Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton says he wasn't mature last season - NFL News
Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton, had an unbelievable rookie season in 2011-12 as he led the Panthers to a 6-10 regular season record.
The quarterback broke multiple National Football League (NFL) records in his first year as a professional player and helped lift an offence that was rated the worst in the league in 2010 to become the fifth highest.
However, even after all his achievements the quarterback feels he could have done more and he was a bad teammate last year.
Speaking in an interview with Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday, Newton said he felt that his pouting on the benches after losses was a sign of his immaturity and did nothing to help his teammates.
"I was very immature. I'll be the first one to tell you, the pouting and the moping, I kind of overdid it. I know that. I was a bad teammate. I shut off to some people who gave unbelievable effort. ... That's where I have to mature."
Before winning four of their last six games in the 2011 season, the Panthers lost eight games and had just two wins for the season which led Newton to become withdrawn from his teammates and he let his own mistakes eat away at his confidence.
" ... I put a lot on me to be able to respond. When things are going wrong, I wanted to have the ball in my hand, just like any warrior, any competitor who has played this game. When you don't get the results you want, I didn't go about it the right way."
This year though Newton is ready to put all that behind him and feels that fans will see him become much more mature this year.
Newton passed for 4,051 yards in his first year in the NFL and threw 21 touchdown passes to break Peyton Manning’s rookie season passing yards record.
He also rushed for 14 touchdowns to break the record for most rushing touchdowns in a single season by a quarterback.
The Panthers with a Newton led offence are one of the favourites to challenge for the National Football Conference (NFC) South division title and if they are to achieve that feat they now need to see some leadership qualities from their quarterback.
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