For a night anyway, Pats QB Newton had all the answers
The birds were loudly chirping this week, and Cam Newton heard them.
The Eagles got on the Patriots quarterback pretty hard during the club’s joint practices Monday and Tuesday, taunting him at every opportunity.
Newton loudly answered in Thursday night’s 35-0 win, turning in perhaps his finest performance in a Patriots uniform and carving up Philadelphia’s defense.
In going 8 of 9 for 103 yards and a touchdown, Newton showed excellent pocket poise, moving well laterally and also stepping up to avoid chaos and calmly fire his throws with accuracy.
Newton’s delivery looked smoother than it has at any point in his New England tenure; there were no hitches or full-body throws. He moved through his progressions and sent spirals on short, intermediate, and longer attempts. He was 4 for 4 on throws that traveled at least 20 yards.
While it’s important to note that the Eagles were without many of their projected defensive starters, it was still a superb performance from New
England’s starting signalcaller. He had a strong practice Tuesday, and there was no dropoff on game night.
Eagles safety K’von Wallace was the most verbose of the trash talkers during the week, calling Newton the “Checkdown King” during one sevenon-seven series in which the Patriots were working on screens and safety-valve passes.
Newton said emotions run high during joint practices, and though he didn’t seem overly bothered by the extracurricular talk, he was clearly happy to respond.
“Tell his coach to play man-to-man then; I’m just doing what I’m told, just like he’s doing what he’s told,” Newton said.
Newton produced points on two of his three series, and it would have been perfect had Quinn Nordin not missed a 36-yard field goal attempt. With his work done, Newton had some more fun, interacting with fans of both teams, handing out a couple of souvenir balls, supporting his teammates — including fellow QB Mac Jones — and even supplying water to the chain gang.
— Jim Mcbride, Boston Globe
GIANTS Shepard in fight after practice
Sterling Shepard might be running the stairs of the Giants’ Cleveland hotel until Sunday morning when Joe Judge hears about this one.
Shepard, the longest tenured Giants player, squared off and threw punches with Browns corner Troy Hill way after Friday’s joint practice had ended.
Multiple witnesses saw both Shepard and Hill throw punches in between the practice fields. Photos from Associated Press and News5 Cleveland showed Shepard carrying his guard lower than you would like, but the veteran WR displayed good head movement to slip a straight left and an overhand right by Hill.
Shepard then was carried away from the fight by injured teammate John Ross, according to video posted by Cleveland.com.
A source said Hill had put a pretty good hit on Shepard in practice, which may have contributed to the post-practice fight..