Depending on your perspective, I’m either happy to bring you the good news or sorry to be the bearer of bad ones: all the signs still point towards Cam Newton being the New England PatriotsÄ starting quarterback for Week 1 of the regular season.
Yesterday, I wrote an article saying that what Bill Belichick did on Thursday would give us some insight into what he was thinking about the QB competition. It certainly did.
Just as he has all training camp and preseason Newton was the first quarterback up. He took the first snap of every drill, and was definitely the Patriots’ QB1. Belichick hasn’t wavered on that since the beginning of camp. Sure, Mac Jones didn’t have a particularly great day compared to the show he put on on Wednesday, but that has little to do with his performance.
The decision was likely made before he ever took a snap, and there is nothing he could have done that would have changed it.
Do I agree with the decision if that is what it comes down to? Well, I obviously am hoping for the best with Newton, since he appears to be the starting QB. However, I do believe that Mac Jones has shown me enough to be names the starter for the Patriots this year.
Something that you should know about me is that I have a long and illustrious coaching career, starting all the way back in high school when I coached a seventh-grade boys team to an undefeated season, to being an assistant JV coach and varsity wide receiver coach for a local high school in 2010, and finally coaching grades 2-5 girls softball to a summer league championship just last month.
Unfortunately, none of those things make me even remotely qualified to make the decision about who should be starting for the Patriots on September 12th. My advice is this: listen to Bill Belichick.
If we had been listening and paying attention, we would already know what is coming. Since the moment Mac Jones was drafted, he has made it clear that Cam Newton was still the starting quarterback.
“I mean, Cam’s our starting quarterback. I think I said that,” Belichick said earlier in training camp.
He keeps telling us, and then showing us by what he puts on the field. Maybe we will finally hear him and accept that Newton is going to be the starter for his team in 2021. You don’t have to like it, but please respect it, because remember: “In Bill We Trust.”
Pat is a host of The Patriot Nation Podcast. Interact with him on Twitter @plane_pats.
Loading comments...