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PHILADELPHIA – Bill Belichick isn’t going to help out with his Week 1 starter until he’s good and ready. This we know.
He won’t provide a lot of food, or clues, on how he plans to exploit the quarterback position. He won’t say much to his coaching staff, let alone the players themselves, let alone the media. Everything has to be inferred, and the best indicator at this point is the fact that Cam Newton continues to take the vast majority of first-team reps, including thanks to this week’s very productive joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles in their center. practice, with every hope Newton will start Thursday’s exhibition game here ahead of rookie Mac Jones.
Beyond that, we are all alone.
So when Newton was asked, after a top-down session with the Eagles on Tuesday morning, if the future Hall of Fame coach had disclosed anything about his Week 1 status, you can forgive him for to have been a little taken aback. . “You know the answer to that question,” retorted the former MVP, later adding, “you know he didn’t say that.” Indeed, Newton is as in the dark as anyone as to how this battle is going to play out, and there is still a lot of work to be assessed. Obviously, there’s still about a month until the Patriots play a real game of football, and Belichick will take as long as he wants to make a final decision and unveil his plans.
But I’ve seen enough to postulate that Jones, an Alabama first-round pick, has flashed enough and will likely continue to display enough to give Belichick something to ponder and remain worthy of claiming the honors. Newton, back on another very team-friendly free agent deal, tries to avoid the day-to-day analysis of a quarterback battle that continues to obsess much of the football world, but most of all. in a week like this, with him and Jones taking turns. exercises against an opposing defense, all the talk surrounds the outcome of this competition and which will begin next month.
Who will be the Patriots’ starting quarterback this season? Can Mac Jones overthrow Cam Newton? And what does that mean for the rest of the Patriots players? Download the CBS Sports app to find out! Plus, get a sneak peek from our resident Patriots insider Tyler Sullivan. If you already have the CBS Sports app, be sure to pick the Patriots as your favorite team for the latest news.
“These things like that, I can’t worry,” Newton said, “because every day I don’t necessarily care about that – which starts. I mostly care about releasing the best product possible for me, and I know Mac feels the same and (third quarterback) Brian (Hoyer) feels the same. And everyone in every shift too. So as far as week 1 goes, we have so much to worry before week 1 and that’s where I’m focusing right now. ”
Ask Jones what his ambitions are to start Week 1 and you get a downright Belichickian response, as if he’s been coached by peak Tom Brady on how to respond to such requests. “For me, honestly, I’ve always been fortunate enough to be part of a team,” Jones said, “and you never know when your time will come… I’ll just keep working everyday and everything will keep working. like it’s supposed to work. ”
The contrasts between Jones, 22, and Newton, 32, at the end of a 2020 campaign in which his ability to push the ball down the field and command a required air strike was questioned, are striking. They’re pretty opposite in a lot of ways – and there could very well be a role for both of the many play days (if not all) – and there are enough traits Jones shows to force some tough decisions and maybe one way of looking at the division of labor when deciding the quarterback. During the session I watched, which included extensive 11-on-11 work and some lively two-minute drills, Jones was more decisive, more determined to get the ball out, to throw more precisely outside of the numbers and to arching the ball on the sidelines and also seemed quite willing to throw in windows and anticipate coverage.
Both quarterbacks managed to find free agent receiver Nelson Agholor in individual and team drills, and he appears to have left where he was in 2020 in a breakthrough season with the Raiders and not get bogged down in the struggles that struck him during his time with the Eagles. Facing his old team brought out the best in him and he steadily beat cover, played with abandon and climbed and retrieved the ball in traffic. The lack of tight ends, however, took a toll on both passers-by as, with big offseason signings Jonnu Smuth and Hunter Henry already out, Matt LaCosse was knocked out of practice on Tuesday after hitting the defensive lineman. Derek Barnett while going for a pass, collapsing to the ground with his helmet partially dislodged.
“No one wants to see their teammate being carried or lying on the ground after a game,” Newton said. “I had no intention of having any disaster on this room.”
Belichick would advise all of us to ignore the supporting cast around either quarterback, or certainly not to read too much into it, for what it’s worth. This can change at any time and players always move from the first to the second unit. He pointed this out to his quarterbacks early in the offseason and it remains his mantra.
“We’ve been telling all the players since the start of May, which is the absolute truth, not to spend a lot of time worrying about who else is with you,” Belichick said. “Worrying about what you’re doing and trying to do it right … If we focus on our job, how to do it better, how to improve it … All of us, that’s really what we’re trying to do. to do. to do. ”
Otherwise, imminent disaster (Belichick being Belichick).
“We’re starting to worry about all the things out of our control, it’s going to be a long year,” extorted the coach.
Newton never really picked up the pace during practice which I watched up close, and the Eagles’ defense thwarted any hope of a big play when the starters were on the field. Newton relied on controls and screens and the ball often hit the ground when they needed 10 yards or more. Often times he would take what amounted to the sack, the ball didn’t come out fast enough, and on his last throw of the day, with seven seconds remaining near the goal line in a two-minute drill while trailing by four, he locked in midfield, fired a double cover shot and was intercepted.
“Rather than taking a sack you have to give someone a chance,” Newton said, “and that’s about all it was – a chance in the end zone… I was just trying. to give my guy a chance. ”
While Newton had his issues, he faced more competition than the youngster and seemed more at ease than a year ago, with New England having no semblance of receiver-level talent or of the tight end. He seemed to control the offense by making changes to the line and still commands respect as a leader. And, he continues to give this attack the best chance of winning on the ground, as he can still crush and overtake defenders. The normality of this training camp, instead of having to learn that attack on the fly with no preseason games in a few weeks a year ago, serves him well.
“I have a year of learning so that’s the difference,” Newton said, “Rather than being pushed out there with just five weeks to prepare.”
Jones has been more successful with passing passes that have traveled more than 20 yards into the field and doesn’t hesitate to let him go. He doesn’t have a monstrous arm, but more than enough arm strength and intent. “It’s about shooting at the right time, and the guys were open to a lot of games,” Jones said. He understood the importance of getting the ball out and already seemed to have a decent internal clock.
The rookie understands he gave up a few yards on the field in his first preseason game last week and is clearly holding himself at a high level. And, unlike Newton, he ended Tuesday’s practice on a high note. After a jerky two-minute drive into the field to close his session, unlike Newton, Jones ended with a celebration with his teammates, throwing a last-second pass over the sideline to receiver N’Keal Harry (who had looked sharper on Tuesday than I’ve seen him before) in the back of the end zone for a score.
“Sometimes you can score on the fourth and the 10, or whatever,” Jones said. “So you still have one on the left. But I have to do a better job of getting the ball to the right guy. ”
Jones will have several more chances to do so over the last two preseason games and remaining practices. Maybe he sees the pitch from the first game in special situations, two-minute drills, times when an increased pace is needed. Newton offers clear advantages in the red zone or early downs and short distance situations. Nothing Belichick, never the iconoclast, decides should come as a surprise, and given the dichotomy between the quarterbacks, finding niches for the two of them might just be the best way to sort this out.
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