Respect for “ultimate competitor” Cam Newton

“I have absolutely respected, appreciated, and loved every second that Cam’s been here,” Rhule began. “He works as hard as someone could work. All he ever says to me is, hey, keep coaching me. He wants accountability. He wants to help the team win. So I’ve enjoyed every second of having him here, and I’m looking forward to seeing him today. He and I usually sit down each Tuesday, one-on-one for an hour or so, and just talk. I’ve learned so much from him. I hate that we haven’t been able to get a win for him while he was here. I thought he played well enough in the Washington game for us to win, I thought defensively we didn’t quite play well enough in that game.

“But I do know that Cam lays it on the line every time he goes out there. And I do know that Cam prepares at a high level every week. And you can learn a lot about somebody, and their true character. For everything people might think they know about Cam Newton, you can learn a lot about who he is as a person, as a man, as a competitor these last four games. There hasn’t been one moment, hasn’t been one moment where he’s been pointing a finger at someone else. Not one moment where he doesn’t say to me, hey coach me, get after me. The 0-4 (as a starter this year) or whatever, I’m just worried about this week, and I’d love for us to get a win against a great Buccaneers team this week, and we’ll go back to the process of coming up with a plan and executing the plan.

“But make no mistake, this guy is the ultimate competitor. I just hate that we couldn’t score more points and win the game. But I’ll always look at myself first before I look at anyone else. I think he’s a real guy.”