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For the first time since 2008, the New England Patriots won’t be in the playoffs.
The blame will be tossed around to different places, with Bill Belichick and Cam Newton at the top of the list. Many critics and fans want to directly put the blame on Newton. But, it’s hard to do that when his team shouldn’t even have as many wins as they’ve collected this season due to an insane lack of talent.
Regardless, Newton and the Patriots fell 22-12 to the Miami Dolphins in Week 15. Jakobi Meyers was the only one to show up, which has become the norm this season. It’s normal that a second-year undrafted receiver is the most reliable offensive weapon.
With all this considered, Newton’s response after the game was completely fitting.
“This whole season has kind of been the tale of just coming just a tad bit short,” Newton said. “Call it however you want to do. We’ve still got guys that are new to this system. We’ve still got guys that are young. We’ve still got guys that just don’t get it, and we’ve still got guys that are battling their tails off each and every week.
“So we’ve just got to keep building on the optimism of what we can become and just move from there.”
Despite the difficult season, Newton’s remaining optimistic.
“I mean, what do you want me to do?” he said. “Do you want me to complain? Do you want me to tell you everything that’s not going right? I mean, obviously we know what the standard is around here. It doesn’t take a person that’s oblivious or living under a rock to understand that. But we just came up short. That doesn’t mean we’re not good enough, because we are. But we just didn’t show it.”
The Patriots weren’t in shape to win more than five games this season and they accomplished that. Newton’s future with the team is unclear, but he deserves a shot with formidable skill players around him.
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