Because hyperbole is mind-numbing when it becomes "truth"...

[mgteich]

A lot of the Newton hate was over inflated. His cast of skill players was Really bad last year. Worse than Brady's cast in 2019, which was arguably the worst in the NFL that year. It may have been the worst cast of skill players seen on a football feild in recent memory.

Even Brady at nest goes 20TDs/10Ints with it. No one in the NFL would look good with that group last year.

Did Newton help himself with his throwing ability? No. But it wasn't like he was missing tons of wide open targets.

Overinflated.

Folks hate Cam because he isn't Brady.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

Remember all of those “How did the league let the Pats to sign Cam” tweets after their week 1 win over Miami last year? View attachment 31947

I actually legit don't lol. Maybe after the Seahawks game but it's not like he lit the world on fire against Miami

 

[50-yard-line]

Belichick has led this team to more success than any coach/gm has ever led any team to, and he is getting destroyed on this board yet the QB who showed a total lack of awareness, horrible accuracy, slow and poor decision making led the offense to pathetic results somehow is immune to criticism.

Oh come on. No one is saying that at all.

Newton gets absolutely sh#t on on this board every time his name comes up. Same guys with the same sentences they somehow think are jokes.

 

[Sicilian]

I actually legit don't lol. Maybe after the Seahawks game but it's not like he lit the world on fire against Miami

I remember there was a lot of "extend Newton" chatter after the Seahawks game, and I remember playing disc golf with some buddies when it was announced that Newton would miss KC due to Covid. At the time, we were bummed and felt like that was a huge loss. The narrative around Cam changed after he came back from that (not saying I 100% believe it was Covid related, just that was the timetable on those kinds of talks).

 

[Patjew]

He would just get sacked

That is exactly what I "hated" most about Cam. OK, you can't throw for whatever reason but why are you sitting in the pocket for 10 hyperbolic-minutes just waiting to get crushed???

 

[Sicilian]

That is exactly what I "hated" most about Cam. OK, you can't throw for whatever reason but why are you sitting in the pocket for 10 hyperbolic-minutes just waiting to get crushed???

I'd attribute a large portion of that to his decision making and release being slow, especially since we're used to Tom Brady who is the best of all time at both. But we hear the term "coverage sack" all the time, usually as a compliment to the defense. In a lot of cases for the 2020 Patriots it was likely due to the shortcomings of the offensive skill position players. The latter hopefully has improved, and the former could improve a little (at least the decision making part) if he feels more comfortable in the offense in year two.

 

[Patjew]

I'd attribute a large portion of that to his decision making and release being slow, especially since we're used to Tom Brady who is the best of all time at both. But we hear the term "coverage sack" all the time, usually as a compliment to the defense. In a lot of cases for the 2020 Patriots it was likely due to the shortcomings of the offensive skill position players. The latter hopefully has improved, and the former could improve a little (at least the decision making part) if he feels more comfortable in the offense in year two.

My "interesting" emoji is not sarcastic. Just thought I should make that clear.

 

[Sicilian]

My "interesting" emoji is not sarcastic. Just thought I should make that clear.

I didn't even consider taking it that way, but it's hard to tell on the internet, isn't it?

 

[pazrul72]

I have no problem with anyone saying Cam was a bottom 1/3rd starting QB last year, he was, showing some awful footwork, and having to use his full body to hurl the ball like a shot put even when he completed a pass. Where my issue is is the people saying he was the worst QB in the league and is absolutely done with zero room for improvement. There are several reasonable explanations for his poor showing from Covid brain to lack of weapons to possible injury. Is it likely all 3 of those things improve? No and I am not thrilled that he is still the presumed starter but I am willing to say there is a 10% chance Cam can do enough that signing him was a better option then what the 9ers did. He sucks again? Ok we do this again next year. The rookie busts you are tied to Sam Darnit for 3 years.

 

[Bill Lee]

Oh yippie, Another beat a dead horse thread. How exciting.

I think two different horses are taking a beating in this thread, the pro-Cam and anti-Cam horses.

I think both will survive the beating.

Cam is a bridge quarterback, someone to play on cheap money while we rebuild the team around him.

Our expectations should be low based on what we are paying him, and his play last season was in line with low expectations.

We won seven last year, if we pick up two wins beyond that with the extra game thrown in I will be pleasantly surprised.

Given what we did in FA, it's clear Cam will be what is holding the team back the most going forward till he is replaced with someone better.

 

[Triumph]

You could hardly ask for a better rushing QB,

Kraft is correct, Cam did not have much around him in the passing game.

