Getty Cam Newton
The New England Patriots and Cam Newton were fortunate to come away with a win after a woeful offensive game. After the game, Newton could be seen talking to Josh McDaniels as he came off the field.
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“I’m Sorry, Man”
The Patriots pulled out a 20-17 victory over the favored Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, and Newton came up with a crucial scramble to help put the team into field goal position for Nick Folk’s game-winner.
So why was the 31-year-old quarterback apologizing to McDaniels after the game?
Cam Newton: “I’m sorry man” to Josh McDaniels.
Well, because Newton had one of his worst games of the season. The game plan wasn’t very daring, as many of us had hoped, but Newton didn’t play well with the opportunities he was given.
The Dim Side
On the very first play from scrimmage, Newton was intercepted. He threw his second pick of the game in the fourth quarter on what looked like a game-clincher for the Cardinals. However, the Patriots’ defense stepped up big time and limited the Cardinals to a field goal attempt that Zane Gonzalez missed wide right. With a second chance, Newton and the Patriots marched down the field to set up Folk’s heroics.
Newton completed just 9-of-18 passes for 84 yards and 2 interceptions. The second pick was simply a bad throw, which Newton acknowledged during his post-game press conference. He simply looked out of sync the entire game, and even on the misdirection run, Newton took a huge hit that seemingly rocked him before doing just enough to get Folk into his comfort zone.
Newton’s passer rating was just 23.6 — the lowest passer rating for a winning quarterback in an NFL game in eight years. Some days, you really need your teammates to step up and Sunday was one of those days for Newton.
The Bright Side
The Patriots came out victorious. Newton re-established himself a bit as a runner with 46 yards rushing. That was just one yard behind Damien Harris for the team lead on the day. While he did struggle with some inaccuracies, he led multiple scoring drives. He completed 6-of-8 passes on those drives, with one of the incompletions being the spike that set up the game-winning field goal.
Ultimately, were it not for the scramble and the penalty he induced after taking a hit from Isaiah Simmons, the Patriots probably find themselves in overtime, and who knows how that scenario would have transpired.
As Newton said at the end of the game, “I’d rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss.”
Looking Ahead
The Patriots travel to Los Angeles to face the Chargers on Sunday in the first of back-to-back games at SoFi Stadium. New England will face the Los Angeles Rams the following Thursday night. Get used to hearing this each week until the Patriots lose two more games, but it’s another must-win situation heading into Week 13.
Ideally, the Patriots would win out and finish 10-6. That would give them a pretty decent shot at the postseason with the NFL adding an additional spot. However, if they lose one more game things get dicey, but two more losses likely kill their chances completely.