The Panthers finished the regular season 15-1 behind Newton’s 45 total touchdowns. The quarterback remains a lightning rod, but the barbs have felt less vitriolic once the wins began piling up.
Growing up in Los Angeles in the dead period between Rams eras, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman developed an unorthodox rooting interest: Warren Moon’s Houston Oilers.
“(He was) a black quarterback,” Sherman explained this week. “There weren’t a lot of them back then. So I said, ‘Yeah, black quarterback. I hope he wins.’ ”
This weekend in Charlotte, N.C., two African-American quarterbacks who consider Moon both a role model and an influence will face off with a trip to the NFC Championship Game on the line.