Cam Newton was stuffed when he tried to run in Week 1. He set a personal rushing record in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints.
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Newton's 13 carries keyed a 219-yard performance by the Carolina Panthers. Keeping him busy on the ground is not a part of Carolina's gameplan that will go away anytime soon.
"He gets hit, but not big. And I think there's a difference in that, as well," coach Ron Rivera said via the Charlotte Observer. "And a lot of the runs that we have are calculated. He's reading for the most part as to whether or not it's a good idea to hand it off or keep it."
We'd agree, but only to a point. We saw Newton take on a Saints defender head on last week. He ran him over on the way to a first down. Newton is the rare running quarterback that often dishes out punishment rather than taking it.
"He's a threat on the ground. He threw the ball well, too. I think he plays better when he's doing all that stuff. He kind of gets more in the groove of things and he throws the ball better and just has a better day usually," tackle Jordan Gross said.
"It's Cam Newton, 6-5, 250-255 pounds. He's built like a horse," fullback Mike Tolbert said. "So he's ready to roll all the time. I'm not worried about him taking a hit."
Newton says he'll do anything the team asks. The Giants have given up 4.6 yards-per-carry though two weeks and look thin at defensive tackle, so we expect the team to ask Newton to run plenty Thursday night.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
