Cam Newton to Pats.

[Shaw66]

I generally don't spend too much time thinking about who the opponent has. For me, it's all about the Bills, and the Bills are just as good this morning as they were on Friday.  So I can't get too excited about Cam going to New England. Having said that, I do have some thoughts about this, mostly that I doubt Cam will have a big impact on the Pats:

 

1. I've never liked Cam. He doesn't have his emotions under control. The game is all about him and not so much about the team. He's never impressed me as a good decision maker.  All of those things are 180 degrees opposite of Tom Brady is.  The Pats have a complicated offense that changes from week to week and that relies on a fifteen-year playbook.  Newton's has missed the spring and will have a short, weird camp.  There's no way he runs the offense like Brady did, and that makes the Pats offense weaker, not stronger. 

 

2. Belichick is a genius and he knows that Newton will never do what Brady did. Beliechick already has who knows how many creative ideas about how to put Newton's legs and arm to work.  But to do that, he has to significantly retool the offense. He has to make it look more like Carolina's offense looked.  The league knows how to stop the Newton-oriented Carolina offense.  Hoyer knows how to run the Brady-oriented offense and can do it pretty well. Retooling the offense to fit Newton makes Hoyer a lot less valuable.  

 

3. Newton has had a passer rating ABOVE 90 twice in his pro career.  During the years Newton has been in the league, Brady had a passer rating BELOW 90 twice. Anybody who has watched pro football for the last ten years knows Cam Newton is not Tom Brady. 

 

4. None of that even considers what seems to be true: Newton's body is pretty worn out. Relying on his legs to create a dynamic offense is probably a bad bet. 

 

5. I never count Belichick out. 

[JetsFan20]

4 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I generally don't spend too much time thinking about who the opponent has. For me, it's all about the Bills, and the Bills are just as good this morning as they were on Friday.  So I can't get too excited about Cam going to New England. Having said that, I do have some thoughts about this, mostly that I doubt Cam will have a big impact on the Pats:

 

1. I've never liked Cam. He doesn't have his emotions under control. The game is all about him and not so much about the team. He's never impressed me as a good decision maker.  All of those things are 180 degrees opposite of Tom Brady is.  The Pats have a complicated offense that changes from week to week and that relies on a fifteen-year playbook.  Newton's has missed the spring and will have a short, weird camp.  There's no way he runs the offense like Brady did, and that makes the Pats offense weaker, not stronger. 

 

2. Belichick is a genius and he knows that Newton will never do what Brady did. Beliechick already has who knows how many creative ideas about how to put Newton's legs and arm to work.  But to do that, he has to significantly retool the offense. He has to make it look more like Carolina's offense looked.  The league knows how to stop the Newton-oriented Carolina offense.  Hoyer knows how to run the Brady-oriented offense and can do it pretty well. Retooling the offense to fit Newton makes Hoyer a lot less valuable.  

 

3. Newton has had a passer rating ABOVE 90 twice in his pro career.  During the years Newton has been in the league, Brady had a passer rating BELOW 90 twice. Anybody who has watched pro football for the last ten years knows Cam Newton is not Tom Brady. 

 

4. None of that even considers what seems to be true: Newton's body is pretty worn out. Relying on his legs to create a dynamic offense is probably a bad bet. 

 

5. I never count Belichick out. 

Cam Newton has a lot of ability. If he’s healthy BB and the Pats will get the most out of him. The road to the division title got a heck of a lot harder for Buffalo. 

[YoloinOhio]

7 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

Winston was a dummy.

I think the Cam contract is a lot of incentives but he’s also being signed to start most likely. Winston was signed as a clear backup.

[Greg S]

[Kirby Jackson]

6 hours ago, JetsFan20 said:

I really like the way BB built this offense. 
 

Solid OL, Harry, Sanu, Edelman, two rookie TEs, Michel, James White. 
 

There is a ton of really high quality possession types options for Newton and Stidham. 
 

 

They have the worst pass catchers in the league. They have no speed. Their OL will be good and they should be able to run the ball. The Pats were going to be a 6 win team before this move. Now they can be better but they still shouldn’t be great.
 

The Bills still have the best roster in the division by a pretty big margin but the Pats have BB. If they got to 9 wins I wouldn’t be shocked with Cam. 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Kirby Jackson

[Shaw66]

12 minutes ago, JetsFan20 said:

Cam Newton has a lot of ability. If he’s healthy BB and the Pats will get the most out of him. The road to the division title got a heck of a lot harder for Buffalo. 

The to the AFC East title, to any division title, is always hard.  

 

I don't care how good it Cam Newton is physically (and that assumes he's healthy).  The combination of Brady's brains, determination, and perfectionism (all traits that Newton doesn't score well in) and the brilliance of his head coach and offensive coordinator put the Patriots offense in the top 10 every season in the last ten years, almost always in the top 5.  In most years, that was with receivers (other than Gronk) who succeeded because of their QB and the system, with mediocre running backs.  Over the same period, Newton's ability put Carolina in the top 10 twice.  

