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Bank of America Stadium will be buzzing on Sunday as the Carolina Panthers battle the Washington Football Team. Carolina Panthers Head Coach Matt Rhule has announced that Cam Newton will make his first start of the 2021 NFL this week.
"He's really done a nice job learning the game plan for this week,'' Ruhle told reporters, according to ESPN.
"He's worked really hard. He's really a smart player. Really a smart quarterback.''
Newton officially returned to the Panthers last week after spending a season with the New England Patriots. In his return, he threw for a touchdown and ran for another as the Panthers beat the Cardinals by 24 points in Arizona.
While Newton performed well in his first outing, he did not start. P.J. Walker took the majority of snaps at quarterback and threw for 167 yards with a completion percentage of nearly 70%. Moving forward, Walker will remain a part of the offense in spurts.
"They'll figure out the right plays for him, right amount of plays for him,'' Rhule said, according to ESPN.
"We'll have both guys ready. Game plan wise, we could see a myriad of different things happen.''
Rhule feels that the biggest impact that Newton will make is on the practice field. As he puts it, the energy around the team is "awesome" with Newton.
"The energy is awesome,'' Rhule said about Newton's impact.
"We all understand Cam is a force of nature almost in terms of the things he brings. But I don't want it to be all that people realize. What I see is a true professional that wants to win and puts the time in.''
Newton's Panthers will face off against his former coach Ron Rivera and the Washington Football on November 21 at 1 p.m. ET.
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