Cam Newton on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show – Full Interview Transcript
(PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 9 minutes
Posted Under: 2020 Patriots Season
(PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 9 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports) Greg Hill, Danielle Murr and Jermaine Wiggins of WEEI’s Greg Hill Show interviewed Cam Newton following Monday night’s win and he had some great comments, including the fact that he’ll have a nickname for the gang, including for producer Chris Curtis, who he hopes to convert into becoming a fan.
On if the sun is shining a little brighter for him this week:
“Yeah, just a little bit. Just a little bit. We’ve just got to keep things in perspective. It was a great team win yesterday. We battled back offensively, defensively, special teams and it was much needed. It was a Divisional win and hopefully we can ride this momentum into the next couple of games and we’re just going to start with next week.”
On the fact he said last week that all he felt they needed was a win and what the mood was in the locker room:
“First thing Josh McDaniels said, ‘no arguing, no screaming, no yelling’. At halftime, the first thing Josh McDaniels said to the offense is, ‘hey, we’re going to win this game.’ Those words, that statement, kind of put everything into perspective and kind of registered a lot of things into everybody’s mind, I know it did for me and he just said, if you just find a way, just find a way. Coach Bill always talks about being mentally and physically and tough and that’s what it showed last night. We were able to run the football, be physical, be dominate at the point of attack. We had a pair of a couple of long drives that we much indeed needed and we just executed.”
On winning being contagious and if it’s easier to get that next one, especially against a good Ravens team:
“Well, we know who we’re playing. We know that they are great at what they do and we’ve just got to establish what we do as well. And that’s simple and plain.”
On if he’s hesitant to take a shot downfield and if it’s something he feels like he needs to work on:
“I don’t understand? [Laughs] What do people want me to do? Do you just want me to just chuck the ball downfield just to say we did it? I mean, it’s funny just to hear the opinions and the synopsis of games, not just, you know, obviously talking to you, but I hear it all the time. I mean, I come home, I look at my phone from family members that say, ‘man, we need to take shots downfield’. I say, ‘well coach calls shots downfield and if it’s not open, you just have to make the right decision’. Trust me, I’ve made a pair of mistakes this year already by just chucking it and saying, ‘God, take over’ – you know what I mean? It doesn’t fare well for just a waste-less down. So, coach calls shots, if it’s not open, it’s my job to make the right decision and keep the ball and the offense going in a positive way.”
On being efficient with the ball:
“The most important statistic in all of sports is not how many home runs you hit, it’s not how many 3-pointers you made, it’s not how many touchdowns you’ve thrown or ran, or how many interceptions you’ve got, the most important statistic in all of sports are wins and losses. I don’t care how you get it and people don’t care how you muffled it away. So if we can get that week in and week out, I’ll take that important statistic over anything else.”
On people saying, ‘it’s just the Jets’:
“[Laughs] Tough crowd. But for real, listen, man. Say what you want, this is the NFL and it’s not just a movie title, it’s literally, “Any Given Sunday.” and you have to bring your lunch pail each and every day and execute what we did. Now, did we kind of keep the game relatively close, in our opinion, more than we wanted to? Absolutely. But games like we’ve been in this year as a team, if you can manage to win those games and find ways to win, it builds character and it builds team chemistry and it builds team confidence. Because winning 30-8, 30-10, those are great wins, but when you get the 21s, 24s , you start realizing like, man, if we can find a way to win… Unfortunately, this year, we haven’t been able to find ways to win the close games. People can say whatever they want to say about our opponent that we’re playing, but this is going to come up again and in the situation of football, instead of guys being more tense in close games, we’re able to still stay relaxed and be able to find ways to win because we’ve been in these situations so many times this year.”
On his thoughts on Jakobi Meyers’ performance:
“Without a doubt. Mey-germs, that’s his nickname. He’s just been coming up with so many ways to get open. He’s just such a humble person and that can be his gift and his curse. I had a conversation with Jakobi and I’ve said it before, I’ve known Jakobi since he was 16-years old. And the fact that we’re on the same NFL team is neat on his own family, neat on his whole role. What happened at North Carolina State with him transitioning positions from quarterback to receiver, I know him playing quarterback for so long, he has an instinct and a knack to know how to get open, to know what the quarterback is thinking. I had a conversation with him a couple of weeks ago just saying like, “Bro, I believe in you. You know what I’m saying? I don’t think you believe enough in you to know that you can play this game at a high level.” We’ve all seen, when given an opportunity, what he can do. But yet, he’s just showing up and proving who and what he can be for this offense and putting this league on notice.”
On how he’s feeling after the big hit he took Monday night:
“My neck is only working on a degree angle that shuts off the degrees to one side. My eye muscles are getting a lot of work in today. But I told Josh on the sidelines, ‘Bro, that’s my fault and I deserved it.’ But hey, it got us 15-yards, so that’s just the price you’ve got to pay.”
On getting guys to buy in to make a run:
“Honestly, man, we’re not that. Everybody wants to say, ‘Well, we started at 1-4 and we finished with a Super Bowl and this, that,’ For me, I’m like, ‘this is a different team, different personnel, it’s different in so many different ways.’ I know the standard is always set and being here can be one thing, but at the end of the day, you have to take it for what it’s worth. The 2020, 2021 New England Patriots will look much different than the 2003, 2013, 2016 team. I’m not in competition with anybody. I think it’s important for people to know, I understand this is New England, I understand there’s a standard, but realistically, this team’s destiny has its own fate and it’s not like anything else that has been seen before. So for me, knowing that, I just have to continually get better, guys have to continually buy into the fact that we have our own sights to do things that a lot of teams in the past have done, and that’s winning a Super Bowl. But in order to win that, you have to just keep getting better in your own way and taking it personal, as a lot of guys have. To be conscientious of what’s at had and no matter what our record is, no matter who our opponent is, we have to manage to play our type of game and we’ll be all right.”
