CINCINNATI -- Cam Newton didn't know what to say or how to feel after his best all-around game of the season.
"It would have felt better if we got a win," the Carolina Panthers quarterback said after rushing for more than 100 yards and passing for nearly 300 during Sunday's 37-37 overtime tie against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Newton, like most of his teammates, never had experienced a tie. It was awkward. As much as he felt relief that the Bengals missed a 36-yard field goal on the final play of the extra period, he felt disappointment the Panthers (3-2-1) didn't put this one away when they had their chances.
And there were chances, down to a dropped touchdown pass by Jerricho Cotchery in overtime.
But if there is one positive Newton and the team should take away from this, it's that the quarterback's left ankle no longer is an issue.
Newton officially has been unleashed.
"He had a pretty good day, huh?" tight end Greg Olsen said with a smile.
Good day, indeed.
What shouldn't be lost in the tie is that Newton ran 17 times for 107 yards and a touchdown after running only 14 times for 42 yards in the first five games.
It wasn't a career day. Newton had 116 yards rushing on nine carries against Atlanta in 2012.
But it was a day that sent a message to the rest of the league that the first pick of the 2011 draft is back to doing what he does best. When Newton runs the Panthers are more dynamic offensively.
"He was phenomenal," coach Ron Rivera said. "He's pretty close to being who he is."
With Newton closer to what he can be, the Carolina offense can be closer to what it wants to be. The offensive line that struggled in a traditional run game flourished with Newton running the read-option.
The receivers benefited as well. Lanes opened for them when linebackers and cornerbacks paused to worry about whether Newton would run. Newton completed 29 of 46 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns.
"It was a matter of time," Olsen said. "When he gets out there and starts running and gets in that flow, it's what makes him different from anybody else."
Almost every day since Newton underwent surgery to tighten the ligaments in the ankle, he has been asked when the coaches were going to turn him loose. It became such an issue two weeks ago that Newton admitted the recovery was taking longer than he expected.
Newton didn't realize he was going to run this much on Sunday.
But the ankle did feel better coming into this game. Newton said trainers went back to the basics of trying to strengthen the ligaments and muscles instead of icing the ankle and treating it to relieve soreness, as had been the recent routine.
"I said from the beginning we were not going to do anything to put the young man at risk," Rivera said. "He's our franchise quarterback. We waited. We did what the doctors told us. We did what the trainers told us."
But even then Newton didn't know how good the ankle was until he really tested it in the open field.
That came in the third quarter, when he went 12 yards off right tackle for his first rushing touchdown of the season. Before that, Newton had nine yards on three carries.
Then it was game on.
"When you call one play and it gets 10-plus [yards], you highlight that play moving forward," Newton said.
Newton averaged seven yards on his final 14 carries. Olsen said a few of those plays could have gone for more had the blocking been better.
That will be in the minds of every defensive coordinator moving forward.
"I'm just glad he was on our team," Carolina defensive tackle Star Lotulelei said.
That doesn't mean the Panthers will run Newton 17 times a game, which according to ESPN Stats & Information research was the most for a quarterback since Tim Tebow for Denver in 2011.
But with Newton now a threat to run, it should open things up for the rest of the offense.
The Panthers are going to need a more prolific offense if the defense continues to struggle. This is the third time in the past four games they've given up 37 or more points. Only one opponent scored more than 24 points -- and none more than 31 -- against the Panthers last season.
Until the defense begins playing more consistently, Newton will have to be more dynamic.
Now that he has been unleashed, he has that chance.
