Hoyer will not start.

Patriots game managing quarterback Completed 62.5% of his passes versus the defending superbowl champions for 130 yards. Hoyer did not throw a touchdown but did make a bunch of mistakes including two turnovers. His mistakes were inexcusable for a veteran of his caliber.

According to the roto world staff, "If Newton isn't able to clear all COVID-19-related protocols in advance of Monday's game, the Patriots are seemingly prepared to break in their third starting quarterback of the season in Stidham, who relieved a struggling Hoyer in New England's Week 4 loss to the Chiefs."

Cam Newton is showing no signs of the virus but that doesn't Mean anything and fans have their fingers crossed that he starts. If not the Patriots have Jarret Stidham who played average versus the Chiefs.

On Stidham's first drive he lead the team down field using 2 minutes and 27 seconds. Going 1 of 2 and hitting Harry for a touchdown. Making it a 13-10 game. The Chiefs would answer with a touchdown to make it 19-10.

On his second drive Stidham threw a flat to Edelman. Edelman had the pass in his hands but dropped it into the hands of Mathieu for a pick six. KC would go up 26-10

On his third drive Stidham would go 2 of 5 throwing an interception that he under threw while his receiver froze instead of making a play to defend the pass. He also ran it two times for 3 yards. Stidham didn't have to go deep but he had the guy open. 

Being down by two scores now against the superbowl champions with still time for a comeback, had to be going through his mind, along with the fact that he lost his spot to both Newton and Hoyer.

On his final drive Stidham would go 2 or 5 again. Failing to connect with Edelman twice.  

Stidham would finish the day 5 of 13 for 60 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 INTs. Not the greatest stats. But no worse than Cam Newton during the first half of the Raiders game before the Patriots figured things out.

Here's what Patriots fans need to know. Was that Stidham at his worst, playing with no prep time or was that Stidham at his best. If his best is an average game for Cam Newton, his career as a starter is shot. Cam has maybe 5 years left as a starter, including this season. 

However, if he plays Denver and lights them up, the Patriots will have room on the bench to develop him and fans can breathe a little easier. Knowing that Cam has his possible successor on the bench.

Patriots continue to practice virtually as the week 5 game was moved to monday night.

The Patriots have had Stephon Gilmore and Bill Murray test positive for Corona and have been practicing virtually. The team's game versus Denver has been moved to Monday night. According to Tim Daniels of bleacher report, the Patriots aren't done with getting ready virtually.

On Friday Tim said, "New England will continue to prepare virtually for its game against the Broncos for at least one more day as an "added precaution," per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network." 

Fans are hoping for Cam Newton to return versus to help the Patriots improve to a 3 and 2 record. Newton caught the virus prior to the week 4 game and missed the delayed game due to protocol reasons. At the moment Cam is asymptomatic.  

There are some fans would see Newton sit out the week five game as a precaution, to the dismay of the rest of the fan base. Some of those fans have confidence in the Pats 2019 fourth round draft pick, who's production was comparable to Cam Newton's first half versus the Raiders in week 3.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said on Thursday, "There's nothing more important than the health of the team. Without a healthy team, you don't have a team. That's priority No. 1, and I'd say not only to our team but to their families and people that are close to them. That's always our No. 1 concern. We try to do everything we can to make that the best we can make it. That's the way it's always been, and that's not going to change."

The cause of the outbreak in New England is unknown but circumstantial evidence suggests it came from hotel staff in Foxborough. The Patriots are set to kick off Monday if all goes well. 

In related news, the Buffalo Bills game was moved to Tuesday and the Titans finally had a day of no new cases. The Titans need two more negative days for the game to go through. In college, The University of Baylor suspended play due to covid.

My Issue with Cam Newton Fans has me wondering if the name on the front means more to them than the name on the back.

This season Cam Newton has been exactly what I thought he was, which is Inconsistent. His accuracy has been better due to coaching but his play hasn't been. Weeks 1 and 3 Cam Newton was average. Week two he was elite. People are screaming sign him for an extension. In his first game with the Patriots, Stidham played in a quarter and what's comparable to Cam Newton's performance versus the Raiders. That performance have people calling for Jarrett Stidham to be cut, saying his play was garbage and that he was a bust.

