Scott Fowler: Sky isn't falling around Cam Newton, but it sure is cloudy

As he is prone to do, Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman launched into a story when he was asked about Cam Newton Tuesday.

This one was the old chestnut about Chicken Little, the chick who gets hit on the head by an acorn and then goes around proclaiming: "The sky is falling!"

Its panicky state incites mass hysteria and encourages a number of other fowl to follow it around until just about everyone _ including Chicken Little itself in the older, grittier versions _ gets eaten by a crafty fox.

What does all that have to do with the Panthers' franchise quarterback?

"The sky is not falling," Gettleman said.

I believe that as well, but that sky sure is cloudy.

Newton and the Panthers just finished a season that resembled Mariah Carey's New Year's Eve. It ultimately was a year so bad that it will make the Panthers re-imagine everything they do because, as Gettleman also said: "Maintaining the status quo will get your fanny beat."

Newton is no longer as "young and nimble" as he used to be, as Carolina coach Ron Rivera acknowledged Monday. Of course, he's not old, either.

"Cam is 28, he's not 37," Gettleman said.