 

New England is a system team. They demand that their players fit the system.  Brady fit the system perfectly. Newton never will play like Brady, especially in his first season in New England.  Belichick can tweak the system and install some plays for Cam, and that will cause problems for defenses, to be sure.  But on 80% of the plays, they're going to expect Cam to come to the line and make the kind of decisions Brady made. I don't see that happening. 

 

Brady may be the best pure thinking quarterback in the history of the league.  He understood everything.  And yet, he had his worst passing days against the McDermott's Bills' pass defense. He admitted that when he comes to the line of scrimmage he can't tell what the Bills are going to do. If McDermott can do that Brady, what do you think he will be able to do with Cam, a guy McDermott knows well.  How's Cam going to like throwing to those fearsome Patriots receivers against a defense he can't understand?

 

There's a reason Cam Newton wasn't signed until June 28, and the reason is no one who needed a QB thought he was a good bet to win. The league had to wait until June 28th until Cam and some team were desperate enough to agree to give it a try.  

 

It's a story made in heaven for the sports media. They have nothing to talk about, and all of a sudden their favorite team signs a larger-than-life player with a big smile and the Superman reputation.  So the press is all over this.  The actual story is that a QB that league views as past his prime, a QB who has never been good at running complex NFL offenses, just signed with the team that lost the best QB in history and has no legitimate candidate to replace him.  They still don't. 

[Billl]

2 hours ago, JMF2006 said:

 

We know what he can't do....... stay healthy

 

2 hours ago, Canadian Bills Fan said:

Not really that concerned. He still needs receivers to catch the ball and Cam cant seem to stay healthy.

 

Add in the fact that Cam has an attitude problem that may not sit well with BB and Im not that worried 

 

2 hours ago, CEN-CAL17 said:

Cam hasn’t been Cam since the 2016 season... every season after that he’s been shaky, up and down. Injured, a head case and missed all of last year. Now fans think he’s just gonna jump into a very dynamic scheme and just gonna light it up? The dude had a solid offense in Carolina and was the reason for their struggles!

Where did this idiotic narrative about Cam not being able to stay healthy come from?  He got injured last season.  Prior to that, he missed 5 starts in his entire 8 year career.  Josh missed that many his rookie season and was knocked out of another last year.  Anyone who thinks NE didn't improve their chances of winning the division with this move is delusional.  He’s not great, but he’s absolutely proven himself to be a legit starting QB in the league, and no other QB in the division can say that.

[StHustle]

All you people thinking Cam is done are wildly mistaken. A healthy Cam is much better than Brady was last year. How did the Pats do with Brady last year? Don't underestimate this signing. It clearly makes Pats the favorites again. With that said, we can still win the division but it just go at least 10X harder.

[Jauronimo]

I don't get the move.  Cam and Belichick strikes me as an exceedingly poor personality fit.  How is Cam going to respond when football isn't fun?  Cam's game is the antithesis of what Belichick has said matters most in a QB. Quick processing, good decisions, and take care of the football.  New England's QB room is straight up weird right now.  Cam, Stidham, and Hoyer.  One of these things is not like the other.  

 

If Brady couldn't sustain drives with the talent in New England given his decade in the system I don't see how Cam is going to do any better even IF Cam is somewhere near healthy.  

New England's offense has centered around the quick passing attack for years.  Edelman's game is built on those rub routes and Brady knowing where he is at all times.  His value plummets without Brady and that scheme.  Cam played most of his career with trash WRs so maybe the Pats prize his experience in that area?

 

The move strikes me as a team desperately trying to keep their competitive window open one more year rather than a team thinking about the future.  The only way I see Cam as a good fit is IF he buys into the Patriot Way and IF he is healthy enough to bring his athleticism and physicality to that offense as a dual threat QB.  Cam has ankle injuries and a nasty shoulder injury which has plagued him for 2 seasons now.  If he isn't completely healed from both injuries I don't see this going well.  

 

Worth noting that Cam has 3 winning seasons in his 9 year career. 

 

 

[Freddie's Dead]

Edited June 29, 2020 by Freddie's Dead

[Ethan in Cleveland]

6 hours ago, JetsFan20 said:

TD/INT ratio isn’t that important IMO. You can have one or two games that skews it in either direction. Look at the Redskins who completely tanked the last two weeks of the season on defense giving up 9 combined TD passes to Dak Prescott and Daniel Jones. Great stat padding for those guys. 
 

I think YPA is the best stat to give you an idea as to how effective a QB is. For a standard QB I think anything below 7.5 isn’t workable. Guys like Allen and Newton can probably be a little under that given their ability to run. 
 

