CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Despite an ankle injury in last Sunday’s 30-23 loss to the Packers, Cam Newton says he’s ready to play Sunday at home against the 1-1 Jaguars.
“It’s feeling luscious,” Newton said of injured ankle Wednesday. “It’s great.”
What isn’t great is the Panthers record after losses to Arizona and Green Bay to open 2011. But the rookie quarterback says he has learned a lot from watching film this week.
“Don’t get me wrong, that was an excellent defense,” Newton said of the Packers. “I don’t think it was a lot of adjustments being made. We knew what they were doing. We made the mistakes.”
“The biggest thing is keeping ourselves in manageable situations,” said receiver Legadu Naanee, who has three catches for 65 yards thus far. “I think we are trying to look at the matchups we get each week and whatever we think is the best matchup to win, we are going to try and attack.”
Injuries on the defensive side of the ball have not helped. In week one, linebacker Jon Beason went down with a season-ending achilles injuries, and last week Thomas Davis re-tore a surgically repaired ACL in his knee.
While the enthusiasm is up in Charlotte despite the injuries, defensive end Charles Johnson says a lot needs to be fixed.
“I feel 0-2 to me. I don’t feel no moral victories or anything,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to minimize the big plays…We can’t just give up big plays all the time.”
For the first time this season the Panthers are a favorite by four points against Jacksonville.
“It’s not strange for us,” Naanee said. “We’re not really worried about who is favored and who is not.”
The Jaguars will start a rookie as well in former Missouri gunslinger and first round pick Blaine Gabbert.
“I’m very excited about Blaine,” Newton said. “We went through the process together, so to speak…I hope he does well.”
“We’ve just got to play him like any other quarterback and go out and put pressure on him,” Johnson said of the 6-6, 240-pound Gabbert.
Kick off Sunday at Bank of America Stadium is 1 p.m. as the Jags play their second straight away from home after a 32-3 blowout to the Jets in New York last week.
When asked Wednesday what Newton needs to do to improve, Newton gave a straight forward answer to the media.
“Win. Simple and plain.”
