Every time I read an article analyzing Cam Newton’s passing accuracy or general consistency (or lack thereof), I find myself getting tied up in knots trying to figure out how to articulate my position on this topic. After considerable thought I’ve decided to just skip the debate outright. I’m no longer going to try to label Cam as either accurate or consistent. I’m just going to define him like this going forward:

Cam Newton is a WINNING quarterback.

The main reason I’m moving away from words like accurate or consistent when describing Cam is because every time I try using those terms my stats-loving head and my Cam-loving heart end up throwing haymakers at each other. My internal debate goes as follows:

Head: From an objective standpoint, Cam Newton is clearly an inaccurate passer. His 58.4% completion percentage over the last five seasons (2013-2017) is the worst in the NFL. The absolute worst. No starting quarterback throws more incompletions than Cam. That’s a fact. I mean, c’mon, heart.

Heart: From an un-objective standpoint, SHUT UP YOU STUPID CAM-HATING MORON JERKFACE! The only reason his completion percentage is so low is because Carolina throws the deep ball instead of short dump-offs. If Cam played in Alex Smith’s system, he’d complete like 92% of his passes!

Head: To further my point, Cam’s passer rating of 85.3 over the last five years is 22nd out of 27 qualifying QBs. He’s only ranked above Eli Manning, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Joe Flacco, and Blake Bortles. That’s not great company.

Heart: That’s not Cam’s fault! His passer rating is so low because the Panthers wide receiving corps has been pretty awful for the last five years. Not even Tom Brady can consistently throw completions to receivers who can never get open. Plus, Cam’s a dual threat! He’s a deadly weapon when he runs the ball! This doesn’t show up in traditional passing stats.

Head: Rushing and passing don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Running quarterbacks can still be accurate passers. Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, and Alex Smith all run the ball pretty while destroying Cam’s passing metrics. Oh, by the way, PFF just reported Cam had the third-worst passer rating in the league when facing pressure last year.

Heart: Uhhhhh…I think I read a super detailed article from PFF a while back that said Cam throws the most accurate passes in the NFL that travel between 18 and 87 yards when facing non-divisional opponents when Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus are aligned. Errr something.

Head: Are you going to just get mad from here and start making “Uranus” insults at my expense?

Heart: Yes.

Head: I’m leaving.

Everything my head and my heart say about Cam as a passer is correct. His completion percentage and passer rating are consistently among the worst in the NFL. On paper, Cam’s passing stats are just brutal.

On the other hand, his offensive scheme and supporting cast haven’t catered to a high completion percentage. Plus, Cam’s game-changing ability to run the ball is one of the reasons he’s such a deadly weapon, and this aspect of his game does not show up in traditional passing metrics.

All Cam does is win, win, win…

The reason I’m just settling on calling Cam a “winning” quarterback instead of debating if he is accurate or not is because no statistical measure trumps winning, and no position influences winning in football more than the quarterback. Let’s look “Cam as a winner” over the last five seasons (2013-2017):

• Cam’s 49 wins are fourth in the NFL, trailing only Tom Brady (60), Russell Wilson (54), and Alex Smith (50).
• The Carolina Panthers have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons. Only one NFL team has exceeded this by making the postseason in each of the last five years – the New England Patriots.
• Cam’s Football Reference Approximate Value of 74 between 2013 and 2017, which includes his rushing impact, is fourth among quarterbacks, trailing only Russell Wilson (84), Drew Brees (79), and Tom Brady (78).
• Cam’s 150 total touchdowns (rushing plus passing) between 2013 and 2017 ranks third among quarterbacks, trailing only Drew Brees (173) and Tom Brady (157), based on Football Reference data.
• Between 2013 and 2017, the Carolina Panthers offense has averaged 24.2 points per game, which is 11th in the NFL based on ESPN data. They’ve done this despite playing a conservative style of football. Carolina’s offense trailed the No. 7 through No. 10 offenses by less than one point per game – Seattle (24.4), Dallas (24.4), Atlanta (24.6), and Kansas City (24.9).

Over the last five years, the Panthers have been one of the most successful teams in the NFL. No position influences winning more than quarterback. Carolina’s offense is objectively good and it is undoubtedly due to Cam Newton’s unique skillset. His completion percentage is statistically low, but the Panthers winning percentage under Cam is statistically high.

I don’t really worry very much anymore if Cam is accurate or consistent along with the reasons why or why not.

Cam Newton is a winning quarterback.

That’s all that really matters to me.