As we all know, Tom Brady left the New England Patriots this offseason in a move that was was both unreal, yet also foreseen. For the past few months, Patriots fans have been hyping up Jared Stidham, both because they feel he has the potential to run the offense effectively enough, and also a little bit as a coping mechanism to deal with the reality of the fact that they won’t be having their 6x Super Bowl winning signal caller playing QB for them. Things got to a point where it almost felt like Patriots fans underappreciated Brady, with how many (or, who knows, it may just be a vocal minority) were ready to move on. These hopes were met with resistance, however, when these pictures came out.
The reality of the situation is, the Patriots are a very one-sided team: their defense is very good, and at worst will either stay the same or at best get better. Their offense on the hand, was bad – yes, bad. Tom Brady was considered “washed” last season, but the reality is, the Pats offense was just devoid of talent, adn was probably worse than the 2006 Patriots offense.
Sony Michel just doesn’t seem to have that “it” factor, and by now, it’s clear that the Patriots should have drafted Nick Chubb. James White is a good catching back, but really shines more when the rest of the offense is clicking.
Mohammed Sanu wasn’t healthy last year, in addition to probably not being the player he was in Cincy (hence why feel under the radar in Atlanta and they eventually traded him).
N’Keal Harry had growing pains last year. He showed flashes, but he needs to be kore consistent in catching in traffic and taking hits. Because as it stands now, the Patriots whiffed at receiver that draft with how stacked of a receiver class it was. All we had was an older Julian Edelman, who, god bless his heart, should not have had to even play as many snaps as he did last season given his injuries.
Tight ends? Eh. The O-line was okay.
That’s not getting into the advanced stats and film that show the amount of drops and poorly ran routes the Pats dealt with last season.
Given how the Patriots’ schedule is this year in addition to the team’s deficiencies, Jared Stidham was gonna be in for a tough ride this season. And so were the fans. The best case scenario for this season was only ever 10 wins. And that was with a lot of things going their way (DeSean Watson and the Texans falling apart, none of the AFC East teams maling that next leap, one of the good QBs they’ll face like Lamar or Mahomes getting injured, etc.). Realistically speaking, the Pats win total was looking more like 8 games.
Then Cam Newton showed up.
As we know, Cam Newton didn’t really have the best receiving core in Carolina. He had Ted Ginn Jr (who right now in the Saints, isn’t even good enough to be the 2nd string WR), Corey Brown, Jerricho Cotchery, Devin Funchess, and 1 year of skinny Kelvin Benjamin, before he became a little bit chubby.
Cam Newton’s passing stats didn’t tell the whole story, because he had great production running the ball. To put into perspective, there were seasons where Cam legit had more rushing yards than his running backs did.
That shows you that Cam Newton is a dynamic player, who, when healthy, can carry teams as good as any of the top QB’s in the league – a factor that he doesn’t get enough credit for. Additionally, he is only 31, which isn’t old for Quarterback years.
If all goes well with Cam’s health, and the Patriots defense plays at the same level it did last year and offensively they manage to avoid any season-ending injuries, the Patriots should be able to win about 10 games this year, even without having every single thing go their way (as brought up earlier).
Plus, Cam Newton was seen working out with Mohammed Sanu in March.
Hopefully this is can be an indicator of potential chemistry with the receiver – something the Patriots will need this year for sure. And if that’s not enough, Sanu seems to be very excited over Cam signing. That’s gotta count for something, right? (You better hope it does if you’re a Patriots fan.)
Lastly, we know that Belichick loves his versatile players. It’s why he got players Edelman. Why he loved guys like Troy Brown. Why he’s always linked to players like Cam. So having a player like Cam Newton playing QB is both a new experience for the Patriots, yet one that feels right at home. And with Belichick as coach, this could surely be the potential spark the team needs to move on quickly from life after Tom Brady. Is 10 wins and an AFC East title an fair prediction?
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
