Head scratching how he went from having zero weapons to at least one. Newton's always been good for at least 400 yards rushing. His career passing stats on average were basically Tom Brady's in 2019.
As for having no weapons, first unlike Carolina the Patriots run by committee. Harris has rushed for 691 yards and the team has rushed for over 1400 yards without including Cam. So the rushing is statistically on pace for his career with the Panthers.
Newton's panthers almost always had 800+ yard, 700+, 500+ yard, and 400+ yard pass catchers. Newton has had 3 bad passing games, where combined he's thrown for 308 yards. His naysayers response, "I'd rather have an ugly win that a pretty loss". Which are also Cam's words.
Prior to the past three games, Newton's pass catchers were on pace to meet Newton's career average. Byrd and Meyers are both over 500 yards, Edelman's over 300 and Harry's just under. If they continue their trajectory, Newton will have two 700+ yard pass catchers, a 400+ yard pass catcher, and a near 400.
Yes, Cam had covid and missed practice. Lack of practice is another explanation floating for Cam. However, Stidham never getting any first team reps and basically not getting any real practice except for with the practice squad is somehow not. Well if lack of practice is at fault for some of Cam's bad play, ding dong; it's also the reason for Stidham's.
The fact of the matter is Newton does having a down year has a passer period. He looks slow as a rusher and put Stidham's inexperience, since the Ravens game, it's made sense to continue to start Cam Newton until the Patriots are mathematically out of the playoffs.
Belichick is doing his best not to put Stidham in a situation where is confidence can get destroyed. Belichick's destroyed enough young quarterbacks confidence to know that.
Everyone talks about Newton's completion percentage being making him an accurate quarterback. Newton throws to their bubble. If his players catch it, his percentage goes up. Newton puts the ball in the wrong location too often. His pass catchers help his stats by catching balls that hurt their stats.
Newton's pass top for receivers and Izzo combined on average are thrown 7 catchable balls out of 10. Yet they're hauling in 8 of every 10 passes regardless of how bad the ball is thrown. Those type of stats inflate a poor passer's completion percentage.
One more note. Tom Brady's stats might be better than Cam's but they're still bad for all those weapons. There's not guarantee that Newton would be any better. Also any quarterback would look better if they had top 5 pass catchers. That doesn't mean the quarterback still isn't trash, it means he's getting bailed out by his pass catchers.
Brady's always put up good stats, except for 2018 & 2019. He hasn't always had top 5 pass catchers. Newton's has not always had good stats with "nobodies". If Newton really needs top tier talent, then he's not the guy. Yeah, it's nice but the Patriots will be in the same spot if the guy goes down. Last year was probably Brady's worst year and he still did better than Newton statistically and they should be close to the same.
Let's not kid ourselves either. Newton's stats have been inflated by playing the Jets and Seahawks, the 31st and 32nd ranked pass defenses. Everyone knows that. The eye test shows how inaccurate Newton is. Yeah, he can throw the deep ball but his short passes are in the dirt or high. Analytics don't show that. Analytics don't show for bad ball placement. All they show is whether the pass is catchable or not, and whether it's a dangerous pass.
I wanted Cam to succeed once named the starter, I really did; even though I was a Stidham supporter. The problems with Cam have always been evident. He's not a good passer. He's a wild gun slinger who runs. That doesn't excite me but it does worry me.
Let all this sink in and really look at Cam.
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