When Cam Newton first signed with the New England Patriots, there were some around the league who wondered how he would mesh with his teammates and head coach Bill Belichick. On Monday, Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald reported that Newton is more than a little happy in his new home. In fact, he called the pairing of himself and the Pats a “match made in heaven.”
Newton appeared on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show and said when he first signed as a free agent, he wondered whether or not he and Belichick were going to be able to make it work. He said he had heard the same things that everyone else around the NFL had heard about the Pats’ icon.
Because of that, he wondered whether or not their personalities would mesh. So far so good, the quarterback added.
Newton seemed to take a bit of a swipe at his old team, the Carolina Panthers when he expounded about why things were so much better than he expected. He said in New England, everyone was pulling in the same direction. The goal was winning and everyone involved had that goal.
The comment would seem to mean that wasn’t the case, at least toward the end of his stay, with the Panthers.
Callahan said some of the heavenly pairing on the Patriots likely has to do with the fact that Newton was able to win the starting quarterback job. When he first signed this summer, he was the odds on favorite to replace Tom Brady.
Then people inside the organization made it clear there was a real competition. Some still wanted Jarrett Stidham to take over and be the heir apparent.
Stidham ended any chance that he would be the starter this season when he suffered an injury late in camp.
When Newton was asked why he thought people expected he and his head coach to clash, he had an answer ready to go.
“We’re going honest? It is because I’m a Black athlete; a quarterback that for a long time, I’ve been unapologetic, carried myself in a way that the media hasn’t gave me my just due. But yet at the same time, I do understand that, and I don’t have no type of resentment toward that. I embrace who I am, I embrace the moment. I live in the moment.”
He also said he’s using his time on his new team to try and dispel negative perceptions of him. He added the biggest job he has now is to show his teammates he’s someone who is there to work and win.