In 13 games with the Patriots, Cam Newton threw five touchdowns against 10 interceptions, but on the ground he added 11 more.
FOXBOROUGH – The quarterback of the New England Patriots, Cam Newton, admit he hasn’t played as well as he expected in 2020, but he said Monday he still has “a lot of football” left as the coach Bill Belichick left open the possibility of giving playing time to Jarrett Stidham with the team out of the playoffs.
“I’m going to leave it in the hands of the people I left it with from day one. I’m not going to feed that,” he said. Newton in his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI, When asked if he still hopes to be a starter. “I’m still in a job interview, to be honest with you.”
Newton, of The 31-year-old conveyed how much he has enjoyed playing for the Patriots (6-8), as experience has shown him how much better he can be as a player.
Signed as a replacement for Tom Brady after signing a one-year contract on July 8, Newton will be a free agent after the season but plans to continue playing in 2021. He explained that one of his goals in 2020 was to get through the healthy season, after having previously been sidelined by shoulder and foot injuries.
“I still have a lot of football left. I still want to play. I need to improve, ”he noted Newton, When asked if he would consider retirement. “I can’t go out like that. I definitely can’t finish going out.”
In 13 games, Newton is 216 of 328 by 2,381 yards with five touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has added 489 ground yards to 122 carries and 11 touchdowns.
To be fair with Newton, the Patriots they haven’t surrounded it with a bunch of open receivers and high-level closed wings. No team has had such a limited pass production of closed wings throughout NFL.
Even so, Newton it has been a harsh self-criticism.
“You have to be your best self when you need your best self. This is a famous quote from John Wooden than the field marshal coach Right [Fisch] has implemented because we remember it. That’s what I didn’t do enough this year, ”he stressed Newton.
It remains to be seen if Newton will have the opportunity to do so in the last two games of the campaign –against Buffalo Bills, Champion of the AFC Est and then against New York Jets– after the Patriots they have been officially eliminated from the postseason.
After stating definitively that “Cam he is our quarterback, ”after a defeat in Week 14 ahead Los Angeles Rams, Belichick seem to soften his posture a bit on Monday morning.
When asked if he could use the last two games to give some players a look with the future in mind, Belichick he said: “We can assess what the opportunities are. We are still going to prepare and try to play the best we can in the ‘Football Monday night‘. But we’ll see how all this is resolved. It could be a possibility in certain situations. “
He was specifically asked if the quarterback could be one of those situations in giving it to Stidham a broader look. “We’ll see,” he replied.
When asked what he had seen of Newton to justify the possibility of staying with him, Belichick deviated.
“Really, we have a lot of questions about the team that we have to answer, so I think that’s going to be the first concern. We’re going to talk about that today, tomorrow, we have an extra day this week, and we’re looking at things from a point of view. broader view, ”he said.
“Obviously we haven’t played the race well in the last two weeks and we haven’t been able to score in the last two weeks. I don’t think this is a single individual.”