New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton must know how bad the odds are for his team to make the playoffs. He must know that New England would need to make a tremendous turnaround, with 2-5 teams making the playoffs just 4.9% of the time since 1990. And so he doesn’t seem interested in making promises about the rest of the Patriots’ season.
During an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” Newton was asked whether he thinks New England can still make the playoffs.
“I think this team can win the next game,” Newton told WEEI on Monday.
The Patriots (2-5) are not giving up on the season, he said. The team is still putting huge amounts of energy toward winning. And with the New York Jets up next, New England should get a win in Week 9.
“For us, the reality is our record is what it is. But the perception of certain things when you really look at it is, it’s not as bad as you want to make out to be,” Newton told WEEI. “Like I said, one or two plays here or there. The ball hasn’t been rolling in our favor, but yet we have to create our own mojo, and I think we will. I know we will. Getting guys back from injury and just building off of what we have done up until this point. That is what we have to do here moving forward.
“Just the vibe that you get in that locker room is we just need one,” he said. “Going back and knowing this team as well as I do know this team, coming off of that Raiders win, I think everybody had a full head of steam and momentum. Then obviously what happened with COVID and everything like that, it’s just been a slippery slope, walking down a slippery aisle trying to regain your footing. One thing I do know about this team is once we get that first one, that next one is almost, ‘OK, we remember how to win. OK, we know how this feels. This is where situational football kicks in, let’s do a better job of doing this, that and the third.’
“There’s no doubt in my mind that guys are taking the proper steps of focusing on each and every day, each and every rep, each and every practice that will inevitably lead to in-game success for one particular game. We have a relatively young, but mature team that keeps everybody focused and in line with what the common goal is for that specific day and week.”
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