Cam Newton’s addition sparked excitement in New England as the Patriots geared up for the post-Tom Brady era. But there are still many questions to be answered in the next two months.
For example, will Newton buy the strict Bill Belichick regimen? Will Belichick treat Newton the same way he has treated Brady for the past 20 years?
Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry discuss those questions in the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast, and neither of them are convinced that there will be a smooth adjustment for the player or head coach. Especially with so little time for Newton to catch up on the Patriots offense.
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“Cam Newton, like Peyton Manning, like anyone else in the overall No. 1 draft who has been nothing but ‘the anointed one’ for a long time, has probably not been coached by Ron Rivera or anyone else since he has been in the NFL. Certainly not like Bill Belichick does. Who changes this year? “Curran asked Perry.
“I’m not sure either of them do,” Perry replied. “I don’t know if any of them can. Especially when you’ve had success doing things one way. Let’s be honest, Cam Newton has been the type. Even when he was humiliated to the point that he went to Blinn College nowhere, Texas and I had to play a year of JUCO football … [Newton and the head coach] He would meet every week and Cam Newton would come in, and if he didn’t like what they were saying, if he just didn’t like how they were training him, he would say, “Coach, that wasn’t good. Week, you have to be better next week.
“On the one hand, you can say that he is a player who pushes his coach, he is a player who wants to make the best of himself, that the team advances, but on the other hand, he can say that he is someone who is not entirely I’m inclined to differ because he’s the man … so Cam Newton is Cam Newton, and I don’t think he’s changing. And one of the things I don’t know is going to go very well here, Tom, is that if he doesn’t go well early … It’s hard for me to imagine offensive success, and if you don’t have that, how do you handle it? “
Curran and Perry also cover key dates for the Patriots returning to camp, the Patriots winners and losers without preseason, whether Belichick will benefit from the chaos of the NFL 2020 and much more.
Catch the latest episode of Patriots Talk Podcast on NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network or YouTube.
