On Thursday, Evan Lazar of CLNS covered the Patriots camp. He was asked if the offensive struggle was on the defensive or offense and Lazar answered.
"As we've seen time and time throughout Cam Newton's entire career accuracy, 7 on 7 drills and so on aren't his game. That running around, using his legs, using his arm strength that's really his cup of tea. That kinda skillset really wasn't amplified, it was really the precision passing that we seen."
Quick note, Newton threw under 50% competition on the day.
What Infer from what Lazar is saying is that with Newton, the Patriots will be sacrificing Accuracy for scrambling ability and deep jump ball throws.That's not the team New England is built to be. Only Byrd, Thomas, and Miller have that kind of speed.
Newton's skill set is more suited for the Chiefs' roster. That's probably why some of those receivers struggled in carolina. They all weren't deep jump ball receivers.
I have called Newton at his worst Hoyer with legs, Lazar makes it sound like that might be better than Newton. Hoyer can at least drink and dunk with accuracy, he's just too conservative.
If Newton is going to succeed here two things need to happen.
One which we know already is happening, McDaniels has to move plays forward in the playbook to cater to Newton's skill set.
Two, Newton is going to need to work on his pocket accuracy. Being able to the the deep ball is great, we've seen the entire AFC east get those quarterbacks over the past 20 years. Because they had shotty accuracy, the Patriots defense dominated those quarterbacks.
Newton is already known to be inconsistent and turnover prone. He's had several dropped interceptions. Belichick won't hesitate to pull him if Newton can't move the ball with his arm. The Patriots pass rush, which we know isn't stellar is already containing him. I doubt Bill is rushing more than 5 guys consistently. If the Patriots pass rush can contain and sack Newton; with the Patriots schedule their opponents will too.
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