DETROIT – Cam Newton wore a black hat with a white button on the left side to honor Rosie the Riveter before and after showing he was very focused on football.
The embattled quarterback threw three touchdowns through three quarters, helping the Carolina Panthers build a lead big enough to hold off the Detroit Lions 27-24 Sunday.
Newton came under fire for making sexist comments to a female reporter this week. He apologized after losing an endorsement deal and getting criticized by the NFL.
The 2015 NFL MVP said he put Rosie the Riveter, flexing her right arm, on his hat after doing homework to learn her iconic impact on World War II.
"I just wanted to have a little notion, a shout-out, to all the strong women," Newton said.
He completed 26 of 33 passes for a season-high 335 yards. On perhaps the game's key play, he converted a third-and-9 from the Carolina 24 with a 17-yard pass to Kelvin Benjamin with two minutes left while clinging to a three-point lead against a team out of timeouts.
Newton also threw a 6-yard TD pass to Christian McCaffrey to pull the Panthers into a 10-10 tie early in the second quarter and a 10-yard pass to Devin Funchess for a tiebreaking score with 48 seconds left in the first half. With a perfectly lofted 31-yard pass to Benjamin, Newton put Carolina up 24-10 early in the third.
"He did a real nice job under some unfortunate circumstances," Carolina coach Ron Rivera said.
