Carolina Panthers Cam Newton said it frankly.
And frankly, it's not really debatable.
"Honestly, I feel like I'm playing the best football of my career," he said Wednesday when asked to evaluate his performance over the past several weeks. "Straight-up. I just feel in control. There's no question marks. My assuredness of every single play, I know exactly what I'm supposed to do. ... It's just, I don't want to sound 'like that', but I know my worth. I know who I am. ... That's all personal. And that comes with preparation.
"I feel like, when somebody is at their best and facing me, and I'm at my best, we win. You know what I'm saying?"
Newton can back up his statement with cold, hard numbers.
He has had a 100-plus passer rating in each of the past six games. He's completing a career-best 69.6 percent of his passes, and he has a 22 to seven touchdown-to-interception ratio, also a career-best for the first 11 games of a season.
There's just one problem ...
Newton's stellar on-field performance this season has been overshadowed by the fact that the Panthers (6-5) keep losing.
And losing in a frustrating manner, too. Four of Carolina's five losses were one-possession games. And last week against Seattle, Newton was a perfect 14 for 14 in the first half and led the offense to a 476-yard day, and they still lost.
"(In the past when I was playing my best), I was rewarded with victories," said Newton. "Now, it's tougher that we're not winning. ...
"The selfish me would have been like, 'Oh, I'm good. We ain't losing because of me. But that's not where I am right now in my career."
Newton's job, which he said he understands better than ever, is to "bring up" the guys who aren't playing so well, and to be get on the level of the players who are performing better than he is.
"For me, I understand what my job and my responsibility is to this team," he said. "I couldn't say that in years back. I just know there are a lot of people that are watching, you know, through those lenses and even in that locker room.
"And I owe it to them, I have to make sure I'm my best self whether that's conditionally, physically and mentally, you know, prepared to take this team to the next level."
Physically, Newton is hitting his prime and largely unhindered by injury. While he takes a precautionary "rest" day each week, in order to give his surgically repaired throwing shoulder some rest, he has not been limited in games. He said earlier this year that he's added more cardio to his workouts, and he has certainly grown leaner over the past couple of offseasons.
But mentally, and particularly as this Panthers team faces adversity, Newton is using a technique that he created for himself after being inspired by a few sets of eyes that watch his every move, every day.
Newton's competitiveness is no secret. He hates to lose. He makes a contest out of everything, even racing receivers to their spots in individual drills at the start of practice every day.
Sometimes, like after the Panthers' Super Bowl loss in 2015, Newton has even been criticized nationally for his open distaste for losing.
But as he has gotten older, Newton has developed a mental technique that he uses only after losses or setbacks.
And it's being tested, with the Panthers on a three-game skid and postseason hopes uncertain.
It's called the "24-hour" rule.
"You give yourself 24 hours to either celebrate, or sulk and sob," Newton said. "After that 24 hours is up, you let it go. That's been so helpful for me in my growth as a man."
Newton said he goes into a compartmentalized headspace _ "oh, it's a dark place" _ and sometimes loses track of time. But the goal is to always come out of it better than before, or at least more focused on upcoming tasks.
"I just don't like losing," he said. "But you set ramifications up for yourself so that you can learn from it, but at the same time, be productive. And that's the rule that I set for myself."
Newton said the fact that his four children are always watching him motivated him to better react to a loss and a setback, and then move forward from it.
Particularly, his oldest daughter Shakira, who is 11. Newton said that while she is not on social media, she has no shortage of peers in their Atlanta hometown telling her all about what Newton does or doesn't do.
"Everything about her points to (how) I have to be better," he laughed.
Newton said he feels a responsibility to act in a way that sets a good example for her, and for the rest of his children as they get older.
"I see a lot of how I act, they see it and they think it's acceptable," he said. "Even though it's hard to me, I realized that I have an obedience to be there for my children and teach them life lessons.
"And what better way to teach them life lessons than when you're actually going through situations that mean a lot to you, and things don't go your way? When I go home, I don't want to give her or any of (my other kids) ammunition to shoot back at me."
