Eric Prisbell

USA TODAY Sports

CHARLOTTE — Cam Newton enters the NFL playoffs well aware of the value of his three previous postseason games.

The Carolina Panthers quarterback says he knows how the intensity and urgency ramps up this month. He knows how a team’s fortunes can change in the blink of an eye. He also knows that he needs to perform better.

“My record is not what I want it to be,” Newton said Wednesday about his playoff experience.

The favorite to earn league MVP honors, Newton, who signed a five-year extension worth nearly $104 million last offseason, has exhibited consistent poise and engineered late-game heroics with his right arm and legs to leading the NFC South champion Panthers to a league-best 15-1 record.

First look at NFC divisional round: Will Seahawks win rematch with Panthers?

But Newton is 1-2 in playoff games since he was drafted first overall in 2011. In those three games, he has thrown five touchdown passes and five interceptions while losing a pair of fumbles.

In this weekend’s divisional round, laden with a decorated cast of quarterbacks, playoff success represents the next step in Newton’s evolution. He will confront the same Seattle Seahawks team Sunday which thumped the Panthers in last year’s NFC divisional round at Seattle.

But Newton made clear that payback is no source of motivation. And he noted both teams have changed since the Panthers’ 27-23 victory in Seattle on Oct. 18, much less since last season’s playoff matchup, which Seattle won 31-17.

The goal remains a singular one: Super Bowl.

“If we are lucky enough to get to the Super Bowl, that’s going to be our Powerball,” Newton said. “We’ve been having that type of season where it’s been hitting everybody in a way that nobody expected this to even happen.

"We have an edge about us right now.”

Super Bowl 50 schedule, playoff results

The Panthers are vastly improved from the 2014 team, which didn’t win a game for nearly two months and slipped into the playoffs by winning the lackluster NFC South with a 7-8-1 record. Some Panthers, including safety Tre Boston, said players were happy last season just to reach the playoffs.

But this season, which has exceeded even the most optimistic Carolina fans’ expectations, anything short of a Super Bowl title would be disappointing. The primary difference with this year’s team, Newton says, is the camaraderie.

“I can go down the list and tell you about (Pro Bowl cornerback) Josh Norman, can tell you about (safety) Roman Harper,” Newton said. “Let’s sell out for each other. That’s the environment coach (Ron) Rivera wants for his team. We all are invested, and it shows. We’d rather let ourselves down than let the person who is next to us down, and that’s the people we share the huddle with.”

Though he is quick to praise teammates, Newton’s individual performance is the prime reason why Carolina earned the NFC's No. 1 seed. He finished the regular season with a league-high 45 total touchdowns (35 passing, 10 rushing). He led four game-winning drives. And he won five player of the week awards, tying Tom Brady in 2007 for the most in a season in league history.

"He has fulfilled everything we thought he could be,” general manager Dave Gettleman said. “He’s just had a great year. The franchise quarterbacks make everybody better.

"He has made his team better through his leadership, through his play, and who he is as a person.”

Excelling in the postseason is the next step.

***

Follow Eric Prisbell on Twitter @EricPrisbell

PHOTOS: NFL's memorable divisional playoff games