After a flat stretch, Cam Newton promised more emotional play from the Carolina Panthers and it worked in a 20-17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Newton ran for 86 yards and an emphatic touchdown and even went back and forth on the field with Ron Rivera about going for it on fourth down late in the game.

"This is when you go home that everyone's talking about football, and you don't think anybody really knows or they're talking about everything that doesn't go right, and never giving credit on what's going right," Newton said. "But one thing that stuck with me is when the Panthers are emotionless, that's when good things don't happen.

"So whether you've got to fake it, whatever you've got to do, if we can get Bank of America Stadium with a pulse. That's when we're at our best."

Carolina's offseason plan was to limit Newton's rushes, but that changed on Sunday.

"For our quarterback to sacrifice his body like that, for the greater need of the team, I'd do anything for that quarterback," Ed Dickson said. "It says a lot, the characteristics of him and the competitor in him. He can go through somebody, and he can go over somebody. That's a leader. That's our quarterback."