I have accepted Cam Newton as the quarterback of the Patriots for the 2020 season. I have also said that Stidham should sit and develop behind Newton. I am not a Cam Newton Homer. I thought Newton was a good scrambler but an inconsistent passer while he was in Carolina.

I wasn't a fan of Stidham before Stidham until Brady left. If Stidham gets cut, my fanhood will end, unless he plays for a decade or so.  I don't think he's better than Brady.

After this Camp and after week 4, I think he has shown potential to be a better passer than Cam Newton but Cam is the better athlete. He showed that he can play at comparable levels to Newton (week 3), with no prep time. Take a look.

If Stidham's play wasn't good enough to be a starter, than neither was Cam Newton's week 3 performance. Stidham's performance versus KC in comparison to Cam Newton's first 4 drives versus LV. If not for the fifth drive, Newton's first half would've been average at best. (Edelman didn't allow a two handed completion to turn into an INT versus LV. He's made that catch 100 times.)

People are writing Stidham off after 1 quarter and saying extend a guy who played no better in his last game under better circumstances. They're also getting offended if Cam Newton is criticized, treating him like he's untouchable. 

That's hypocritical and makes me wonder if people are looking at Cam with 2015 beer goggles on, instead of 2020 goggles. 

Newton's had 1 good game and 2 average games. Cam Newton still has to prove that he can be the long term answer, at the moment he's good enough in the short term but is good enough worth an extension? Is he worth a 5 year contract, Not at the moment. He's maybe a one or two year extension at most. He's only played in three games. Not enough time in uniform to make that decision.

People are coming down too hard on Stidham after 8 minutes of play

Start with the picture, it tells a lot.

I stand corrected, Stidham only played 4 drives. Newton took 23 minutes of game time to finish 4 drives versus the Raiders, Stidham took 15 minutes 42 seconds. Newton would get a touchdown on his fifth drive having the ball for another 5 minutes. 

Newton's first 4 drives didn't have Patriots fans calling for him to get benched, nor did it have them calling for another QB to get signed. Stidham in a week practing with the scout and playing from behind against the defending superbowl champions, fans were demanding Cam Newton who put up almost the same exact stats during the first 4 drives versus the Raiders be extended. 

Stidham was under pressure to perform when he came in, even more pressure when Edelman gave up that pick 6. There's no guarantee that if Cam's 4 drives were pressure situations that he would've played better. The criticism on Stidham is too harsh at the moment. Let him sit and develop behind Newton. Stidham didn't have 

Brady's rookie quarterback camp to prepare him. Brady was farther ahead of Stidham was at the end of the first season because of that. So yeah, Brady showed poise after relieving Bledsoe. He had more development time in the NFL. Stidham is not Tom Brady and neither is Cam Newton.

Is there a reason for Edelman's drops?

Bill Belichick comes from an ancient age of football. An era where if a player could walk and breathe, they were healthy enough to play football. A time where player safety barely existed. An era that saw Detroit lion Chuck Hughes die on the field.

As people age, it hurts more to take bumps. Injuries take longer to heal and pain becomes more distracting. Julian Edelman has been dealing with a knee injury but to the severity. We cannot say. 

The Patriots have Edelman limited in practice but don't expect him to miss any game time. However this is the same staff that let Edelman and Sanu play last season. It would come out after the season that both players had injuries that should've landed them on the IR. Sanu had surgery to repair the damage from playing with an injured high ankle.

Few years back, there was reported tension between Alex Guerrero and Patriots medical staff. Now I haven't read the book, "the dynasty" but Guerrero wasn't happy about how the Patriots were handling injuries. 

When one takes into account Brady's doctor having issues with Patriots medical personnel and the fact that the Patriots allow player to play with serious injuries, one has to wonder how bad Edelman's knee really is. The Patriots clearly downplay injuries.

Is Edelman distracted with an injury that he doesn't want to get worse because his team doctors won't put him on the IR? Wouldn't be the first player or first team for that to occur with. Edelman has been making mental mistakes and playing like a frail individual afraid to take contact. 

This could all be coincidence but it could also explain his drops going back to sometime in 2018. As much as Patriots nation will hate this, the league might wanna look into if the Patriots are on the level about player injuries and treatment.

