A few days after browbeating the Chargers 45-0, the Patriots came back to the Southern California stadium and lost to the Rams 24-3. New England could barely muster anything offensively, and the Patriots inserted Jarrett Stidham at quarterback in the fourth quarter to relieve Cam Newton.
In four of New England’s last five games, Newton hasn’t reached 120 yards passing — something basically unheard of in today’s NFL when teams are throwing it more effectively than ever before. In two of those games, which the Patriots won, Newton had fewer than 85 yards passing.
But last Thrusday, the Rams stifled the Patriots run game and the pass didn’t work well either.
So in an interview on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday, Neewton was asked about offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ play calling, particularly a series of plays inside the five-yard line where no passes were called.
Newton didn’t take the cheese in an answer that spanned four minutes in totality.
“One thing that’s not going to happen, and let me be perfectly clear, you’re not about to create any type of division between me and Josh McDaniels,” Newton said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. “There’s been times where, as a player, you kind of bail your coach out because of the plays that you may make. But more times than not, Josh has bailed the whole team out because of his theory and his in-game adjustments. So it’s give and take.
“[For] me to sit up here and throw a person that I admire in Josh under the bus and say, ‘He should have called more passes,’ no I’m not going to do that, man. I’m not going to do that. because I know just as much as the energy that I know goes into me wanting to win, I know Josh shares that same thing. And I know he wants to put this team in the best situation to win. And that’s the only thing you can ask for.”
The Patriots currently rank 24th in total offense, 29th in passing yards, and last in passing touchdowns, so there’s clearly more than one thing at play in its offensive failures. But at least for now, the Patriots, Newton, and McDaniels have three games to make it work and see if they can finish above .500.