Panthers itching to unleash Cam Newton

With the Carolina Panthers struggling to put points on the board without any sort of meaningful production from their injury-ravaged backfield, head coach Ron Rivera wishes he could unleash his most explosive offensive weapon.

“It’s very hard,'' Rivera said Monday about having to limit quarterback Cam Newton's ability to run the football, via ESPN. "You can see it. You just know he wants to cut loose and do certain things. You can feel it, and a lot of times you see him start to do it, but it’s coming. We’ve got to do this the right way.” 

Newton, who rushed for 28 touchdowns over the past three seasons (good for third in the NFL behind Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch), has suffered through ankle and rib injuries over the past year, and the Panthers are trying to stop him from taking excessive abuse.

"I wish I could say, 'Hey! We're going to cut him loose this week!''' offensive coordinator Mike Shula said. "I don't want to lie to you. That's something we're going to talk about this week. It's something we have to monitor every week for sure. But he's getting healthier and ... we'll see.''