Cam Newton played only one drive during the preseason. However, Ron Rivera believes Newton “is ready” for week one.
Charlotte, NC — Since the first week of training camp, the Carolina Panthers have been very cautious with their franchise quarterback. In addition, even when Cam Newton expressed he wanted to play more against Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago: he accepted his coach’s decision to sit him. Now, preseason is over and game one of the regular season is seven days away. Ron Rivera is confident Newton is prepared.
“Well, I think he’s ready. I do,” Rivera said to the media after practice today in Charlotte. “You wish you had a few more snaps and played a little bit earlier in the preseason. so we would have more to gauge on, but what we saw we really liked.”
Panthers saw Newton’s dominance vs the Jaguars. The drive that was comprised of 75-yards ended with a touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin for 15-yards. He was 2/2 during that drive. However, that was the only live play he saw during the entire preseason.
“We like how everything seems to be meshing well together as an offense. We’ll see how it goes as we continue to work this week,” Rivera added.
Carolina will continue to practice in Charlotte before heading off to San Francisco later this week. They will play the 49ers next Sunday at 4:25 p.m.
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