The Seattle Seahawks have started their season off on the right foot by beginning their 2020 campaign 1-0 with a dominant win over the Atlanta Falcons. Seattle’s defense survived an aerial assault from Matt Ryan, and now they face another former MVP quarterback – albeit with a considerably different skill set – in Cam Newton of the New England Patriots.
Newton is an old rival of the Seahawks in a new situation. For the first time in his career, Newton is playing on a different team other than the Panthers, where he’s been the face of the franchise since his rookie year in 2011.
From 2012-2018, Seattle faced Cam Newton eight times in games usually defined by physical play and narrow final scores. Interestingly enough, the only years when Newton did not play the Seahawks were in 2017 and in 2019, when he missed 14 games.
However, the Seahawks often prevailed in these contests as Newton is only 2-6 in his career versus Seattle, with both his wins coming in 2015. Sunday will mark the first time Newton has made the trip to the Pacific Northwest since 2016, which was a disastrous 40-7 defeat where he completed less than 50% of his passes for only 182 yards.
The last time Newton went against Seattle he fared much better, completing 25 of 30 passes and a pair of touchdowns in a thrilling 30-27 defeat.
Now Newton is with the Patriots, and he has them back to their usual winning ways with a similar 1-0 start. Newton played well in his Pats debut, showing off accuracy and demonstrating he is healthy again to be running the football well as he rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-11 win.
Newton’s return to rushing prominence could prove problematic on Sunday. The Falcons had to abandon their run game in efforts to keep up with Seattle, but when they did run, running back Todd Gurley was effective. The Patriots will undoubtedly employ a run-first style attack to control the clock and keep quarterback Russell Wilson off the field.
The Seahawks need a major emphasis on committing to stopping Newton from running wild.
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