Armanti Edwards

As he assessed his performance in the postgame interview room, Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Cam Newton said he was "in the business of moving the chains."

Business was bad for Newton and the rest of the Panthers' offense Friday.

Maybe not a 400-point-drop-on-Wall Street bad, but bad enough to give pause to anyone who thought Newton was a shoo-in to win the starting quarterback job.

In his first exhibition start, Newton threw behind and below receivers, often failed to set his feet and looked confused at times in the Panthers' 20-10 loss to Miami.

The No. 1 overall pick completed 7 of 14 passes for 66 yards. He only had one completion to a wide receiver - a 2-yard gain to Armanti Edwards on third-and-9 late in the second quarter.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera would prefer to name a Week 1 starting quarterback before next week's game at Cincinnati, and did not indicate a leader in the competition between Newton and Jimmy Clausen.