 

[Tony2046]

What I find odd is that fans here are jumping through hoops to defend an obviously flawed QB after being critical of the GOAT for a 12-4 season with the same offense and more injuries.

IOW, why should Cant Newton be immune to criticism when he gives us so much to criticize?

I'm defending him but I'd like to judge him under normal circumstances. I'm glad they brought him back. We'll see how it goes.

 

[jah]

Given what we did in FA, it's clear Cam will be what is holding the team back the most going forward till he is replaced with someone better.

Well, assuming our FA signings are mostly/entirely hits. We don't know who it'll be, but at least one of those guys won't contribute the way we hoped because that's how it always goes with every team.

It could turn out that we still have a big hole at WR or TE this time next year, whether it be due to injuries, underperformance, or a combination of the two. Right now it looks like we've filled those needs, but nothing is guaranteed and we could end up with no more clarity about Cam after the season than before it.

 

[jah]

What I find odd is that fans here are jumping through hoops to defend an obviously flawed QB after being critical of the GOAT for a 12-4 season with the same offense and more injuries.

IOW, why should Cant Newton be immune to criticism when he gives us so much to criticize?

I think you know that we watched two completely different football teams between the first and last half of 2019. 8-0 vs 4-5 (counting playoffs).

I've said it many times before, but the latter half of 2019 Patriots football was really not so different from the 2020 team. Just under .500, can't do **** on offense (especially in the redzone), reliant on big plays from D/ST.

You can say things like "Brady took this same roster to 12-4" but it's infinitely more complicated than that.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Interesting breakdown of some plays from the Rams loss, highlighting what the offense did well and what they didn’t under Cam. His throwing mechanics are inconsistent and leads to missed or near missed opportunities with open receivers.

So basically one throw to the correct target that was in fact caught by Harry but was too high because of poor mechanics; one throw that was a beat late and one excellent 20+yard throw.

The "beat late" might clearly improve with a full pre-season - some QB gurus say it takes a full three seasons for a QB to be fully comfortable with a new offense. I have no clue if the poor mechanics can be corrected. Cam is used to throwing to tight ends, and so having a pair of real TEs will surely make him more comfortable.

I know the bad short throws stick in all our heads, but overall his accuracy (measured purely by percentage "bad throws") was actually better than a certain unnamed QB.

Personally I'm comfortable this being a transition year - if we don't trade up we can pick up three or four really good players in the draft plus a later round QB like Kellen Mond. Next year Jimmy G. will clearly be available. Another year's experience in the system plus no Covid plus much better weapons should make for a respectable showing (wild card).

 

[IllegalContact]

Overinflated.

Folks hate Cam because he isn't Brady.

not true........folks hate Cam because he's Cam......plenty of people wanted Stidham and/or <insert QB name> instead of Newton

 

[Ring 6]

Oh come on. No one is saying that at all.

Newton gets absolutely sh#t on on this board every time his name comes up. Same guys with the same sentences they somehow think are jokes.

He deserves to be sh#t on. He was THAT bad. I’m not sure what you expect. Terrible players get criticized.

 

[Ring 6]

I think you know that we watched two completely different football teams between the first and last half of 2019. 8-0 vs 4-5 (counting playoffs).

I've said it many times before, but the latter half of 2019 Patriots football was really not so different from the 2020 team. Just under .500, can't do **** on offense (especially in the redzone), reliant on big plays from D/ST.

You can say things like "Brady took this same roster to 12-4" but it's infinitely more complicated than that.

Brady would have had last years team at 11-5 worst case.

 

[Kdo5]

Cam was awful last season, just putrid. He had his moments but by and large it was bad. I don’t think he’ll suck as much this season but the guy doesn’t have it anymore.

I find it sort of humorous and predictable that people would try to spin narratives for why he isn’t actually as bad as what he showed through 15-16 games last season.

 

[Ring 6]

I'd attribute a large portion of that to his decision making and release being slow, especially since we're used to Tom Brady who is the best of all time at both. But we hear the term "coverage sack" all the time, usually as a compliment to the defense. In a lot of cases for the 2020 Patriots it was likely due to the shortcomings of the offensive skill position players. The latter hopefully has improved, and the former could improve a little (at least the decision making part) if he feels more comfortable in the offense in year two.

Film review showed he missed open receivers and didn’t get through his progressions quickly enough to find them when they were open. That’s a huge huge problem. The mental part of the passing game is actually worse than the throwing troubles. His decision making of where to look, when to throw and when to get out of the pocket is as bad as I’ve ever seen.
He had many opportunities to just take off and run for a first down and he just stood around like a deer in the highlights and took a sack.
I don’t understand how people expect that to improve. It’s who he is.