The arguments critical of the New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton because of his output in touchdowns passes and interceptions in 2020 are flawed and erroneous.
This article will seek to debunk the opinions by even astute football observers for not seeing the forest for the proverbial trees regarding Newton’s performance last season.
Critics harp on the facts that Newton had only eight touchdown passes versus 10 interceptions. Fine those are facts and indisputable. It’s what’s behind the facts that blast those faulty arguments out of the water.
New England Patriots QB Cam Newton did whatever he could to rescue a terrible team in 2020
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Having been an outspoken advocate for a young quarterback in this season’s draft (along with Mr. Robert Kraft it seems, among others), a defense of Cam Newton seems counter-intuitive, except that it isn’t. And, it will be provided here.
New England still needed a solid cornerstone for their next era and drafting a young thrower was important. While it had been advocated here for a dual-threat, their actual selection was just fine.
Mac Jones was very underestimated by some draft experts in part because he didn’t appear in one circulating photo to be in great shape.
They also discounted his performance because of the great team he had around him at Alabama. Both arguments are short-sighted.
A good look at the tapes (a future article will delve into that in greater detail) should disavow any skeptics of Jones’s talents.
Yet, that has been dealt with elsewhere and is a discussion for another day.
Now back to Cam Newton in 2020.
Poor supporting cast doomed the Patriots in 2020
Cam Newton entered 2020 with the Patriots on a one-year deal in about as bad a circumstance as imaginable outside of if our nation is at war. In sense, our country and the world were and still are at war with Covid-19.
In addition, there was greatly restricted preparation time and no pre-season games, a real problem for anyone new to the Patriots.
This had to be especially challenging for Cam who had to direct what is reputed to be one of the most complex offenses in the NFL.
In addition, the Patriots’ offensive skill positions were a train wreck. Their top wide receivers consisted of Julian Edelman who was coming off a 100 catch season and little else.
In addition to Edelman, they had mostly untested or unproductive others like former first-round pick N’Keal Harry and former undrafted free agent Jakobi Meyers. To that group, they added Damiere Byrd.
Byrd was a journeyman who wound up with a respectable 47 catches but only one touchdown. Harry had two TD’s and 33 catches. Meyers had 59 catches and no touchdowns.
Edelman only played six games with 21 catches and zero touchdowns.
In sum, the Patriots wideouts caught four touchdown passes, The blame was misplaced on Newton for sending balls into the dirt (turf, actually) on occasion.
In recognition of their poor performance in his receiver room, Belichick spent big time in free agency on Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne.
Neither are world-beaters and those selections can and will be questioned. Yet, they should be an improvement over last year’s grouping.
Observers sugar-coated Brady’s 2019 season and blasted Newton’s in 2020
How convenient it was for those same observers critical of Cam Newton to conveniently forget that the surly GOAT, Tom Brady in 2019 not only sent a number of passes into the dirt but also reportedly flat-out refused to even throw to some of the incapable receivers he had.
Edelman’s catches were likely inflated because no one else (James White excepted) was or could get open to catch balls even from the best ever.
Yet, Cam Newton was expected to turn that group into stars evidently.
Back to Edelman, when he went down with an injury, that was that for Newton. Yet, what about the tight ends, they must have contributed? Well, let’s just say not so much.
The Patriots tight end room was probably the worst in the NFL. Their starter, Ryan Izzo caught 13 passes and had no TD receptions. He was traded after the season to Houston.
The two rookie third-round picks from whom a lot was expected, or at least something was, delivered almost nothing.
Devin Asiasi had two catches and one touchdown catch. Dalton Keene had three receptions and no TDs.
All told, the tight ends caught 18 passes and had one touchdown. Those numbers speak for themselves.
So, to put it clearly on the table, Newton got virtually nothing from the tight ends whatsoever. The head of football operations Bill Belichick seems to have completely agreed with that assessment.
Belichick went early and often spending millions of owner Robert Kraft’s money on landing perhaps the two top tight ends in free agency in the offseason.
They were Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. Together that pair caught 101 passes in 2020. They should be a far better asset to Cam in 2021 than last year’s group for certain.
