CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The causes of Cam Newton's frustrations Monday night were not limited to the Panthers' inability to execute opportunities to end their five-game losing streak. They extended to the quarterback's lack of answers regarding his right shoulder. The injury once again affected Newton's performance during Carolina’s 12-9 defeat at the hands of New Orleans.
Newton said he has done anything and everything to make his shoulder feel better. He could not place a finger on exactly what the injury is, but he compared it to a labrum, rotator cuff and general soreness.
"No matter how hard you push, ice, anti-inflammatories you take, trust me I did it," Newton said after Monday's game. "Acupuncture, massages. There has not been a night that’s gone by without me getting some work done on my arm."
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While he didn't place full blame on his nagging injury for the Panthers’ offensive struggles, Newton looked like a shell of himself Monday. He had just one completed pass that traveled beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage in the air. Several of his 131 yards passing came by virtue of yards after the catch from Christian McCaffrey on dump-offs. The one offensive touchdown Carolina did score was a pass by McCaffrey, not Newton, in the first quarter.
“We didn't uphold our end of the bargain, we didn't sustain drives," Newton said. “The defense that we played against, they were pretty good, but we just have to do a better job. It comes down to execution and sustaining drives."
There was plenty of discussion after the game on whether coach Ron Rivera will sit Newton for the final two games of the season to rest his shoulder — an interesting question since the Panthers, even at 6-8, are not yet mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Rivera said the team "will continue to evaluate" Newton's situation when asked about it.
Another question about Newton — whether he will need shoulder surgery after the season — also remains very much up in the air. The quarterback was non-committal following the loss.
"You talk to the different people that can help you with it," he said. "There is no magical surgery, it’s just time. I've been hearing that since the injury happened. You look around the league and you see guys doing things and you know you are well-capable of doing those things."
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Beyond the frustrations Newton expressed in the media room, the mood in the Panthers' locker room Monday was exactly what one would expect for a team that had just lost its sixth consecutive game — most of them in heartbreaking fashion — after starting the season 6-2.
There was an air of sadness and disappointment. Yet hope still hung in the air, waiting to be snatched by players whose playoff lives might be determined next week.
"We are going to continue to fight, we have fought all year," linebacker Luke Kuechly said. “That’s just the kind of team we have. We got guys that take a lot of pride in what’s going on, and sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't."
Thomas Davis specifically referenced the Panthers' inability to finish, a flaw that exposed itself again Monday.
Carolina had several opportunities to upset New Orleans, which sits in the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture. But Newton threw an interception in the end zone to end the first half. Receiver D.J. Moore had a costly red-zone fumble. The defense's strong game was overshadowed by its inability to stop running back Alvin Kamara in the fourth quarter. And maybe the biggest of them all: Carolina just could not sustain a drive after scoring its lone touchdown on its second possession.
"That's what we haven’t done in the last five or six games we have played in, we haven’t finished well,” Davis said. “Until we do that we are going to keep having this feeling we are having right now. This feeling of disappointment, this feeling of heartbreak, that’s what comes with not finishing."
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Ryan Kalil, who plans on retiring after the season, is one of many Panthers veterans who have seen it all, whether it's a two-win season or one-loss campaign that results in a trip to the Super Bowl.
"You just never know; you just stay at it," Kalil said of the team's all-but-ruined playoff hopes. "Sometimes you control your destiny, other times you need help. ... It's not over until it’s over."
That optimism pairs well with the attitude of Rivera. The coach is as even-keeled as they come, never getting too high or too low. It apparently has rubbed off on the players, who have not let emotions get the best of them during their struggles.
"I think it speaks well to who they are more so than anything else," Rivera said. "That they come out and they practice and they compete. They are not just going to show up. These young men are going to come out and fight and do their jobs. That's all you can ask is that these guys come out and do that."
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Even with Rivera's seat getting hotter as the losses pile up, the players exuded their full confidence in their leader.
"Coach has been great since the day I got here," Kuechly said. "You play for a lot of things, and a lot of it is the coaches that bust their butts to put is in position to play."
Davis expressed his dissatisfaction with the coaching staff getting the brunt of the blame, concluding the losses are on the players.
"We go out there and we play the game. The coaches put together a good game plan, they spend their time, hours and hours and hours of making sure we have a game plan," he said. "We have a good game plan, we have everything we need going into the game.
"For us to lose these games the way we have been losing them, that really shows it's not about the coaches and what they have done. It's really about us executing."