5 reasons Patriots can win the Super Bowl this year

2. A return to MVP form by QB Cam Newton

Off a playoff appearance in 2017, the Carolina Panthers got off to a 6-2 start the following year and quarterback Cam Newton (the league’s MVP in 2015) was having a solid showing. In those first eight games, he had connected on 67.3 percent of his throws for 1,893 yards, 15 scores, four interceptions and zero lost fumbles. Add in 342 yards and four touchdowns on the ground and the club appeared to be on course for back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history.

But on a Thursday night the Pittsburgh, Newton suffered a shoulder injury that would hamper him the rest of the year and eventually lead to offseason surgery. Last summer at Foxborough, he suffered a foot injury that limited him in the first two games of the regular season and eventually shut him down for the rest of 2019. But the nine-year pro has been given a one-year contract by the New England Patriots and the hope is that he can start to look like the quarterback that was sensational in ’15 as well as the passer who may have started to come into his own in that department two years ago.

On a team that appears to be short on play-makers, Newton may have to be not only Superman but the entire Justice League as well.