New England Patriots: Quick Takes on the Patriots’ offense against the WFT

Here are some Quick Takes on the New England Patriots offense in their win against the Washington Football Team at Gillette stadium as several players shined in the opening pre-season tilt.

There were lots of items to talk about after that game and the chatter has already been flying heavily, including about the two top Patriots’ stars from the WFT game.

Quick Takes on the New England Patriots Offense

The Take on New England Patriots Cam Newton

As expected, the speculated and maybe actually emergent quarterback competition between former NFL MVP, Cam Newton, and rookie first-round pick Mac Jones was front and center.

Both performed well though Newton had little in the way of yards to show for his night. Cam completed four of seven passes for a 57 percent completion rate for 49 yards.

This leads to this question; does the New England Patriots coaching staff have any understanding (at least evident against the WFT) of how to utilize Cam Newton? The answer is an emphatic, NO.

The club used Newton from under center primarily and with an empty backfield also at times when not. Are they clueless about how to take advantage of this top RPO quarterback?

Newton’s greatest asset is his running ability, or, even more precisely, the THREAT of his running. Under center that is negligible. With no running back, it is also neutralized.

Newton did roll out once but there was no real deception on the play, at all. This has been the case with Newton during his tenure in New England.

Now, since this is pre-season, they may not want to show much to future opponents. Fine. Yet, they were guilty of this major infraction all last season, as well.

Newton does not really have the arm accuracy to be a drop-back passer, though again, he did have a better pass completion percentage in 2020 than Tom Brady.

That notwithstanding, it’s his running ability that draws linebackers up and opens up space for the wide receivers and tight ends.

That makes Newton a terrific threat who can not only pass but run himself. This can create big problems for defenses if used, and used correctly. The Patriots seem unclear on the concept.

New England’s coaching staff either doesn’t understand this or is just trying to shoehorn a player into their own system, when he is clearly suited to another. Ultimately, it will fail.

With the running backs the Patriots can now employ to even further enhance his options, it is truly questionable that they don’t seem to be willing or able to employ Newton in the correct manner.