A little over two weeks ago, I wrote of the Panthers offense as a long shot to ever get back to their 2015 form. Today, I look like an idiot (every day really). Since I penned that article, Cam Newton has a passer rating of 137.2 and the Panthers are averaging 30 points per game. This past week, he torched a Detroit defense that was allowing a passer rating of only 64.6 through the first four weeks for 355 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks.
How? Truthfully, a good part of the reason why I’m writing this is because I wanted an answer to that question myself. Here is what I found: 
Newton is still money down the field from a clean pocket. This is his bread and butter. This is why he was the MVP in 2015. When Cam can stand tall, step into his throw, and deliver a strike, there are few that can match him at the intermediate and deep levels. The whole reason I wrote off the Panthers offense was because through the first three weeks, the offense was moving towards fewer of these throws, and more underneath.
Against the Lions though, a third of his attempts were targeted 10-plus yards downfield. Those throws though, accounted for 69.8 percent of his yards on the day. He went 10-of-12 for 248 yards and two touchdowns. The key to all of it though was that he was only under pressure on one of those dropbacks. Newton has only thrown 10-plus yards downfield seven times all season under pressure on 52 total pressured dropbacks. Heading into the game, the Lions were pressuring opposing quarterbacks on 39.3 percent of their dropbacks, but only got pressure on 18.2 percent of Newton’s dropbacks Sunday.
Some of that is on the offensive line, but the Panthers also do a great job of using extra blockers to afford Cam the time to throw.
Keep a TE in every play and let him chuck it deep pic.twitter.com/JlgckuyBtj
— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) October 12, 2017
Almost every quarterback in the NFL can pick your defense apart when they know they’ll have time, but Newton is especially deadly with his ability to split zones behind linebackers.
— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) October 12, 2017
While two games isn’t quite enough for me to officially anoint the Panthers offense as being ‘back,’ it was the closest we’ve seen the Panthers offense to their 2015 form in some time. Expect even more deeper concepts as the season goes on and more extra blockers to provide Cam the time to execute them.
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