Cam Newton has said that he is keen to make the most of his first appearance in the NFL playoffs.

The Carolina Panthers are in the post-season for the first time since 2008, and have a bye week this week after finishing as the second seed in the NFC.

The third-year quarterback told the team's website: "This is going to be a new venture for me, and I'm going to try to make the most of it. We have to worry about ourselves first. I feel as if when we're playing at our best, there's really no team that can stop us.

"We've put ourselves in a situation to reap the benefits this week. We've got to get healthy and get better. We have a lot of corrections to make, red zone production, running the ball, completing the ball, me being more consistent in the passing game. Those are things we need, and we have been working on them.

"This week has been therapeutic for a lot of reasons, ankle, toes, arms, head, mouth, everything. There are a lot of guys in that training room each and every day in the cold tub or hot tub, trying to get their bodies back at 100%. That's where we're all going to need to be come game day."

The Panthers will host the highest remaining seed from this weekend's wildcard round next week.