CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton had his hands full with his 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter when he walked into the postgame news conference on Sunday.

"They don't know who I am," Newton said as he tried to contain Chosen Sebastian and Sovereign-Dior Cambella. "They just know me as Daddy. I'll try to keep it like that as long as possible."

Newton might be able to keep his identity as a famous NFL player a secret to his children for a few more years.

Keeping it a secret that the Panthers (5-2) are a serious contender in the NFC might not be so easy thanks to what Daddy Newton and the rest of the Panthers did to Baltimore.

If you were wondering what Carolina would look like if it played a complete game with no slow starts and the defense playing like a top-10 unit, the 36-21 victory against the Ravens was a good snapshot.

OK, the Panthers did fall behind 7-0, so they weren't perfect.

But once Newton and the offense got rolling against the league's top-ranked defense, the lead was 27-7 before Baltimore got on the scoreboard again late in the third quarter.

This was a stark contrast from the past two games, when Carolina trailed Washington 17-0 at halftime before losing 23-17 and Philadelphia 17-0 in the fourth quarter before winning 21-17.

If Sunday wasn't a complete game, it was close.

And it showed the Panthers, who were home underdogs despite coming in with a 3-0 record at Bank of America Stadium, are to be reckoned with in the NFC.

"We don't mind flying under the radar," nickel back Captain Munnerlyn said. "We don't mind flying under the radar at all. When you look at some of the teams that won the Super Bowl, they fly under the radar and get hot and take off from there."

The Panthers definitely took off on this day. Coach Ron Rivera called it the most complete game of the season.

It was reminiscent of the 2015 season when Carolina went 15-1 and reached the Super Bowl before losing to Denver 24-10.

Even when things didn't go exactly as planned they turned out right. First-round pick DJ Moore turned a fumbled pitch into a 28-yard gain and running back Christian McCaffrey turned a tipped pass intended for wide receiver Devin Funchess into a 6-yard touchdown catch.

The result was 386 yards of total offense against a team giving up 280.5 yards a game and 21.6 more points than the 14.4 opponents averaged against the Ravens (4-4) in their first seven games.

"The sky is the limit," Munnerlyn said. "We can be a very special bunch and work to our goal of winning the Super Bowl."

For Newton and the offense it was a statement game because of all the hype Baltimore's defense received during the week.

Newton, from start to finish, was better than he was a week earlier in winning the NFC Offensive Player of the Week Award for his fourth-quarter performance in Philadelphia. He completed 21 of 29 pass attempts for 219 yards and two touchdowns, a personal-best sixth straight with two touchdown passes. He also rushed 10 times for a team-high 52 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown run that made it 33-14.

This also was a coming out party for first-round-pick Moore. The wide receiver out of Maryland took advantage of Torrey Smith being sidelined with a knee injury, catching a season-high five passes for 90 yards and rushing twice for a season-high 39 yards.

All in the first half.

This also was statement game for the defense that entered the day ranked 13th.

"We heard about their defense all week long," outside linebacker Thomas Davis said. "We listened to their coach's press conference. Never once did he mention what we were capable of doing on defense. We kind of took that to heart."

The Panthers gave up a 75-yard touchdown drive on the game's first series. The drive was aided by a 15-yard personal foul penalty on defensive tackle Dontari Poe -- who was on the sideline.

"We honed in," Davis said. "We settled down and started to execute. Everything they got on their first drive we gave it to them."

The complete effort left the Panthers with a 4-0 home record and helped them keep pace of New Orleans (5-1), which played the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night.

But coming into the game it was almost like the Panthers were an also-ran in the NFC to the Saints and Los Angeles Rams. They were among the NFL's unknowns like Newton described himself to his son and daughter.

Now that they've arrived, the plan is to stay relevant with Tampa Bay next on the schedule.

"You don't get complacent," Davis said. "You don't start to feel like you've arrived."