Stidham's quarter versus KC rivals Newton's First half versus the Raiders

Stidham played 5 drives for the Patriots. Everyone agrees that Stidham's pick six should've been a completion but Edelman dropped the pass. He finished the day 5 of 13 with a touchdown and 2 interceptions, but since Edelman dropped a pass that led to an intercept.  He should be 6 of 13 with 1 TD & 1 INT but so ignore 1 of the INTs.

Since sacks count as attempts. During the first 4 drives versus the Raiders, Newton went 5 of 14 with 1 being a sack and 1 being an INT.  In 23 Minutes of play Newton was just as bad as Stidham and and the rest of the game was barely better than a 50% quarterback.

If Stidham's pass doesn't get dropped for an Interception, he could've easily went an additional 4 of 6 with a touchdown for all we know. He already should have 1 more completion and 1 less INT. He would've had 3 more downs to play with.

That quick hit pass to Edelman was something he's built his career off of and a staple of New England's offense. That dropped pass by Edelman put pressure on Stidham but his 4th quarter I will argue was better if not comparable to Newton's  first half versus the Raiders. 

I've listened to people praise Newton's play but complain about Stidham's quarter. If Stidham had a full week of practice, He would've had probably the same game versus KC as Newton versus Oakland. Could Stidham of out up 400 versus Seattle, we don't know but anyone who cannot see that Stidham isn't far off from Newton as a passer and game manager is a homer. 

Newton is the better athlete, Newton can run better than Stidham but Stidham wasn't given opportunities to run versus KC. Let him start against Denver and I bet we'll see a much improved Stidham over what we saw versus KC. 

For some however, the name on the front only means more than the name on the back when the player leaves the team. I say when Newton returns, let Stidham sit and learn behind him but as a passer Stidham has shown enough potential that whether or not the Patriots extend Newton to 2022 or not, they'll be okay.

Like a friend of mine who's opinion is heavily respected has said repeatedly, "Stidham is only going to get better with Experience."

Edelman made a critical drop in a clutch situation, that led to a pick six.

The Patriots needed a spark when they stuck Stidham into the game versus the chiefs. On the Patriots eighth drive with help from Harris, Stidham managed the Patriots down field and found his first touchdown pass to Harry in thr back corner of the endzone.

On the Patriots Insuing drive, Edelman ran a flat and Stidham threw him the ball. It wasn't the most perfect pass but Jules had both hands on it. Somehow he dropped it into the hands of the honey badger, who returned it for a pick six. (How did this mentally impact Stidham?)

Tony Romo basically said Edelman wasn't paying attention when hauling in the ball.

Romo said, “OK, this is crazy, maybe I shouldn’t say it. Watch his head, his head turns and tries to go upfield, right? I genuinely believe he just hasn’t been a huge part of the offense all game, and now all of a sudden you’re running a flat route."

Secure the ball and then run. It's football 101. Whether Edelman was focused on moving up field after the catch or whether he wasn't expecting the pass is irrelevant. He had the ball in between both hands. If he had only for one hand on it, the drop could've been excused. Not in this case. Not with two hands on the ball.

After the game, Stidham took blame for both Interceptions. While the deep one to Byrd was his fault whether he threw it late or under threw it, this one was on Edelman.

After the game, Trevor Hass of Boston.com pointed out a very interesting stat. Edelman's drops since last season are very high.

"After missing two catchable balls Monday night against the Kansas City Chiefs, Edelman has 11 dropped passes since the start of last season. No other player has more than eight in that span,' said Hass.

Was this a case of not being in rhythm with his quarterbacks, is Edelman hurt or is he starting to show his age? Last year Edelman was hurt and played through injuries that should've landed him on the IR. Instead he played through injury and had a lot of drops. Edelman's getting up there in age for a guy that makes his money catching the ball in traffic.

So far Edelman has caught 15 of 24 passes for 259 yards, most of those yards coming against Seattle where he caught 179 of them. 75% of Edelman's targets have been catchable, with Edelman having an 8.63 drop percentage. His true catch rating is 83.3 for a guy who gets targeted 27% of the time.

Still drops are uncharacteristic of Edelman. While his analytics look good, people are going to remember the timing of his drop tonight. It was in a moment we needed him to be clutch that his drop allowed the chiefs to pull ahead. It was a momentum killer and added pressure on Stidham's shoulders to try and make a play. Which is the same reason why some believe that Stidham didn't get the start.

