The Carolina Panthers had been giving us the vibes all week, and now it’s official.
As told to reporters by head coach Matt Rhule on Friday, the team will indeed start quarterback Cam Newton for their Week 11 matchup with the Washington Football Team. Rhule, however, did not divulge exactly how much they’re looking to keep No. 1 on the field.
“Cam will take the first play,” Rhule said simply when asked who’ll begin under center on Sunday. “He’s really done a nice job of learning the game plan for this week. It’s obviously a lot to learn. There’s some parts that, obviously, he probably has a better grasp of than others. I think he’s worked really, really hard. He’s really, really a smart player, really a smart quarterback. And it seems like he’s in a good place right now.”
That place will be, at least to open the offense up, behind center Pat Elflein. But it’s Newton’s limited time with the team, specifically that burden of learning how the plan goes, that may lead the Panthers to another dual-quarterback approach.
Rhule said P.J. Walker, who got the start in the 34-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals last week, could still see the field against Washington as Newton continues to download the offense.
“I won’t get into too much schematically, but P.J.’s ready to play as well,” he said. “There’s certain parts of the offense that Cam doesn’t have a lot of exposure to yet. So, we’ll have both guys up ready to play and probably use both of them.”
Regardless, this’ll be an afternoon to remember—whether Cam takes over completely or not.
