Cam Newton Impresses in his Debut but Panthers late Rally Falls Short to Cardinals

Cam Newton had a record-breaking game in the same stadium where he won the national championship for Auburn in January earlier this year. The Number One pick in the 2011 NFL Draft led the Carolina Panthers to a 21-14  after 3 quarters, but Arizona’s Quarterback, Kevin Kolb, who was also making his debut for the Cardinals eventually came out on top. Both quarterbacks had great games, as Cam Newton broke Peyton Manning’s record for most yards thrown in a rookie debut with 422 yards on 24-37 passing. He had two touchdowns, both to Steve Smith and one interception. Kevin Kolb for Arizona had 2 touchdowns on 18-27 passing and no interceptions.

With 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter and the Cardinals trailing  14-21,  the Panthers brought nearly everyone on a blitz on 3rd down and Kevin Kolb quickly completed a pass over the middle to Early Doucet. After running around one tackler, there was a clear path to the end zone for Doucet and suddenly the game was tied. The very next posession, Carolina punted and Patrick Peterson, the 5th round pick in the NFL draft at Cornerback for the Cardinals was back to receive. Peterson, who had claimed to idolize great cornerback and legendary punt returner Deion Sanders(Who was just inducted into the Hall of Fame) even took Deion’s number, 21, from another Cardinals Player when signed. The comparisons between him and “Neon Deion” immediately grew. In Deion’s first ever NFL game, he returned a punt to for a touchdown. With 7 minutes left in the game today, Patrick Peterson made a gutsy decision to field a punt at the 11 yard line. He then broke several tackles, and easily sped down the sidelines headed to the endzone. He began showboating at the 15, as Deion Sanders was famous for doing, and was nearly tackled by a Carolina special teams player who Peterson never saw. The rookie Cornerback dove into the end zone for the go ahead touchdown and gave the Cardinals a 28-21 lead. Cam Newton eventually took Carolina to the Arizona 11 yard line and then threw 3 incomplete passes bringing up 4th down. He then completed a pass to the 2 yard line, however this was not enough to get the 1st down and the Cardinals barely held on for the win. The Cardinals had one turnover, a Beanie Wells fumble in the red zone, and start the season with a win.