Take your pick: Cam Newton or Andy Dalton

But as we all know statistics can lie and make certain things look a lot bigger than they are and that is the second argument for the choice between these two rookie quarterbacks.

That argument starts and ends with the wins and losses department this season.  Even with all of the huge numbers Cam Newton has put up through the air and on the ground, he has just two wins compared to six losses. He hasn’t been able to translate those huge numbers into wins for the Panthers and that is a problem. In the six losses, Newton has had a chance to tie or win the game in the final minutes in most of the games, but has come up short every time so far this season.

I know he is just a rookie and still wading into the pro game but eventually Newton will need to show he is capable of finding a way to comeback and win some games late in the forth quarter.

Andy Dalton on the other hand has his team in first place in arguably one of the toughest divisions in the NFL. Yes, you heard that right. It is not the Pittsburgh Steelers or Baltimore Ravens in first place in the AFC North, it is the Bengals. After losing two of his first three games, Dalton has led the Bengals on a nice five game win streak putting Cincinnati in first place in the division.

I don’t care what you say, putting together a five game-winning streak in the NFL is not an easy thing to do and Dalton has been a special player. After being down 17-3 going into the second half of a game against the Buffalo Bills, Dalton rallied the troops, scoring 2o points in the second half, ending with a last second field goal, giving the Bengals the victory.

From that standpoint, simply wins and losses, Dalton is by far the better player, records speak for themselves.

But here is the catch. As we all know football is a team game and not just offense wins games. You need at least a semblance of a defense and that is the real game changer in this comparisons. Sure Dalton is 6-2 and Newton is 2-6 but Dalton has the benefit of playing with one of the NFL’s best defenses.

Actually the fourth best in points per game, as the Bengals defense is giving up just over 17 points per game. Take into comparison that the Panthers defense in 28th in the league in points per game, as that unit is giving up 25.9 points per game. Also, the Bengals team is +4 in the turnover battle compared to the Panthers dismal -3.

So looking at it when you take into the defenses, who is to say that Newton wouldn’t be 6-2, heck even 8-0 if he had the type of defense that Dalton has behind him. The Panthers have been decimated by injuries and it has shown. Newton can’t trust his defense to hold any type of lead and they haven’t given him reason to.  Sure the Panthers have lost six games, but I can say with almost complete certainty that those loses fall on the shoulders of the defense much more than they do on Newton.

Overall though, I have to go with Newton for the short and long term as my team’s franchise quarterback. Sure Dalton is performing magnificently right now but he doesn’t have the extraordinary abilities and skill set that Newton has.

Nothing he does is extremely rare. Sure he has an above average arm and is accurate but he isn’t top of the line in either category. And as the stats show, he doesn’t have the athletic ability to scramble around. Newton on the other hand has an unbelievable skill set. He has a huge arm, is built like a linebacker and can run like a running back. At any point in a game, Newton is the most athletic player in on the field. He has game changing abilities, something that Dalton just doesn’t have.

But if I had to take Dalton as a consolation prize I am not to upset.

He has shown that he is more than capable of playing in the NFL and may wind up being a great quarterback but the things I have seen Newton do on the field is unbelievable. Both players though have revitalized their respected teams. The Bengals and the Panthers were two of the league’s worst team’s last year and now two rookie quarterbacks have turned those two franchises around, quicker than anyone would have expected.