The time is nearly upon us. A moment is coming when the Carolina Panthers must look in the mirror and make a pivotal decision about their quarterback position. With whispers of Cam Newton rearing up to take part in practice soon, it’s only a matter of time.

The Panthers’ longtime franchise quarterback indicated almost a month ago on his official YouTube page that he was focused on getting back to 100 percent before returning to the field. If Newton indeed turns up at that level here in the next few weeks, the Panthers will have to choose whether they want to end the white-hot run of Kyle Allen and return to the player who they once took No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.

On the surface, it’s a tough debate. Despite Newton’s status as a former league MVP, it’s tough for a team to break what’s not in need of fixing. The Panthers are winning. Allen is playing well. How do you bench this guy? Well, you look not just at the current moment, but with clear eyes, you return to the memories of Newton’s time in Carolina and mold them with the potential of what may lie ahead. Upon that moment, the decision becomes abundantly clear.

View photos When Cam Newton was healthy in 2018, he looked like an MVP candidate. (USA TODAY Sports) More

Cam Newton’s detractors are being disingenuous

It has been nothing short of infuriating to watch piles of tweets and graphics scattered across the football media landscape comparing Allen’s starting stretch to the previous eight games we’ve seen of Cam Newton. Allen’s passing numbers and the team’s record under his watch are undoubtedly impressive. On the other hand, the sample collected with which we’re meant to judge Newton is utterly bereft of context or, frankly, any utility.

We all know that the back half of last season and his two starts in 2019 featured a Cam Newton that was playing through injury. His shoulder malady of 2018 eroded his game to the point where he couldn’t push the ball downfield. By the time we saw him in Week 2 this season, he was unrecognizably inaccurate as he gritted through a deteriorating foot condition. To set the selected games right at the moment as his health struggles began and therefore slice off the first eight games of 2018 is disingenuous at best and unscrupulous at worst.

Newton was in the middle of his most efficient season married with a 6-2 start for his team. It was just one year ago. That omission from this discussion is stunning because the reason for its existence is crucial to the Panthers’ impending decision.

It's bizarre to me the last stretch where we saw Cam Newton healthy, starting off 2018, just gets left off when people start offering up splits in the Kyle Allen debate.



Cam was on his way to a career year efficiency-wise in this offense with the new weapons before the injury. pic.twitter.com/BA5NbSjgAy — Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) October 17, 2019

Newton’s 67.3 percent completion rate would have shattered his previous career high from his rookie season. His 5.7 touchdown rate would have gone down as the second-best of his career. That 100.8 passer rating would have marked the first time he hit triple-digits. All this while clearing seven yards per attempt, hardly turning into a dink-and-dunk machine. From a data perspective, this was peak Cam Newton; satisfying those who must worship at the metrics altar while also putting dazzling dimes on film.

To say we’ve never seen Newton transform his game to that of an effective passer who doesn’t rely on his legs first is flat-out wrong. If you want to do it, you have to just wipe half of a season completely from the ledgers of time.

All we’ve heard throughout Newton’s time in the NFL was persistent chirping about that low completion percentage. Often tossed around as a fatal flaw, signs of his inaccurate nature, used as “told-you-so” fodder by his ardent doubters. And yet, the time of his career when he posted a strong completion percentage, and not just by his standards but at a top-10 level by league standards, is left off this narrative. Again this is ridiculous because it was no coincidence that it came in those eight games.

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