Newton went 26 of 40 for 365 and a touchdown. People are saying that with his performance, one cannot be mad at Newton. Newton's third incompletion was a bad decision and should've been picked off.
His decision making is still not where it should be. He's a bigger turnover risk at this point of his career than Farve and Eli were. Averaging 20 a season. This is a normal statistical season for Newton.
As for this game, to quote Doug Kyed for this game, "Separation, by the way, was not a problem." That's the thing this season, coaches tape time and time has shown Newton has pass catchers open. He either is not seeing them, throwing inaccurately or ignoring them. Look back this season, how many times was Izzo open and if Newton threw it to him, the ball was nowhere near catchable.
It was partially Newton's fault, yeah he threw for 365 but that's what teams do in losing situations. They put the ball in the air. The Patriots started the second half trailing by eleven points and trailed the entire second half. The score was 24-17 to start the fourth.
So, I disagree with not being able to blame Newton partially. I am going to break down what my issue was with the final play of the game and then other issues I have seen.
Newton has all the time he needs and throws the ball from his own 34 yard line. Again Newton had about 4 more yards to step up. Izzo catches the ball at the 10 and falls forward, for a 51 yard catch. The pass traveled a total of 56 yards.
Two things bothered me on this play which fall on Cam. The first is that he had no presence of his surroundings. I'll get more into that as it was a problem during the game but he should've continued to move up.
The second was the Patriots needed him to heave the football as far as he could and he only threw it 56 yards. Newton is 31 and has a max arm of 56 yards? When Bledsoe retired at 35, he could still sling it 70 yards. Unlike 43 year old Brady, who made his money off of throwing the dink and dunk; Newton has made his money off running around and throwing the ball over defenders heads.
Okay, now that I have said what was wrong with the final play and why I blame that play on Newton, let's dive into what else I had an issue with and that is Newton doesn't have or has very little pocket awareness but it just not pocket but field awareness. Luckily, professional analysts saw issues with the same things. Phil Perry, Doug Kyed, Evan Lazar, Tom Curran, and the Patriots beat podcast to name a few.
The Texans hurried and pressured Newton and 6 of his incompletions were because of it. Twice Newton's incompletions were batted down by the guy pressuring him. JJ Watts, figured out Newton's timing and knew when to put his hands up as well.
I am sure I'm gonna beat this to a dead horse but Cam has little pre snap or pocket awareness. His field awareness isn't much better. He's been sacked 15 times this season. He's thrown 7 interceptions this season with many dropped passes. His ball security is just as bad as his awareness. If a Jets defender had more awareness, Cam would've handed the ball to him near the goal line when he stretched out.
Newton isn't making throws, especially the gimme passes. He's either inaccurate and putting them in the ground or not seeing the pass catchers. He's not making proper adjustments at the line. He's not seeing people when he goes through his reads and he's not always moving around or taking off when he should.
He's a mirage, an optical illusion on paper. Sure we can pick a few good plays out of the limited number of them to make a highlight package to sell Newton but we have an overwhelming number of mistakes and bad plays to choose from. What he does wrong out weights what he does right.
Patriots podcast, "There's no blitz pick up before the snap, in real time Cam has guys coming into his face and he doesn't see it, he has no ware with all..." "Cam goes into a holy shit mode or doesn't see it at all that's been a problem of recognition..."
Evan Lazar, "Cam can't figure out how to handle the blitz, how to center protection properly." "90% of his issues are pretty snap, are before snap issues..." "He doesn't seem to sense that the blitz is coming right away. It's like oh, the guys right on top of me I better make him miss, right?"
"Cam Newton is not a consistent down to down thrower," said Lazar. Earlier this year, Evan had said that Newton was a "throw it and see it guy, a guy who would run around and beat you by throwing the ball over your head". That "Newton was not a timing, passing drill quarterback."
Phil Perry, " When Jakobi Meyers and Ryan Izzo are pointing at a blitzer and you still don't see it and end up getting sacked. Those are the little things with the occasional inaccurate throw, It's identifying Blitzers, it's making the check down throw..." "We see the random inaccurate throws in the short area, we see the missed protections; those things you have to have, to have success." "It's low level quarterbacking stuff that he should be able to do."