Patriots beat themselves

The Patriots started Brian Hoyer who as a game manager did okay but costed the Patriots points. He looked confused at times. 

The Patriots got robbed of an interception and dropped two. While penalties on both sides of the ball hurt them.

Both quarterbacks threw interceptions and the Patriots had a lot of drops, one leading to a pick six. 

Players were quitting on plays. Butler and Wynn gave up on plays and hurt the Patriots. Harris ran out of bounds at the end of the third when he could've continued down field. 

The Patriots beat themselves. Plain and simple. This was like watching the superbowls against the giants. The Patriots have a lot of work to do.

Regardless of who's on the roster, the name on the front still is more important than the name on the back

When Brady left, the narrative from Patriots fans was the name on the front is more important than the name on the back. Now that Newton can't play versus KC at the moment, especially if the game is moved to Tuesday instead of to week 6. The name on the front still matters more. Like many others, I don't care who plays and who doesn't as long as the Patriots play. I want the players to be safe but If Newton, Gilmore, Edelman, or any other player retired today, I'd still wanna see the Patriots play the chiefs this weekend. Sure the odds of winning improve with Newton but I still project this as a loss. So if they can play safely, let them play.

Newton and several Chiefs contract covid

The New England Patriots finally got caught by covid. While the NFL Players are supposed to be in isolation to avoid getting the virus, Cam Newton somehow caught covid. Newton had been at practice all week, so we have to think about the other personal. Does the NFL cancel and move the chiefs game, do they let them play and cancel and move the Broncos' game, do they move the game to later in the week? All questions that must be asked. 

In a formal statement, the Patriots said the following. "Late last night, we received notice that a Patriots player tested positive for COVID-19. The player immediately entered self-quarantine. Several additional players, coaches and staff who have been in close contact with the player received point of care tests this morning and all were negative for COVID-19."

Keep in mind that there are test that get results back quicker. The President and other world leaders have them and pretty sure the NFL has them with the billions at their disposal. I don't know how accurate these tests are but they give results back in 15 minutes.

The NFL said in a statement earlier today (Saturday),  "positive COVID-19 tests on both teams," and that "Tuesday is more likely" for the game to be played.

According to Mike Reiss of ESPN, "Coach Bill Belichick had previously said that the Patriots, who also have quarterback Jake Dolegala on the practice squad, are fortunate to have good depth at the position."

To be fair to the other quarterbacks on the roster, Cam Newton was not the best  quarterback in camp this August. And there was a large percentage of the fan base that did not expect him to be looking this accurate.  As a passer, Newton has played better than expected.

Hoyer is a capable game manager and as long as defense can slow the chiefs and make a couple of stops, I don't care what any homer says; There is a chance that Hoyer can win. 

As far as Stidham goes, Stidham is a better passer than Hoyer and a win would go a long way to boost his confidence. With the Patriots run game working and James White returning, Stidham could have a better day than Hoyer and walk out with a win.

Now this was a game I believed Newton gave the Patriots a 50% chance of winning. I had only given the Patriots about a 20% chance prior to Newton. The Patriots will need to play a balanced offense but can win, it's just not great odds. 

There are those that have now written this game off. The believe Stidham and Hoyer are bums. Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, even Fitzpatrick and Minshew came from late rounds and have proven people wrong time and time again. They might not all be elite starters but they have shown they can occasionally get the job done.

Marc Bulger, Mark Brunell, Rich Gannon, Brad Johnson, Matt Hasselbeck, Mark Rypien, Joe theismann, Roger Staubach, and Tony Romo, were all also considered bums at one point and I am sure there is others. However, if they weren't given the chance to play, especially in pressure games; we wouldn't know how good they truly were. We also wouldn't know how good wouldn't know how good Brady, Dak, Fitzmagic or Minshew Mania are. 

I am not stupid, I know as a playmaker, Newton athletically gives the Patriots the best chance to win. However, we have not seen what neither Hoyer or Stidham are capable of with the Patriots offense when it matters. 

Now the NFL is considering moving the game to Tuesday night. That could be money for the NFL providing things don't take a turn for the worst, like with Tennessee. As for the game, I had this as a loss especially after the Patriots failed to run away with the Raiders game. So let the backups play and let's see what they got.