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David Newton, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Philosophical Cam Newton admits he's a changed man

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  -- There was a moment on Thursday where Cam Newton sounded philosophical.

It came when the Carolina Panthers quarterback was asked about being hesitant to say he wanted to start in Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns, when earlier in the season he was so bold with predictions coming off an injury.

Maybe Newton didn't want to jump the gun on coach Ron Rivera, who had yet to comment on his plans at quarterback. Maybe he didn't want to hurt the feelings of Derek Anderson, who started for him in Sunday's 19-17 victory over Tampa Bay.

Or maybe, as Newton said, he's simply grown up.

"You live and learn," Newton said. "Life is all about growth and so much about football is transferable to life. The person that you started as, you're not the same person. And if you are, shame on you.

"From Week 1 until now I have grown up and there is no need to waste any energy with stressing. I don't need anybody doubting me wanting to play."

For the record, Rivera later said Newton was on target to start. It'll be his first game after suffering two small fractures in his lower back in a two-vehicle crash near Bank of America Stadium last week.

But as Newton has said repeatedly since the wreck, when he plays again doesn't matter.

That's where he's changed.

It's not that Newton doesn't want to play. He probably can't wait to run for a first down and do the move that Anderson imitated so well against the Bucs. Or to score a touchdown and do his trademark "Superman" gesture. But Newton won't be doing any of this simply to prove, in his words, he's "a tough man" as perhaps he would have before.

"Everybody goes through stuff in life where they really open up their lives and go, ‘Man, I'm fortunate to be alive,' " backup quarterback Joe Webb said. "The car crash reminded him life, you can't take it for granted.

"That not only did something for him, it did something for everybody else in here, too. It did something for me. I just saw the man the day before, and in the car crash his life easily could have been taken away."

Rivera said there's been a series of things that have gone on this season that have helped Newton and "us all mature and grow."

"I've gone through a bit of a metamorphosis myself in seeing all the things that we've had to deal with, I've had to deal with," Rivera said, referring to everything from defensive end Greg Hardy's domestic violence case and the backlash from that to Newton's crash.

"This has been a strange year for him. He's never been bumped up, nicked up or injured the way he's gone through this year. He's a tough individual. He's a tough-minded young man. He wants to play every time, get on the field every opportunity he can. He's had to take a couple steps back."

The first came in the opener at Tampa Bay when Newton wasn't happy with Rivera's decision to sit him and give his fractured ribs another week to heal.

Until then, the first pick of the 2011 draft hadn't missed a start. Now he's missed two.

"I agree with him, there are some things that have helped him mature and grow as a person and as a football player," Rivera said.

And you could hear it in Newton's voice on Thursday.

"When I go into that locker room I can go up and down each and every row and ask every person whether they want to play, and they do want to play," Newton said. "I can see it in their eyes and that is what is getting us over this hump the last couple of weeks.

"If I can play, we all know I want to play. But that the end of the day I won't jeopardize what we have the opportunity to do just because of my selfishness to say, ‘Oooh. I'm a tough man.' "

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