I was worried that he would cost Patriots games if signed. It was very clear in the article I wrote that I thought it was a bad idea for the Patriots to sign Cam Newton. In fact I thought there was no chance.
The article wasn't used, presumably because of my writing abilities. Ray was a huge Cam Newton fan and my article definitely clashed with his opinion, so I had questions on whether he would use it after I completed it.
I wasn't so kind on many of the draft prospects Ray seemed to like and I was wrong on the kid with the Chargers. Ray is a homer and some of my takes can seem a little negative.
In my article, I made the case that Cam was inaccurate in Carolina, only having three seasons with a competition percentage above sixty percent. I got told by many "he had no weapons, look who he was throwing to". This defense would get flipped to he had Greg Olsen in Carolina but no tight ends this season, after he started struggling with the Patriots.
I made the case that Newton was inconsistent and was told by the bandwagon "to look at the team he played for, he was the team". They blamed the coaching staff and both sides of the ball for why Cam was inconsistent with both winning seasons and accuracy.
I made the case that he was turnover prone, I was told "Cam had no offensive line or pass catchers, what do you expect".
Stats don't tell the entire story, so I thought that maybe I was missing something, as I didn't watch a lot of Panthers' football.
During the 2020 season I noticed that Newton looked slow deciding on whether to hand it off or keep it. That he also looked slow running the football. In fact the whole option offense looked too slow. Honestly, I thought the 2019 offense was vanilla but the 2020 offense was extremely boring with Cam on the field.
I noticed that Cam Newton was throwing to his guys bubble instead of to his pass catchers. I began saying that Cam needed guys with a large wingspan.
I am a Ryan Izzo fan, after the Bronco game I started saying Cam was ignoring his pass catchers. I asked how far down the progression they were. Assuming that Newton wasn't making all his reads.
There started being an arguement asking who Cam had to throw to, at the same time several sports writers were saying coach's tape was showing each of the pass catchers were getting open a handful of times a game but Newton wasn't seeing them. There was even a period where Newton wasn't throwing to the right. Thus I started asking who was throwing the pass catchers the ball.
In October, Cam Newton was asked about if the Patriots needed new pass catchers, he responded, “There's no need to press the panic button. There's no need to start reinventing the wheel. We have the answers, and I'll say it again, we have the answers in that locker room.”
On February 16, 2021, Dear Patriots Nation or DPN Commentary, or whatever it's being called now, looked into some analytics. Some of what they said I knew but some I didn't know.
They brought up the fact that according to Analytics, Cam Newton was one of the lower tier starters around 27th, and that his ranking was only in the starter category due to his " receiving stats".
They mentioned that Cam was slow running sideways, and just how inaccurate he was. They mentioned that the Patriots pass catchers were ranked 22nd and that their true catch percentage was high.
Here's something I didn't know to this extent. They mentioned that the pass catchers were "ranked 3rd in getting separation". I knew they were getting open but I did not know by how much.
Another statement made which I have made asked a lot is that the ten year veteran was having his mechanics worked on like he was just entering the league. That's something we would expect from Jarrett Stidham but not the former 2015 league mvp.
Ray even brought up finally what I have been saying that weeks one and two, the Patriots played to their opponents weaknesses and that Newton went down hill starting week three, not after he got covid.
One of the arguments for not playing Jarrett Stidham was it would hurt player development. Cam Newton was a lower tier of player than his pass catchers, and now knowing that the arguement that he had nobody to throw to was majorly flawed, I can say without a doubt Cam Newton hurt not only the development but production of his pass catchers.
In fact, Ryan Izzo should've been well over 300 yards receiving but the Patriots quarterbacks, mainly Cam had serious accuracy problems. Which begs the question just how good were the 2020 pass catchers?
Now I am not saying Jarrett Stidham should've played. What I saw from Stidham was a quarterback who should have a deceptive running ability, look scared to run, with Cam Newton's passing ability but with the added ability to hit timing routes. All I am getting at is the arguement of why not to start Stidham after being eliminated from playoff contention has been debunked. There's only one argument that now makes any sense.
There's a saying, "say something enough and people will believe it". That's true of both the Stidham and Newton bandwagons. It was ever so clear during Dear Patriots Nation's live show on February 16th.
The host Ray Rauth was giving out the analytics and some of the Cam Newton bandwagon was trying to use the defense that DPN had been saying since the start of the 2020 season in defense of Cam. Even to the point that they were disagreeing with the analytics that Ray was giving and his assessment based on the analytics.
Ray Rauth laid out the case tonight as to why Cam Newton should not be given a chance to return in 2021. Ray also mentioned something I had talked about many times, which is the possibility that Jarrett Stidham was redshirted in 2020. Which is the only argument that makes sense on why Stidham didn't finish the season as the starter. So I do wanna ask three questions.
Cam Newton said back in October that the answers to the passing game were in the locker room when talking about the pass catchers. Analytics show that to be true. Newton also said in December that Jarrett Stidham had improved drastically as a quarterback, which was backed up by James White after the season.
Is there a chance that Cam was 100% right and the answer to improving the passing game was in the locker room, referring not only the pass catchers but Jarrett Stidham?
Also, could Jarrett Stidham be the reason why the Patriots are rumored not to be going after a quarterback in the 2021 draft? Lastly, if the Patriots plan on making Stidham the quarterback in 2021 and Newton was holding back the pass catchers, what improvements are really needed on the offense?
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