Winning fixes all problems and heals all wounds. If the Panthers had stumbled against the Cardinals on Sunday, they’d be going into Week 4 dead in the water at 0-3 and likely very near the bottom of the power rankings. Instead, they still have some life and they moved up four spots.
Last week, Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire had Carolina ranked No. 25 in the league. Sunday’s convincing win in Arizona bumped them up four spots to No. 21 on the strength of Kyle Allen’s great game.
“He completed 19 of 26 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns, integrating his talents with Christian McCaffrey, Greg Olsen and Curtis Samuel in ways the injured Newton had struggled to for almost a full season.”
We disagree with Doug’s take about this already being the end of the Cam Newton era.
However, there is reason to believe Newton’s health situation is significantly worse than the team has let on. Joe Person at the Athletic has reported that Newton is dealing with a Lisfranc injury instead of a mid-foot sprain. Assuming Newton does not undergo season-ending surgery, that could mean he’ll be out between 4-8 weeks.
If Allen continues playing like he did against the Cardinals, by the time Newton is back to 100% we will definitely be in QB controversy territory. That’s a big if, though. Time will tell.
