PATRIOTS JUST GOT DANGEROUS WITH SIGNING OF QB NEWTON
Former Panther, NFL MVP may make New England a Super Bowl threat again
Since mid-march it had appeared there was absolutely zero chance of the New England Patriots playing in Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Tom Brady’s new Florida football home.
Then they signed Cam Newton on Sunday, and unless you have lots of money or the wager is a small one, do you really want to bet against them?
Not this gambler.
They still may be no better than the fourth- or fifth-best team in the AFC, but if the 31-year old former Carolina Panther is healthy, teamed with coach Bill Belichick and offensive co-ordinator Josh Mcdaniels, he can give the Patriots a fighting shot to make it to their 10th Super Bowl game in 19 years.
It probably goes without saying they didn’t have that with Jarrett Stidham or Brian Hoyer under centre this season.
Newton, who was limited to two games last season but insists shoulder and foot problems that no doubt played a role in his 0-8 record over his last eight starts are behind him, agreed to a one-year deal that will pay him a paltry (for NFL quarterbacks) US$7.5 million (which includes incentives).
Obviously sold on a big rebound are MGM bookmakers who have listed him as the ninth-best favourite to win the league’s MVP award, tied with Aaron Rodgers and Kyler Murray at +2,500.
Newton suddenly also has the second-shortest odds to win Comeback Player of the Year, behind only Ben Roethlisberger, who was also limited to two games last season.
“I’m excited as I don’t know what right now!!” Newton wrote on Instagram.
Signing the NFL’S 2015 MVP seemed like the most logical move for the Patriots ever since Brady bolted to the Bucs as a free agent three months ago. In fact, the biggest question is what took them so long?
Was it a fear that Newton’s flamboyant style would be disruptive, clashing with the buttoned-down, ultra-conservative Belichick? That would be an easy fix — so long, Cam.
Was it the Lisfranc injury that he suffered, ironically enough, against the Patriots in the third pre-season game of 2019 that ultimately required career-saving surgery? All the workout videos Newton has posted on Instagram show him moving as well as ever. Was it money? It’s not like there was a bidding war for his services. The seeminglyQB needy Los Angeles Chargers have talked more about how Colin Kaepernick would fit for their system, and he hasn’t played since 2016.
In a Sports Illustrated story, former Panthers offensive co-ordinator Norv Turner pointed out that in 2018 the team was 6-2 when Newton was healthy.
“He played his a-- off,” said Turner, who gave Newton a ringing endorsement in conversations with Belichick earlier this off-season. “He’s had the time off now. I think he’ll be great.”
The Patriots’ success with Brady was based on timing and precision, neither of which are Newton trademarks.
But Newton’s mobility apparently has Mcdaniels — who was already changing the team’s offence — rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
And along with his big arm, Newton should also be carrying a big chip on his shoulder.
If the Patriots thought Brady was driven by a desire to prove people wrong while he won six Super Bowls, they should get all that times 10 with Newton, who the rest of the league has clearly written off.
For added motivation, there’s a multi-year megabucks deal awaiting, either in New England or elsewhere, if he can point the arrow north again.
Newton was a Heisman Trophy and national title winner at Auburn before he was the first overall pick of the NFL draft in 2011. In that 2015 award-winning season he led Carolina to a 15-1 record, with the league’s most productive offence, before losing 24-10 to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. And Turner says he had rediscovered his MVP form just two seasons ago before injuring his shoulder.
On such a low-risk gamble, it had to be more a “when” and not an “if” Belichick was going to ink Newton.
Was he waiting to deliver a positive
story along with the other one that broke Sunday night, the report revealing for the third time since 2007 the Patriots were found guilty of a cheating scandal, this time fined US$1.1 million and forfeiting a third-round pick for videotaping the sideline of an upcoming opponent? The double scoops did make for a good headline on the back cover of the New York Post Monday morning: Spy Cam!
With the Buffalo Bills poised to stop the Brady-less Patriots’ string of AFC East division titles at 11 in a row, the Buffalo News could have answered with one of their own: Uh-oh.
SECOND AND SHORT: Netflix announced Monday it is making a black-and-white six-part series out of Kaepernick’s high school life. According to a Variety report, the collaboration with the former 49ers star “will provide a look at Kaepernick’s early life as a Black child growing up with a white adopted family and his journey to become a great quarterback while defining his identity” and that the series will also “explore what led him to become a civil rights advocate.” … The NFLPA is asking player agents to impress upon their clients the importance of talking to their doctors about the risks of playing through a pandemic. EXTRA POINTS: A former firstround pick (2014) of the Cleveland Browns who tried to salvage his career during stints with the Hamilton Tiger-cats and Montreal Alouettes, Johnny Manziel says his football playing days are probably “in the past.” Now 27, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback admitted to the Lubbock-avalanche Journal that he didn’t put in the time needed to be a great player, and his heart wasn’t in the game when he was in the NFL or Canada. Manziel last played for the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football in 2019. “Thank God I did get a chance to be humbled,” he said, “because when you think you’re at the top of the world, it’s a dangerous place.” … San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman was outraged over the fact Newton had to sign with the Pats for peanuts. “How many former league MVPS have had to sign for min? (Asking for a friend)” he wrote on Twitter. “Just ridiculous. A transcendent talent and less talented QBS are getting 15/16 (million) a year. Disgusting.” … The Patriots are the first team to lose an MVP and sign an MVP in the same off-season.