The New England Patriots may be coming to a close on the Cam Newton era in New England, and another poor performance on Monday night, one that saw Newton pulled in the third quarter, may finally be the last time Newton is under center for the Patriots.
During the broadcast on ESPN, a graphic showed that Newton would wake up each day at 4:20 am, leave his home at 4:30 am, and didn’t head to bed until around 11:30 pm, a clear indication of the hard work that Newton is putting into his craft, despite disappointing results.
“That’s been my schedule for 90% of the time I’ve been here, so you can kind of understand the frustration I do have when I don’t have the outcome, because I’m sacrificing so much. You’re talking to a person who hasn’t seen his kids in three months,” Newton said, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
“Obviously, the contract is what it is. Submitting myself to this team is something I’ve been doing since day one. Being accessible. Yeah, it’s frustrating. It makes you mad.”
Newton, who is playing on a one-year deal with the Patriots, finished 5-of-10 passing for 34 yards, while adding four rushes for 24 yards during Monday’s blowout loss to the division rival Buffalo Bills.
“Cam did a good job for us. I mean, that wasn’t the problem,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said following the game. The Patriots benched Newton for Jarrett Stidham in the third quarter. “We weren’t very competitive in the game.”
“It’s extremely frustrating, knowing what you’re capable of, having belief in yourself. It’s just not showing when it counts the most,” Newton said, while also acknowledging Belichick’s continued support of him.
“The feeling is mutual. I will keep getting better each and every week, getting more comfortable in this offense for the last week that I possibly can. Let’s see where it gets me.”
“It makes you angry knowing that to be a trusted teammate you first have to submit to authority and submit to what the coaches are asking you to do. I feel like I have done that. I’m not in the place of blame. I’m more or less venting right now because, yeah, I’ve sacrificed so much this year,” Newton said.
“I mean, it hurts when you have the outing that you have tonight, just to go home, then start it over for a whole another week.”
