NewtonCam Newton set the NFL record for pass yards in a debut with 422 last week in the Carolina Panthers' loss to the Arizona Cardinals. For an encore, he threw for 432 yards in another loss, this time to the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. His total Sunday was the most by a rookie in NFL history.

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that Newton is the first player in NFL history to post two consecutive 400-yard passing games in a team’s first two games of a season. He’s also the only player to throw for more than 400 yards in his first two career starts, and he had the record for most pass yards ever, 854, in the first two starts of his NFL career.

Tom Brady, who threw for 517 yards in Week 1, threw for 423 yards in Week 2 to pass Newton for the record.

According to Elias, Newton is just the fifth quarterback in the past 25 years to post consecutive 400-yard games at any point in the season. Since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, his 854 yards are the seventh-most in consecutive games in a single season.

Since the merger, Newton has the second-most pass yards by any quarterback in the first two games of the season, behind Brady and ahead of Kurt Warner, who threw for 827 back in 2000. Warner’s St. Louis Rams went to the playoffs that season, but they also started 2-0.

Cam Newton Passing to Steve Smith

The Panthers, on the other hand, are 0-2 for the third straight year and are 2-16 in their past 18 games.

One thing that is discouraging for Carolina is that even in the loss last week, Newton found All-Pro receiver Steve Smith early and often. This week, that connection didn’t work as well.

The Packers have won their road opener in six straight seasons, the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest for any team since the Bears won eight straight from 1984 to '91. Donald Driver caught just one pass for 10 yards but passed James Lofton for the most receiving yards in Packers history (9,666).

Aaron Rodgers threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns; he has 620 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions in the first two games this season. His 620 yards are the most by a Packers quarterback in the first two games of a season since Brett Favre threw for 621 in the first two games of the 1999 season.