Cam Newton is back scoring rushing touchdowns, just for a different team. 

Newton scored his first touchdown as the New England Patriots quarterback during the second quarter of their season opener against the Miami Dolphins. The 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player rushed to the end zone for a four-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead over the Dolphins with 13:32 left in the second quarter after both teams failed to score in the game's first 15 minutes. 

 

This is already a marked improvement for Newton, who recorded no rushing touchdowns in an injury-riddled 2019 season for the Carolina Panthers before joining the Patriots. During that season, the first overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft played just two games before missing the rest of the season because of a foot injury, which ended a nine-year stay in Carolina. 

Before that, Newton, who currently owns the league record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, had at least four rushing touchdowns in each of his first eight seasons with the Panthers. This includes 10 rushing touchdowns during his MVP season in 2015 and a career-best 14 during his rookie season. 

This is a good start for Newton’s partnership with New England head coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft, who only signed the quarterback in July after a lot of teams passed on him and are paying him a base salary of just $1.05 million. The Patriots are playing for the first time since the departure of longtime quarterback Tom Brady, who helped New England win six championships, but left the team to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the offseason.