This town’s big enough for the both of ’em: Chiefs’ Berry, Panthers’ Newton remain rivals

A few miles apart in south Fulton County, Ga., you could pass a sign touting it “The Home of 2010 Heisman Trophy Winner Cam Newton” … and another declaring Fairburn “HOME OF ERIC BERRY, NFL COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR.”

As it happens, there’s room for both at once there.

The overlap will be in focus on Sunday, when the Chiefs and Berry play at Carolina against Newton and the Panthers in the latest installment of what Berry calls a “fun rivalry” now enhanced by “seeing each other grow over the years.”

“I just like to see him play ball,” Berry said, adding that between the two of them holding annual local camps and thriving in the NFL, “We’re doing a lot for South Fullerton … giving kids a visual that it is possible to reach your dream.”

That goes back to around middle school, when the two frequently played pickup basketball against each other.

“I was like, ‘Who is this?’ ” Newton told reporters in Charlotte earlier this week. “It’s kind of like when two rival gangs see each other and the head of each gang, they’re fighting and you see each other and you go the other way out of respect. You know what I’m saying?”

Uh, not exactly.

But you can figure it out easily enough:

Berry and Newton have a healthy and abiding respect for each other, grounded both in their shared sense of home and the competition against each other both informally and at rival high schools (Berry’s Creekside and Newton’s Westlake) before graduating in 2007.

(They also each played in the Southeastern Conference, Berry at Tennessee and Newton at Florida and Auburn. But between Newton’s injuries and transfers and Berry leaving after his junior year, they only both were in uniform for teams that played each other in 2007 when Newton played a mop-up role and Berry had a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown in a 59-20 Florida victory.)

Both were quarterbacks back in high school, with Newton proclaiming himself better at the position even while calling Berry the better athlete ... and Berry not disagreeing on either front.

Watching Newton throw, particularly at camps they went to, Berry said Newton’s passing stood out “like a sore thumb.”

“I couldn’t spin it like him,” said Berry, who last faced Newton in a regular-season game when the Panthers and Chiefs met in 2012. “But I could get it there on time.”

By the time Newton was leading Auburn to the 2010 national title, Berry had moved on to the Chiefs as the No. 5 pick overall in that year’s draft.

But during his one year at Auburn, Newton became well-acquainted with another Chief he’ll face Sunday: Linebacker Dee Ford, who is third in the NFL this season with nine sacks.

Ford, Newton recalled, was very disciplined and determined and “always yearning for some sort of edge.”

That included in eating.

Ford had a “weight problem, different than me,” Newton said. “I tried to lose weight; he tried to gain weight.”

The topic resonated with a playful Ford on Friday.

“I was eating bowls of pasta. He thought it was funny because I just couldn’t gain weight to save my life,” he said. “I was so young. Oh, I was so young.”

The connection didn’t end when Newton left, though.

“He would always come back for the three years I was still there and give a lot of advice,” Ford said. “We took that, and I tried to take advantage of all of it. That was a lot of wisdom he gave me.

“I never really told him, but I listened to everything he said.”

Newton could at least momentarily regret that helpfulness on Sunday, naturally, when Ford and Berry will be out to smother him.

Most likely, you’ll have no idea any are friends the way they go at each other.

But most of the time, Berry and no doubt Ford root for Newton.

“Home is home,” Berry said.

Where signs say there’s room for both of them.

This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "This town’s big enough for the both of ’em: Chiefs’ Berry, Panthers’ Newton remain rivals."