The New England Patriots won in spite of Cam Newton’s performance in Week 12 against the Arizona Cardinals. The quarterback’s biggest positive contribution was a 14-yard rush on third-and-13 on the Patriots’ game-winning drive. Aside from that, he was plagued with inaccuracy, which led to a pair of interceptions.
His second interception, which came with five minutes left on the game, nearly cost the Patriots a win. But Cardinals kicker Zane Gonzalez missed a field goal attempt on the Arizona drive that followed Newton’s interception. It was a lucky bailout. That’s when Newton engineered a game-winning drive.
Bill Belichick doesn’t seem ready to move on from Newton, even with the Patriots struggling at 5-6.
“We’ve won three of our last four games,” the Patriots coach said Monday afternoon during an appearance on WEEI sports radio. “Hopefully we can continue to play good football on offense, defense and special teams and have a chance of being competitive this week and moving forward.”
Bill Belichick on @OMFonWEEI asked why he's sticking with Cam Newton at QB: "We've won three of our last four games. Hopefully we can continue to play good football on offense, defense and special teams and have a chance of being competitive this week and moving forward."
— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) November 30, 2020
Belichick took a similar tone immediately after the game when he was asked if he’d stick with Newton after the poor outing.
“We just kind of keep working to get better. Cam threw for 350 last week. The most important thing is we made the plays we needed to make to win. That’s what the goal will be every week,” Belichick said Sunday.
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