Cam Newton has had days where the only thing keeping his interceptions down in camp, was the fact he was throwing the ball so hard defenders couldn't hang on to the ball. On Thursday, he had under 50% competition percentage, going 13 of 28. Not impressive for a guy not only supposed to be the front runner but a guy trying to prove he still has it.
Mike Girardi said recently that none of the Patriots quarterbacks in his opinion are looking good enough to start. He said Stidham was looking like the most accurate but all three quarterbacks were inconsistent. Patsfans.com also wrote the same basic opinion, saying none were playing "well"
With Newton Giardi said that he knew Cam would have some issues but that there are passes that he should be completing that he's hitting with irregularity. Newton has been using too much power and he's been overthrowing and under throwning his targets. All things Newton had been reported to of fixed prior to coming to New England.
There's an old saying," walk like a duck, act like a duck, must be a duck." Gardi doesn't see a starter, Cam doesn't feel like a starter, thus he must not yet be a starter for the Patriots.
Stidham had an excuse for three days of bad play, he was injured, the Patriots admitted that and blamed his three day disappoint on not disclosing it. Newton is supposed to be 100% healthy. To make matters worse, there's how Evan Lazar described him recently.
"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 (in camp)," Said Lazar.
What myself and many fans Inferred from what Lazar is saying is that with Newton, the Patriots will be sacrificing Accuracy for scrambling ability and deep jump ball throws. Basically, the Patriots are hoping to duplicate Baltimore's 2019 or Washington's 2012 style offensive production, by having the quarterback the focal point of the run game.
This has Patriots fans worried. We gave Newton a chance. He didn't continue off with his 2018 accuracy of near 70%. He really didn't run away with this competition, he won it by default. Newton reverted back to his inconsistent ways. He can improve but he hasn't beat out Stidham yet, our fellow fans said there would be no competition; that Stidham wasn't in his league, it appears they were wrong.
Now the Patriots offense from everything I've learned about it is it's a combination of three offenses built for a more mobile quarterback but a mobile quarterback with accuracy not so much power. Whether it's dinking and dunking or lure defenders up by rolling out (with a mobile qb) just to throw a strike over their heads. They need a quarterback who can thread the needle down the seam. Newton is not showing he can constantly be that guy.
Newton has potential to be a good quarterback but one NFL analyst called him a 7-9 quarterback. With how he's performed this offseason, that's very well just as possible as him winning 11 games. With Stidham looking like he could do the same and is looking even with Newton according to many writers. Hoyer looking like he could at least win seven with this offense.
Fans have the right to be worried about Newton going into the season. He has not won us over, nor proved to the fan base that he is worth getting excited over the hype. Fans knew we weren't getting Tom Brady but we didn't expect a less accurate and more aggressive version of Tyrod Taylor.
The first few weeks could have a lot of infighting among Patriots Nation.
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