les pensées insouciantes

SI’s Don Banks:

What if I told you in early August that…

…Cam Newton would throw for more yards in his first two NFL games than anybody who has ever played the game? Newton has 422 and 432 yards passing in his two starts, and the theory was that the lack of the NFL’s offseason was really going to hinder his development as a quarterback. Was it really just the other day that Newton was in a legitimate competition with Jimmy Clausen for the Carolina starting job?

For comparison’s sake, Johnny Unitas threw for 400-plus yards exactly once in his 18-year NFL career, the same as Fran Tarkenton, Len Dawson and Otto Graham. Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese and Troy Aikman — just to name four more Hall of Fame QBs — never reached the 400-yard plateau. Brett Favre, Jim Kelly and John Elway played a combined 47 seasons in the NFL, and they all had two career 400-yard games — which Newton has matched in two weeks.