With the season’s first week wrapped up, I find myself with that familiar feeling I’ve always known in September: the prospect of four more months of football. I wrote a few weeks ago about how I wasn’t really excited for this season due to the circumstances that are 2020, but after this first week, I’m feeling better.
Part of this feeling is the structure the National Football League provides to the week, with games happening each Thursday night, all day Sunday and Monday night. The excitement that builds throughout the week as you wait for your team to play is unmatched by any other sport, and the only thing that compares to an NFL Sunday’s buffet of sports action is March Madness.
The second reason why my excitement is building for the season lies in Cam Newton’s return to success with the New England Patriots.
The 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player somehow remained unsigned through June until Bill Belichick swooped in and signed him for a measly $1.75 million.
Newton has dealt with multiple injuries over the years and played only two games in 2019. But if he was willing to sign for less than $2 million, you’re left wondering why another team with quarterback issues didn’t want him.
Newton didn’t light up the scoreboard in spectacular fashion on Sunday against Miami, but he showed that he still has some fuel left in the tank. In an efficient passing performance, he completed 15 of his 19 passes, which included a Julian Edelman drop, for 155 yards. These numbers aren’t jaw-dropping, but Newton put some zip on the passes he was throwing, showing his shoulder injury from 2018 has fully healed.
The most exciting part of Newton’s arrival in New England is the depth he can bring to the Patriots’ running game. Quarterback scrambles were never an issue teams had to worry about when facing the infamously slow Tom Brady, but Newton’s ability to escape danger in the backfield and run quarterback-designed draw plays is a great wrinkle in the playbook for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
This isn’t the first time McDaniels has had a running threat under center for New England. In 2016, then-rookie Jacoby Brissett was forced under center after Jimmy Garoppolo, who was filling in for a suspended Brady, got injured.
In Brissett’s first NFL start, McDaniels designed a bootleg play that provided Brissett with all sorts of running room as he evaded a defender and scored a touchdown.
The use of Brissett gave me an inkling of insight of what could come with Newton, and McDaniels didn’t wait very long to prove this theory right as the Patriots ran the read option on their second and third offensive plays for positive yards.
The greatest highlight of the day came for Newton at the game’s most pivotal play.
New England had a fourth-and-one as it clung to a three-point lead. Instead of kicking a field goal, Belichick and McDaniels put their trust in Newton. In yet another quarterback-designed run, Newton blasted to the left side and almost dragged a pile of players into the endzone.
Putting the game in the hands of your new quarterback shows great confidence in his ability, and in a season where no one knows how the Patriots will respond after losing New England’s most beloved athlete, it shows guts by Belichick.
Sunday was a nice win for New England, but it was still against the Miami Dolphins.
Miami isn’t a great team, as it is in the process of rebuilding. However, the Dolphins will most certainly be an exceptional team in a few years under former Patriots defensive coach Brian Flores.
The real test for New England comes Sunday when it will face Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. This game comes at a fortunate time for the Patriots as they will avoid Seattle’s raucous stadium atmosphere due to COVID-19 precautions, but it still won’t be an easy feat to win at CenturyLink Field.
Seattle is the first challenge for New England as it faces a murderers’ row of American Football Conference juggernauts in the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans.
Up and down the schedule, it looks like one of the toughest slates the Patriots have played in a long time, but if Newton settles into the offense and Belichick continues his defensive wizardry, then a division title should be in the future.
Everyone see the Patriots schedule (which happens to be the toughest schedule in Football) and they cringe. I on the other hand look at it as a blessing. You have the best coach in football in Bill and you have a healthy Cam. They say Cam has no weapons but let’s remember Cam took a Panthers team to a 15-1 record with Philly Brown and Ted Ginn Jr. as his starting receivers to a Super Bowl. If they get into the playoffs which I fully expect Bill will have this team ready to beat anyone. Cams health obviously is a point of concern for some going forward but if he’s healthy this team can beat anybody.