Cam Newton ran the ball 15 times for 75 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday in the New England Patriots 21-11 win over the Miami Dolphins. While most quarterbacks would be weary of running the ball that much, especially following a season where injuries forced you to sit out, Newton says it is all about how he attacks the defense.
“That’s just been me. Every year, a new discussion comes up about ‘It’s not smart to run. It’s not smart to do this. It’s not smart to do that.’ But at the end of the day, I just feel as if whatever necessary way you have to go about winning a football game, that’s what you have to do,” Newton said Monday morning on sports radio WEEI‘s “The Greg Hill Show.”
“There’s many different ways to attack a defense, and having a quarterback run is just another added dimension that a lot of teams can’t have. Yet through it all, I have to make a conscientious decision each and every time I do run the ball to be smart. Not to get ahead of myself and trying to prove a point. As long as I run and take care of myself and get down when need be, then I feel like everything will be OK.”
Newton looked healthy in his first game back after missing almost all of the 2019 season with a Lisfranc injury. He also missed the last two games of the 2018 season after having shoulder surgery. The former Auburn star, who used to bowl over linebackers and take on all challengers in the open field, is now more prone to getting down.
“That’s how my running style has morphed over the years. I just feel like I’ve gotten better at it — from the time I got into the league to the time now, people always see the running amount, but at the same time, the toll on a runner is not the same as a running back, so to speak,” he said on WEEI.
“Quarterbacks, all alike, have an invisible rule to be able to get down in the open field rather than finish the run as other positions would like to do. Either I’m the hammer and not the nail — delivering the blow. Or at the end of the day, I can get down and, like they all say, live to fight another day.”