That was unacceptable.
Or, at least it should be, if Bill Belichick truly believes what he preaches to his players about every decision he makes: Belichick does what's in the best interest of the team. If that's the case, then he needs to have a serious discussion with Josh McDaniels and Jedd Fisch about possibly benching Newton for Jarrett Stidham.
Newton was terrible on Sunday in the Patriots' eventual 20-17 victory over the Cardinals that was basically done without any of Newton's help — unless you want to count the gift personal foul penalty he drew to set up the game-winning field goal.
What you saw on Sunday was a Patriots team trying to win despite having — insert god-awful NFL quarterback's name here (Tim Tebow, Trevor Siemian, Ryan Finley, David Blough, Jeff Driskel, etc) — as their quarterback.
Yes, it was that bad.
Newton's final line: 9 of 18 for 84 yards, 4.7 yards per attempt, 2 interceptions, 23.6 rating.
You think that's hyperbole? You think this is a "bad take"?
Newton's expected completion percentage against the Cardinals was 62.7 percent. He completed 50 percent. That would an expected completion percentage differential of -12.7.
The only quarterback to have a worse game in the past month: Jaguars sixth-round rookie Jake Luton, who did it twice: a -15.8 in Week 11 AND a -15.4 in Week 10.
Those two performances got Luton, who at least has the excuse of being a late-round rookie in the age of Covid, benched for Mike Glennon. What's Newton's excuse?
Instead, Newton's performance got the equivalent of an atta-boy from Belichick.
"Yeah, we just kind of keep working to get better. Cam threw for 350 last week," Belichick told reporters. "The most important thing is we made the plays we needed to make to win. That's what the goal will be every week."
(Adam Richins for BSJ)
(Adam Richins for BSJ)