Ben Volin tweeted out that Cam Newton leads the league in batted down passes (4.8) which is hard to imagine for a quarterback of his build. 13.3 poor attempts, 33 poor throws. 30 passes defended and only 7 dropped passes. Newton has thrown 248 times. Josh McDainels is the only thing helping Newton have a 68.1 completion percentage.
I love offensive football. This for me has been one of the most boring seasons as a Patriots fan. Newton is a mobile quarterback and his option plays are so slow and the play calling is to be desired. Analysts are blaming Cam for that.
Now I've been saying McDaniels playcalling has looked vanilla since 2018. This year McDaniels is trying to mix up formations with Cam. Trying to put him under center and run with different personal. Cam doesn't seem to be able to execute. He certainly cannot drink anddrink, which is the easiest thing for a quarterback to do but Newton puts the ball into the ground.
For a 31 year old quarterback he's playing like a sophomore. Especially having to have his throwing mechanics changed at this stage of his career. It explains why, Newton and Stidham's play has been said to be comparable this season.
What we're seeing is expected from a second year player who's still learning with little NFL experience but not from a former league mvp. Newton is in decline and the Panthers are looking smarter and smarter for moving on.
Patriots beat podcast, " They are running a limited playbook with Cam, this is a basic offense with a trick play or two thrown in there and that's it so..." " It's his style, he's a get out there, figure it out, be Cam Newton, make it happen sort of quarterback and it really really limits the amount of things you can do..." For Cam, "The offense has to be so boring and vanilla that you can only do so much with it. That's the tough part with Newton and everyone's concern"
The Texans were a team I thought the Patriots could put up 250 yards through the air and another 150 on the ground. I expected Newton to take off a good 5 to 6 times and he only ran it 3 times. Idk if that was from the Texans playing the run or Newton just wanting to throw to save his job due to the criticism grom how bad his passing stats are.
When it comes to playcalling, Phil Perry Said Newton isn't accurate enough for McDaniels to get more agressisve. Now we've seen that all season, especially on first and second down. Perry is correct with that.
Evan Lazar said Newton has "looked sloppy and not perfect this year." Add to that how inconsistent he is. The fact that he doesn't get through his reads when he has time, that he holds on to the ball when he shouldn't, or that he doesn't see the field and runs with open pass catchers.
Since Cam signed, he has never shown consistency enough to say he is the future. He has looked good through the air against teams he should, and the same versus teams on the ground, with exception to the Texans. This may be a one and done but if not, Cam should be off the team by 2022 at the latest.
The big thing we hear is "If not Cam, who? Stidham dosen't have any real experience and has looked comparae to Newton. We need someone better," or they say that "I'm scared to see Stidham out there because he doesn't have experience and is averaging an interception every five passes." Verses San Francisco, Newton was doing the same and some of these people think he's the long term solution.
Here's the thing, the Patriots are on the fringe of being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and I still think they should win their last six games. Newton's still being evaluated but I think it's safe to say he is what he is, which is an inconsistent playmaking below average passer. His analytics might be good on paper but his execution on tape doesn't agree, it doesn't match. He's ranked 13th analytically, that's still average. Average is13 to 20. He's on the verge of putting up above average stats (9-12). Anything shy of leading the team to the playoffs isn't gonna change anything at this point for Cam, as far as for the positive. Newton can hurt himself however.
Once the Patriots are eliminated and the pressure is off, it's time to play Stidham. Evaluate him properly to see what the team needs to do in the offseason. The kid missed out on the preseason games and unlike Newton, he hasn't played in 9 games to evaluate him. He's played in garbage time pressure situations where the game was still in reach and the sophomore was expected to make the comeback. Take the pressure off and see what he has. Let him regain confidence as a quarterback and find out if he still has the potential or if the organization needs to move on.
One thing to keep in mind for those that think Newton is the future. Earlier this year he said that playing for the Patriots was a business trip and now he won't answer whether what his future is concerning the Patriots. That combination doesn't look good for plans of a resigning.
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