Without playing a down for the New England Patriots, quarterback Cam Newton has some in the Boston sports media sphere questioning if he can fit in with the “culture” of the team.
But the Patriots already have shown they know how to deal with a talented, demanding, sometimes difficult quarterback with seemingly countless off-field distractions. They dealt with one for 20 years. His name is Tom Brady.
Looking at Brady’s history with the team, and Newton’s history with the Panthers, a picture emerges of two highly talented, highly emotional players with more in common than people might think. If Brady fit in with the Patriots, Newton will do just fine.
The fact that media is already questioning Newton, and has ripped him for similar transgressions to Brady over the past decade, makes you think there is either a vast misunderstanding of the two stars or, just as likely, a racially charged judgment regarding the two.
When exploring the similarities and differences of Newton and Brady, let’s go back to the 2017 season. Brady missed a wide open receiver Phillip Dorsett on the sideline on a third-and-long against the Buffalo Bills in a December matchup. The former Patriots quarterback, who was cocky enough to claim early that year that he had the answers to the test for every NFL snap, made a glaring error. As he went to the sideline, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels made sure Brady knew it. And that didn’t sit well with Brady.
For the second time in the quarterback’s career, he began screaming at his offensive coordinator. Their brief verbal altercation was televised on CBS — because of course it was. CBS color commentary analyst Tony Romo playfully dubbed over the argument with a guess at what Brady and McDaniels were saying to each other. With the Patriots winning the game, 37-16, few criticized Brady for his short temper, but he was quick to apologize.
Even so, Brady has publicly challenged the authority of his boss on national television — twice. And he rarely sees criticism for his actions.
Newton has never so publicly fought with his coaches on the sideline. His biggest misstep was during the 2012 season after throwing an interception. Keep in mind that Newton was 23 at the time. (Brady was 33 and 40 years old during his two sideline spats.) Newton’s coaches benched him, and he put a towel over his head and sulked on the sideline.
Media members and his teammates ripped into him. “Newton is 23 years old, not 13. He needs to start acting like it,” Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler wrote. Ultimately, Newton apologized for his bad body language. But the criticisms led Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon to stick up for Newton, who Moon felt was victim of racial stereotyping. The criticism seemed to go too far.
But their temperamental sideline presences, which are a product of their equally immense desire to win, aren’t their only commonality — or source of controversy.
Newton was accused of sexism after saying it was strange “to hear a female talk about routes like that” during a press conference in Carolina. Brady has caused controversy for his support of President Donald Trump, for his involvement in Deflategate and for skipping a postgame handshake with Eagles quarterback Nick Foles after the Super Bowl.
They also both have big presences on social media. In their own way, both accounts scream: Look at me! Newton’s Instagram account is definitely unique and, at times, intense. But he’s generally just posting clips of self empowerment. They’re harmless.
Meanwhile, Brady uses his accounts to sell products, like watches or cars, while hawking his TB12 products — even if that means promoting supplements to promote immune health during the coronavirus (which is, arguably, not harmless).
Under Belichick, there is a fine line between acceptable moxy and egotism. (Heck, there’s that fine line in every walk of life.) But perhaps Belichick’s management of excessive celebration is a good example of how Belichick creates that fine line.
Belichick has encouraged his players to celebrate big plays together to show high energy, but he also grew frustrated when an unknown cornerback danced after a pass breakup and when Brandin Cooks rode Gronk like a horse after a touchdown. There’s little doubt in my mind that Newton can handle that fine line. He is, after all, the same man who heard the criticisms about his “Superman” celebration, and began giving balls to children in the crowd after each touchdown.
Essentially, Brady has been walking around the sidelines (and his entire life) with a hall pass. Newton hasn’t. That’s, in part, due to the fact that Brady had multiple Super Bowl wins at the times of his two spats with his offensive coordinators.
Newton, meanwhile, has the one Super Bowl appearance, in which he was shrouded in controversy for hesitating to recover a fumble.
It’s also in part, it has to be said, because Brady is white and Newton is Black.
Racism is alive in the U.S. And it’s alive in the NFL. Newton has faced prejudice and coded language during his journey as an NFL player. And so when Boston sports radio show hosts began to rip Newton for his propensity to celebrate, the discussion felt like an indirect conversation about race.
The argument was that Newton’s flamboyant personality was too much for the Patriots. He celebrated too often — he talked to much trash. But of course, Gronk spiked after every touchdown. Julian Edelman signaled after every first down. Brady loved trash talk — almost as much as Belichick himself.
The Boston sports hosts have denied accusations that this was a racially-charged argument by saying that they rip Brady for the same things. But that’s exactly my point: Brady and Newton are similar figures. If the Patriots can handle one, they can handle the other.
So then what? What negative quality does Newton have that Brady doesn’t? Surely, there are a few. Brady, after all, is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Most pale in comparison to him. But as far as diva antics go, Brady and Newton are quire similar. So if Brady, with all his scandal and controversy, came to define the Patriots culture, then Newton should come to thrive in New England, too.
This match will work for Newton’s one year deal, so long as the quarterback is healthy. If it does work in 2020, there will be a sneakily good chance that it’ll work well past this season — that Belichick and Newton will have enough mutual respect to want to keep working together, just like the coach liked working with another diva, whose cockiness made him hard to stop on a football field.
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