Newton’s attitude and performance were exemplary especially in light of the circumstances
So, we’ve established that Cam Newton’s wide receivers stunk and his tight ends were worse. Also, no one caught many touchdowns passes at all.
Yet, Newton was blamed for all this, despite the fact, no one could get open either in the middle of the field or certainly not in the end zone for him.
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Play caller Josh McDaniels had to resort to telegraphing and running Newton on the goal line because frankly, there were no other options either in the running backs or the pass-catchers.
His pass-catchers were dreadful and his backs couldn’t get a ball into the end zone with a hole as wide as the Ted Williams tunnel.
There were no excuses made by Newton for any of that.
Neither did he try to deflect blame when his leaky offensive line and the fact that no one could get open had him scrambling for his life under coverage-related pressure on many of his offensive plays.
No, there was nary a complaint nor the surly attitude as exhibited by Brady in 2019 when he had to work with this bunch and he had Edelman to turn to. There were no complaints at all as Cam stood up and took all the blame onto himself though he was hardly the major problem.
It has been pointed out here before that Newton’s completion percentage was higher than Brady’s in 2020. It was higher and Newton didn’t have anywhere near the arsenal of weapons available to him that Brady had in Tampa by a long shot.
In addition, while this is mentioned but its serious impact is conveniently glossed, Cam contracted Covid-19 early in the 2020 season. No one except Cam and his family knows how much that impacted him throughout the season.
Yet again, no excuses from the quarterback at all.
Setting the record straight on Cam Newton’s 2020 NFL season
In summary, this article was written to some extent set the record straight on Cam Newton’s performance last season.
With almost nothing to work with, almost no support, Newton still almost managed to nearly single-handed (and on foot) get the Patriots to nine wins and possibly a playoff berth.
Bad play-calling probably cost the team two wins. Poor personnel cost them many more.
Yet, little slack is cut to Cam Newton with all this in mind. Even now, with Belichick and Kraft opening the cash floodgates and spending furiously to try to bring back respectability and “relevance” to the franchise, Newton’s performance last season is criticized.
Those expenditures, as well as a draft that actually smacks of reasonableness, added to Mr. Kraft’s uncharacteristic comments related to personnel, speak volumes about how the team’s leadership regarded Newton’s supporting cast. They didn’t regard many of them highly at all.
The facts above have been laid bare for any reader to see. Cam Newton and his eight throwing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns were the New England Patriots’ offense in 2020.
This fact, not opinion, was what has clearly motivated both owner Bob Kraft and Coach/GM Bill Belichick to uncharacteristically move to spend those hundreds of millions of dollars in free agency to try to right the ship.
And, of course, they re-signed Cam Newton. That fact also speaks volumes about how the owner of the team and his top football man felt about Cam Newton’s performance.
And of course, Cam also provided leadership as a captain and an example to all of his teammates, especially the young players on how to be a top professional and an even better person.
That aspect of Cam Newton’s first season in New England has been little mentioned but may just be his biggest contribution of all in the worst possible of times.
So with some support provided (though the wide receiver room absent a major trade is still frankly not what it should be), we will see what Cam Newton can do in 2020.
He will be another year from shoulder surgery, which could have clearly impacted his throwing.
He will have a full offseason including pre-season games to be ready to implement this complex offense.
He will have at least some real offensive weapons to provide the support he didn’t have last season. That includes two top tight ends and finally a big running back (Rhamondre Stevenson).
He will have Trent Brown a huge and talented tackle to help with the offensive line blocking.
And, he will hopefully be totally free of any health impacts from having contracted Covid-19 last year.
Observers and Patriots fans alike should heed what Mr. Kraft and Bill Belichick have admitted through their actions, if not their words in re-signing Cam to a contract for 2021 and stocking up on better players to help him this season to boot.
What that says is they acknowledge that Cam Newton had nothing much available to help him excel last season. As a result, they have now moved super-aggressively and impressively to try to straighten out that awful situation.
Those observers and fans should cut Cam Newton some slack and allow him the opportunity to demonstrate his talents when those deficiencies in his supporting cast (or at least some of them) have now been addressed.
This writer feels that Cam Newton has been treated unfairly and it had to be addressed. Consider this article to have addressed it.