In 2019 the Patriots had Tom Brady throw it 620 times and the team ran the ball 447 times. This season the Patriots have had Cam throw it 301 times and the team as a whole, has thrown it 361 times. The Patriots have already run the ball 427 times with three games left. 113 of those rushes have been by Cam Newton, compared to 26 by Tom Brady in 2019.
Now McDaniels recently came out and took blame for the failures in the passing game but what was he supposed to say, "the guy cannot get it done with his arm but Belichick wants to play him for the season?" Yeah, I don't think that would fly well.
Jerry Trotta of Musket Fire wrote, "We’ve heard time and again how it appears the Patriots have no faith in their quarterback’s ability to throw the ball..."
Watching Newton play this season, he has a high completion percentage but a lot of credit has to go to his pass catchers. Newton frequently throws the balls in his pass catchers bubble, meaning that the passes are high, wide, behind, or too low. Newton has also missed seeing open pass catcher quite a bit and at one point wasn't throwing to his right.
Trotta continued by saying, "Newton’s arm isn’t what it used to be, but it’s not a zero. And nothing we’ve seen from McDaniels has presented any belief in his current signal caller, who was supposed to unlock his beloved old offense from the days of Tim Tebow.
Unfortunately, the Tebow similarities have been far greater than we’d hoped."
The Patriots have been working on the 31 year old quarterback's throwing mechanics. Something done with rookies and sophomores, not veterans that have been in the league for a decade. When the Patriots try to run timing routes, Newton has struggled to release on time. Many times taking a sack or throwing the ball into coverage.
Cam is a "see it and throw it" quarterback, who makes his living off running around and throwing deep slants, streaks, and fades (straight line routes) over his opponents heads. He looks at times this season, hesitant to scramble for unknown reasons.
The Patriots are not built for that style offense. Although they adapted Newton's option plays, they're still built to hit the slot receivers on quick passing routes over the middle. Backs on routes out of the back field and tight ends on the seam or in the flats. The entire offense is built on timing, not speed and 50/50 deep balls.
That's incompatible with how Newton plays. With Cam's struggles as a passer, I believe that he was a bench warmer for this season. I warned everyone that this offense would be a minimum 60-40 of Tom Brady's offense at the minimum. People thought the Patriots would switch to a run and shoot offense.
The Patriots get pieces to fit, instead of stars. This time they got a star who was a square that they tried to shove in their round hole. No matter how hard they try, they cannot make Newton work this year and please don't say the 31 ranked Jets or 32 ranked Seahawks pass defense. They couldn't get pressure or cover.
The Patriots may bring him back to mentor a rookie, like Fitzpatrick; or to be security blanket incase Stidham cannot beat him out and struggles in camp or early next season. Like CBS sports said "Cam should be most likely holding a clip board in 2021, looking for a chance to erase this season". Kinda like Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco are doing.
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