Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has been criticized this season for his demeanor following losses. The second-year player was called out for conducting a postgame press conference following a Week 3 loss to the Giants where he didn’t look up while answering questions. He also reportedly held up the team’s bus after a Week 4 loss because he was sulking in the locker room.
Now his father is saying he needs to change his behavior.
“Does he need to tweak it? I guess so,” Cecil Newton told “The Drive” on WFNZ in Charlotte on Monday when talking about his son’s reactions to losses. “He might not have presented himself well during interviews or post-conference meetings or stuff of that sort, but Cam was that way from he was seven years old. He’s in transition now learning how to deal with it and how to accept it.”
Cecil said he was appearing on the radio show to take some negative attention away from his son. He defended Cam’s behavior by saying he’s always taken losses hard, and that it shows how much he cares.
“I know he hasn’t been responsive in some of his interviews(after losses) but he has been like that since he was 7 years old … He doesn’t really look sure of himself (at times), and that is not the Cam I know.
“A vast portion of Cam’s sulking and disappointment is that he has the burden of trying to deliver the goods to the Panthers fans … I always preach to him ‘Take ownership. Take ownership when you win, but also take ownership when you lose.’”
Cecil also believes that his son is not playing his best because he is trying too hard to do too much.
“I think he’s really pressing. Trying to do a whole lot when it’s there when it’s not there. He is a competitor. From one season to another, defenses adjust.
“He’s going to work his way through it. Making excuses is not what he’s going to do. I know my son, he is going to go back into the lab, tweak some things, and come back out and get better.”
Cecil thinks it’s better to have a player care too much rather than one that doesn’t care enough. We agree with him on that one, and we also agree that Cam needs to change his behavior.
It’s not bad to care a lot about winning and losing games, but players need to let go of losses in order to perform better in the future. And Cam is also inviting more criticism with his postgame behavior, so it’s in his interest to act differently in order to avoid unnecessary scrutiny.
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