On whether it matters to him that people think they should tank this season:
“You have to understand, whatever is said on a radio station or social media, the comments, I don’t hear it. And I think for some things, it’s good I don’t hear it, and even better things, I don’t hear it. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to hear the success. And just because we won, that doesn’t mean I’m turning on First Take and seeing what you guys are going to say.
Listen, for me, I’ve got my blinders on and I’m focused on continually getting better. I took it personal these last couple of weeks in knowing that, ‘O.K., we’re close, I understand the routine that has to be put in place for me to put this team in a position to even have a chance. For me to be dialed in and locked in, I want people to see that that’s in this locker room to show like, man, he’s here working. You don’t have to worry about Cam.’ I’m going to get to that point, I need to get to that point. Not only for the comfort of my teammates, but for the comfort of me. Nobody cares, they’re getting tired of hearing the, ‘man this offense is tough’. To hell with that. Now it’s time to do what you’ve got to do to put yourself in a position to win and that’s where I’m at right now. Whatever a person may say, it still, I don’t care how unrealistic or realistic it may be, their expectations will never match my expectations.”
On if he could ever imagine Belichick tanking:
“Hell, no. What are we doing? It’s a slogan, it’s an iconic quote that says, ‘You play to win the game’. It’s simple, I don’t know what…listen, we’re halfway through a season where everything that we want is in front of us. Come on now…I can’t speak for nobody else and I will not speak for nobody else. I only can speak for myself and I just know that when I say we’re close, we’re extremely close. We’ve got to keep putting great practices that’s going to lead to in-game reality so we can be able to be comfortable after games in knowing that we had a great week and we put everything together and it wasn’t perfect, we understand last night wasn’t perfect, but we had the opportunities and, you know, we made the most of them.”
On how disappointed he is not being able to play in front of New England fans:
“Extremely. I’m an energy, vibrant, type of person and I’m not going to sit up here and say some of the outcomes this year would have been different with fans, because I know I had couple reasons to have some boo-birds. But for a person to understand, and to have played this game for so long in one specific environment, you feed off of the energy in the stadium. The momentum has been kind of watered down or lessened for that reason because when you do score, the energy of the team, you only have to generate it on the sideline. When nnormally, home-field advantage is what it says, home-field advantage. You start getting the energy of the crowd and the fans kind of rejuvenate you in times when you need to kind of bounce back. So that’s extremely disappointing but at the end of the day, it’s for a great cause and knowing that it’s to keep people safe and I think that’s what’s most important.”
Greg offers for Newton to ask them a question, which was something he said he’d do after a win:
“My question has to be, who is the most, critical/analytical person who in essence is not a Patriots fan on this show? From their comments, from their vibes, I mean, I understand expectations, but we know deep down inside, that person is really not a Patriots fan? I know I’m putting people on the spot…”
[Greg, Wiggy and Danielle respond that it’s Curtis. Curtis says to Cam, “It’s not you, it’s not me.”]
“Wow, Curtis, hopefully, my boy, we’ll be good to go here shortly. Just have faith, hold on.”
Greg asks Cam to come up with a nickname for Curtis:
“Man, listen, thank you for the opportunity and I’m going to go down the whole fleet. I got you.”
Greg offers to send Cam a photo of each of them:
“Now, you can’t just send one photo because that’s just like the person that’s on Instagram, they take 20 pictures to post one. You’ve got to send a photo, you’ve got to send all social media handles, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, so I have to do my homework and say, ‘OK, this is why I’m calling you what I’m calling you. Rather than just going off one photo. I’ve got to do my research, I’ve got to go back to 2013/2014, scroll, scroll all the way down, just to really do my homework. These nicknames are something that’s extremely special to people. They can hold them dear to their heart. So I can’t just make some irrational name just off of one picture. You know what I mean?”
On what he sees heading into Sunday night and how important it is:
“It’s extremely important. Like I said, we’ve just got to keep building…keep building. For us to know that we’re in a position where the world will be watching one more time, that doesn’t put nobody in fear knowing that we have a great opportunity to get another one and hat’s what we’re on a chase for. If we have that mentality here moving forward, putting a great week of practice together, that will indeed transition to in-game success, we’ll be good to go.”
On having LeBron James Tweet him after the game:
“LeBron James is great. For me, him and his whole team, he’s a person that I have so much respect for. Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
On Curtis calling it a ‘Moral Defeat’:
“Amen. I’m going to write that name down and just have it under my t-shirt just for moral support this week. ‘I have to prove Curtis right. I have to convert Curtis…I have to convert Curtis’. That’s what I’m going to keep saying to myself all week. CURT, CURT DOGGY! I’m going to do my homework. Trust and believe.”
On whether or not that opens Pandora’s Box:
“Just give me the keys to the box and I’ll bring out my own reasoning. I appreciate you guys.”
On it being better talking to him after a win:
“I can say the same. [Laughs]. I appreciate you guys. You guys have a great week.”
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