack that was non-existent in the 1st half. Rashard Jennings gave the Jaguars hope when he ran for a 74 yd TD run and got the Jaguars within three. Then, David Garrard threw his 3rd TD pass of the day (2nd in the quarter) to Mike Sims-Walker to give the Jaguars their first lead of the day with a 28-24 lead after the end of the 3rd quarter. The Jags added a field goal on that score in the 4th to increase their lead to a 31-24 lead. Darren McFadden, running back of the Raiders got the Raiders back in when he scored a Td off of a 36 yd TD run to tie the game with under two minutes to play. The Jaguars wouldn’t back off though; after a big kick return to set up the Jaguars at the Raiders 30 yard line, Maurice Jones-Drew ran it in the end zone for a 30 yd TD run to give the Jaguars a 38-31 lead with 1:34 left on the clock. The Raiders tried to rally, but the Jaguars defense held their ground and held on to the 38-31 victory.

The rivalry of the Steelers and Ravens is one of the best in sports and in week 4 it was no different as the physicality of the Ravens and Steelers proved to be an exciting game. The Steelers came into this game without their star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger since he was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the season because he violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Rashard Mendenhall stepped up for the Steelers though in this critical AFC North showdown. Mendenhall had 79 yards rushing on 25 carries (3.2 average) and also had 2 TDs. Mendenhall was fantastic and gave the Steelers a 14-10 lead in the 4th quarter. The Ravens defense was great; they forced one turnover, sacked Charlie Batch ( 2nd string QB) twice, gave up only 210 total yards, and frustrated Batch as he had a passer rating of 57.8. This defense continued its fine effort in the 4th as they shut the Steelers down after the touchdown by Mendenhall. Joe Flacco led the Ravens back to victory when he got the ball with55 seconds left with 40 yards to go for the win. Flacco guided them all the way down the field and then found T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the back of the endzone with 32 seconds left to clinch the win for the Ravens. Flacco wasn’t great, but came up big when the Ravens needed him. This game was a great physical game to watch andit came down to a last second drive for the Ravens to win it, 17-14!

With the NFL season coming to a close, it comes that time of the year, where I will put the top 10 best NFL games of the 2010-2011 NFL season, the best upsets of 2010, and the the best performances of 2010. There were some great games this year with the Patriots and Colts producing another classic showdown, the Eagles and Giants game had one of the greatest finishes in the history of the NFL. Those were just two of the many great games, but we’ll have to narrow that list to 10.  There were some great upsets with the Cleveland Browns beating the defending Super Bowl Champs and the New England Patriots. There were also some great performances as well like Arian Foster’s 231 rushing yards in week 1, Reggie Wayne’s 196 receiving yards in week 4 and many more. I will be starting with the top 10 best games of the year and move on then to the top 10 best upsets of the year and then lastly do the best performances of the year.