The New England Patriots put up a valiant effort against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, but they came up a yard short.
Given the way Cam Newton and the Patriots have played in the red zone early this season, New England largely avoided criticism for running the ball with Newton on the final play of the 35-30 loss at CenturyLink Field. Instead, most of the credit has gone to the Seahawks for making a nice goal-line stand.
But for former NFL receiver Brandon Marshall, now a co-host on FS1’s “First Things First”, believes the play call ultimately sunk Newton and Co.
“When you have Cam Newton — this is why I thought it was a little bit of a disappointment to see them call this play — because you can give him a run-pass option,” Marshall said on Monday’s show. “What if we go empty set, and then you have wide receivers coming in on slant. If they’re there you take them, if they go full-out blitz hit the slants, hit the fade route, hit the middle fade. But what they did is they put them in the box where he can only do one thing.
“And that’s why I thought it was disappointing because when you have Cam Newton you spread them out and you make the defense show their cards, and they didn’t do that and it’s a disappointment because they could have easily won this game. But they should be proud of themselves, and everyone in New England … should feel really good about what they’re seeing out of their New England team.”
The Patriots will attempt to get back on track this Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
