Panthers Game Ball of the Week Fan Poll

Anderson and Smitty both had great games. But Cam, 254yds passing, 315 all purpose yds., 2 touchdowns, no picks or turnovers, 127.5 rating, not much else he could do except line up on defense and and get a couple sacks.

the perfect long bomb (no homo) to smitty gave me chills.

Everyone expects Cam, Smith, Johnson, Anderson, and Steward have been doing it all season long, but the difference in this game was Applewhite’s contribution on defense.

cam is an obvious choice, but i wanted to vote for the underdog

Yea i feel the same way about this like I do the rookie of the week. We all know Cam is amazing and its assumed he should always get game ball because hes just that good but besides Cam, this is a hard one. Smith played lights out. Applewhite and Anderson played well. Its a tough one.

It’s got to be Cam Newton. Without his performance, the offense doesn’t move the chains or put enough points on the board to control the time of possession and win. Also, for a rookie QB to post that kind of completion percentage, with zero turnovers, such a high QB rating, all-purpose yards, and have such a direct hand in so many big plays, you’ve got to give him the game ball. In fact, that’s exactly what Coach Rivera did after the game.

Honorable mention to James Anderson, though. On a defense that still gave up 20 points (which is enough to win most games), he had the breakout individual performance…made all the more impressive considering the usual leaders (Beason & Davis) are absent on defense. Because of their injuries, Anderson has had to step up his leadership and make the defensive calls on the field. It’s great to see that he’s capable of handling all that responsibility and then back it up with his own superior play. Still, in terms of leading the defense to a collective, game-ball-worthy performance, I’d say he didn’t quite succeed as much as Cam managed to do for the offense.

Thus, Cam over Anderson.

Just my two cents,
—Neil

It scary to see a rookie qb put up those numbers, carry the team on his back, win the game and yawn. Just another cam like performance really, but did you see Anderson? Seriously, we are gonna get spoiled. In a couple of years, Cam is going to have to put up 500 yards, carry 3 linebackers on his back for the rushing td and score 50 points before we say “wow”.

I gave it to Anderson as more of a most improved ball plus an awesome performance.

It was a real toss up between The Newt and Anderson. Maybe not the best reason, but since we haven’t had much to celebrate about our D, Anderson’s performance was exciting. I really enjoyed seeming him flying around.

Anderson and the Defense were being gashed by Hightower in the first half, but improved in the second half.

We need players on defense to step up, take ownership and improve that side of the ball. James Anderson did everything in his power to carry them. Cam was great, as was Smitty but we need consistent defensive improvement.

i’m glad SS is back. i thought his best days were behind him, but thanks to Cam and him being healthy, he is on pace to do his best numbers yet. besides, he’s the only steve smith i can root for now. :)