Cam Newton said he lives for pressure-packed moments.

But so far the Panthers seventh-year quarterback has been mediocre in the postseason Leonard Floyd Jersey , something he hopes to improve upon when the Panthers visit the Saints on Sunday in the NFC playoffs.

Newton is 3-3 all-time in the postseason, with his last playoff game culminating in an emotionally devastating 24-10 loss to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.

Outside of a riveting performance in a 49-15 win over the Arizona Cardinals in the 2015 NFC championship game, Newton’s statistics in the postseason have been average. He has completed just 59.7 percent of his passes for eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s run for only two TDs, both of those coming in the playoff rout of the Cardinals.

”This is when the real football starts,” Newton said after Wednesday’s practice. ”This is where you’re made or you’re broke – and I look forward to these moments because it brings out the best in the individual because there is so much pressure. And we all know pressure does one of two things. We’re hoping to shine like diamonds on Sunday.”

The Saints (11-5) have already defeated Carolina (11-5) twice this season, including a 31-21 victory on Dec. 3.

But that doesn’t bother the NFL’s 2015 league MVP, who is expecting to bounce back from the worst statistical game of his game of his career in a 22-10 loss last Sunday at Atlanta.

His quarterback rating of 31.5 in a 22-10 loss to the Falcons was the worst of his 109 career starts. He misfired on his first nine passes and had three second half interceptions. Yet he believes the problems in that game are easily fixable and the Panthers can rebound and rediscover the mojo that helped them win seven of eight games before the Falcons fiasco.

”It just wasn’t clicking,” Newton said. ”And it was internal. So self-inflicted things and that’s never good for you. … Protecting the football is important and I have to do a way better job of doing that.”

This isn’t first time the Panthers have battled adversity, which isn’t lost on the former Heisman Trophy winner who won a national championship at Auburn.

Even Panthers coach Ron Rivera referred to this as a ”tumultuous” season.

The Panthers endured the off-field distractions from get go with the firing of general manager Dave Gettleman on the eve of training camp. That was followed by the midseason trade of No. 1 wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, the negative feedback from Newton’s sexist comments to a female reporter and the alleged sexual and racial misconduct surrounding team owner Jerry Richardson, who now plans to sell the team.

And that doesn’t even include the injuries which kept three-time Pro Bowl tight Greg Olsen and two-time All-Pro center Ryan Kalil out of most of the season.

Newton said the Panthers have learned to ”weather the storm Jamie Meder Jersey ,” which has brought them closer together as a team.

Carolina’s wide receiving corps remains a muddled mess and the Panthers still don’t appear to have a defined role for rookie running back Christian McCaffrey. But Olsen will play against the Saints for the first time this year giving Newton more options, and running back Jonathan Stewart (back stiffness) and guard Trai Turner (concussion) are expected back from injuries this week.

But the reality is the Panthers will only go as far as Newton can take them in the postseason.

Not only is he the Panthers’ leading passer, he’s also their leading rusher.

”We get Cam Newton playing fast, we’re a dangerous offense,” Panthers offensive coordinator Mike Shula said.

”We’ve got to keep Cam from trying to run all over the field, try to make him be more of a pocket passer,” said Saints defensive tackle Tyeler Davison.

Saints defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins said the Saints have been able to throw Newton off the last two games by disguising coverages and giving him multiple looks. Newton has two TD passes and three interceptions in two games against the Saints which the Panthers have lost by a combined margin of 65-34.

”Not allowing him to get a bead on where the coverage is rolling down to, who’s coming, who’s not, different stunts up front,” Rankins said. ”If you can always keep Cam on his toes Jeff Allen Jersey , it definitely gives you the best chance to win.”

Rivera said he expects Newton to play well.

”He’s a guy that tends to bounce back after a tough outing,” Rivera said. ”We had a tough outing. He’s going to prepare, be ready. We, as a football team, will prepare and be ready.”

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AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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Alexander Radulov sent a sigh of relief through the arena on Tuesday night.

Radulov scored 40 seconds into overtime as the Dallas Stars beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 to end an eight-game winless streak.

On a two-man breakaway, Tyler Seguin passed from the right side across to Radulov, who beat Philadelphia goalie Petr Mrazek for the game-winner.

”I was going in shooting the whole time,” said Seguin, whot got his 500th career point on the play. ”but when I knew it was Radulov and the goalie was probably all over me. I knew he wasn’t going to miss that.”

The Stars were 0-6-2 during their longest stretch without a win since moving to Dallas in 1993. With five games left, the Stars are five points out of the Western Conference’s final playoff berth.

Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock felt the reaction.

”For everybody it’s relief, and now you can move forward Mark Sanchez Jersey ,” he said. ”We can’t live on frenetic effort every shift with no structure. … Today didn’t have much structure in it.”

Seguin had two assists and Radulov had one. Kari Lehtonen stopped 31 shots to end a personal seven-game winless streak.

”It wasn’t a pretty one today, but Kari had some huge saves, you know,” Radulov said. ”The guys blocked shots, and at some point we had luck too.”

Philadelphia extended its points streak to six games (3-0-3) and remained two points ahead of New Jersey for the Eastern Conference’s top wild card.

”We don’t like the way we gave up the second point, which we do too much in OT,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. ”Sometimes when you try to do too much 3-on-3 things like that happen.”

Radek Faksa had the game’s first goal just past midway into the first period for Dallas and Brett Ritchie tied it 2-2 on the power play midway through the second.

In between, Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov scored for Philadelphia, with Shayne Gostisbehere assisting on both goals. For 38 minutes after that, Lehtonen gave up nothing.

”Things have been tough and now we just kept going and get rewarded at the end, so it was sweet Robert Woods Jersey ,” Lehtonen said. ”The fun part was that they were getting shots and I was able to keep making the saves. It goes to focus on the next shift and believe that we are gonna get that one or two chances, able to score a goal.”

Mrazek made 20 saves for the Flyers.

Until Radulov scored, there wasn’t much indication that Dallas could win.

”We had five people for 2 1/2 periods staring at the puck and all moving towards the puck, trying to help,” Hitchcock said. ”It’s a little bit like kids’ soccer.”

Faksa scored with 9:10 remaining in the first. Antoine Roussel’s shot from above the left faceoff circle went wide left, bouncing off the boards and out to Faksa at the right of the net. He put in a backhand off Mrazek’s left skate as the goalie scrambled to get back to that side.

Konecny tied it with 3:09 left in the opening period with a wrist shot from just inside the right circle that went under the crossbar.

Dallas had seven of the first eight shots on goal, but Philadelphia outshot the Stars 10-3 for the remainder of the first period.

The Flyers took the lead just 2:03 into the second. Wayne Simmonds passed to Provorov in the slot. Before he fell to the ice, Provorov put a wrist shot inside the left goalpost.

It took the Stars just 19 seconds into their first power play of the second to tie it. Standing just to the left of the net, Ritchie tipped in Radulov’s shot from the right circle.

NOTES: Konecny has 17 of his 23 goals in the last 31 games. … Claude Giroux’s assist on Konecny’s goal was his eighth in the last four games and 66th of the season. … Radulov reached 40 assists for the first time in his career. … Before Ritchie’s goal, Philadelphia had killed 12 of 13 penalties over six-plus games.

UP NEXT

Flyers: Finish a three-game trip on Wednesday at Colorado.

Stars: Visit Minnesota on Thursday before returning for the home finale on Saturday vs. the Wild.
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