National Football League

Newton bringing Panthers along for ride

Published Oct. 29, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

It is generally convenient to assess a player's value with numbers, to scrutinize a guy's stats and determine his relative value to a franchise.

Not so, apparently, with top draft pick Cam Newton.

"He's already the face of the franchise," Washington cornerback DeAngelo Hall told The Sports Xchange after the Redskins lost to the Panthers last week. "He makes them a different team, definitely. He gives them a chance every time out."

It's true, of course, that victories are the most important measure for a quarterback. In that regard, the Panthers have notched only two wins in seven outings.

And even though that's as many victories as they managed altogether in 2010, when their poor record earned them the dubious right to select the Heisman Trophy winner and former Auburn star with the initial choice in the draft, it's not quite the metric teammates and opponents employ in rating Newton's value to the club.

Plain and simple, Newton makes the players around him decidedly better, and that's a critical measuring stick as well.

Said Hall: "You can see that, with him, their players sort of sense that they aren't out of games. That he'll do something to raise (their level). I don't know that they feel they have Superman there or what. ... But he's definitely a Ferrari, and they're riding him to where he can take them. He's a guy people can rally around, and they definitely do. You wouldn't think one guy could make such a difference — even a great player — but he does."

The Panthers currently rank No. 5 statistically in total offense in the league after finishing 32nd last season. Newton is on pace to obliterate the rookie record for passing yards in a season.

And his running skills, while perhaps not the equal of Michael Vick, have made a clear difference.

But some Carolina players, and guys who have faced the Panthers and Newton in the first seven weeks, contend that it's his ability to raise the performance of those who surround him that sets the quarterback apart.

If you're trying hard to identify an example, look no further than wide receiver Steve Smith.

Frustrated by the team's decline, all but convinced he could no longer labor for a franchise apparently going nowhere, Smith and his representative spent much of the offseason lobbying for a trade.

But general manager Marty Hurney, even faced with a challenging refurbishing job, hung onto his most valuable chip. The result: Smith leads the league in receiving yards (818) and, even with no complementary wideout opposite him — no viable threat to take away the double-team coverage he sees on a regular basis (the Atlanta Falcons, for instance, bracketed Smith on virtually every pass play in the teams' meeting two weeks ago) — he has averaged 21.0 yards per grab.

Even the wide receiver with the hair-trigger temper and history of explosive behavior has been tamed by Newton's presence and the promise of even better things to come because of the rookie quarterback. Said Smith after the game in Atlanta: "He makes you believe."

And the prospect of hope eclipses, it seems, pure numbers.