Newton is strange in that his first two years and his MVP year he was 7.8+ which is very good. Beyond that he’s only been above 7.0 one time. 

Agree YPA is a great sta for QBs. Here Newton has a career 7.3 and Allen is 6.6.

My point is not to knock Allen. He has only played two years and appears to be on the rise. And Newton is coming off two years of injuries. My point is that Newton has been a great QB at times and very good most of the time. He should not be dismissed.

Put it another way if Allen was hurt what other free agent QB option would have been better than Newton? Winston? Bridgewater, maybe. 

[Jauronimo]

6 minutes ago, StHustle said:

All you people thinking Cam is done are wildly mistaken. A healthy Cam is much better than Brady was last year. How did the Pats do with Brady last year? Don't underestimate this signing. It clearly makes Pats the favorites again. With that said, we can still win the division but it just go at least 10X harder.

At what?  Certainly not QB.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/N/NewtCa00.htm

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BradTo00.htm

[Greg S]

2 minutes ago, StHustle said:

All you people thinking Cam is done are wildly mistaken. A healthy Cam is much better than Brady was last year. How did the Pats do with Brady last year? Don't underestimate this signing. It clearly makes Pats the favorites again. With that said, we can still win the division but it just go at least 10X harder.

 

The Pats don't have a lot of weapons of offense. The Bills D should handle them just fine. Cam BTW is 0-8 in his last 8 starts isn't the player he used to be. The big question is can Allen have success against that D. Even Peyton who was one the best and smartest QB's to play the game had his struggles against a Belichick led defense.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

38 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

They have the worst pass catchers in the league. They have no speed. Their OL will be good and they should be able to run the ball. The Pats were going to be a 6 win team before this move. Now they can be better but they still shouldn’t be great.
 

The Bills still have the best roster in the division by a pretty big margin but the Pats have BB. If they got to 9 wins I wouldn’t be shocked with Cam. 

Agree on their WR group - worst in the league.

If BB can get 9 wins out of that team and their schedule he should be coach of the year. 
Bills should still get to 10-6 and win division with an equally hard schedule. But if they go 0-2 against Patriots they will blow it.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Ethan in Portland

[BuffaloMatt]

I think they will use him in the power run game and do what Baltimore did last year.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

8 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

The Pats don't have a lot of weapons of offense. The Bills D should handle them just fine. Cam BTW is 0-8 in his last 8 starts isn't the player he used to be. The big question is can Allen have success against that D. Even Peyton who was one the best and smartest QB's to play the game had his struggles against a Belichick led defense.

 Bills D handled Brady fine last year and went 0-2.

[dollars 2 donuts]

What I like about the signing?

 

It will give that much more attention to the AFC East.

 

The 2020 Bills are going to "do The Nasty" to rest of the AFC East and the NFL this season.

 

And the Bills...

 

...Like...

 

Doing The Nasty!

[Shaw66]

12 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I don't get the move.  Cam and Belichick strikes me as an exceedingly poor personality fit.  How is Cam going to respond when football isn't fun?  Cam's game is the antithesis of what Belichick has said matters most in a QB. Quick processing, good decisions, and take care of the football.  New England's QB room is straight up weird right now.  Cam, Stidham, and Hoyer.  One of these things is not like the other.  

 

If Brady couldn't sustain drives with the talent in New England given his decade in the system I don't see how Cam is going to do any better even IF Cam is somewhere near healthy.  

New England's offense has centered around the quick passing attack for years.  Edelman's game is built on those rub routes and Brady knowing where he is at all times.  His value plummets without Brady and that scheme.  Cam played most of his career with trash WRs so maybe the Pats prize his experience in that area?

 

The move strikes me as a team desperately trying to keep their competitive window open one more year rather than a team thinking about the future.  The only way I see Cam as a good fit is IF he buys into the Patriot Way and IF he is healthy enough to bring his athleticism and physicality to that offense as a dual threat QB.  Cam has ankle injuries and a nasty shoulder injury which has plagued him for 2 seasons now.  If he isn't completely healed from both injuries I don't see this going well.  

 

Worth noting that Cam has 3 winning seasons in his 9 year career. 

 

 

I agree.  However, the Patriots have Belichick, and Belichick always finds a way. 

[Bferra13]

2 hours ago, nucci said:

so it could go either way?

Sure it could. I say it's a desperation move because obviously they arnt happy with where they are at now with their qb's and it's getting late in the year for these kind of signings. Not sure what you thought I meant.

[Greg S]

Just now, Ethan in Portland said:

 Bills D handled Brady fine last year and went 0-2.

 

The Bills offense needs to step up. It won't be easy since NE's defense is tough. The Bills at worst need to go 1-1 against the Pats if they want to win the division. I think they have the team to finally do that this year.