The New England Patriots remain united despite a disappointing 6-7 record entering Week 15.
Patriots quarterback Cam Newton was asked Monday morning on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" about offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels' hesitancy to pass near the goal line. New England ran the ball four straight times from inside the 10-yard line early in the second quarter of Thursday's 24-3 loss to the Rams and was stymied by Los Angeles in its best chance at a touchdown.
Newton had no interest in airing any grievances about McDaniels. Instead, the QB defended the Patriots' offensive play-caller for nearly four minutes.
Here's Newton's entire answer:
"One thing that's not going to happen, and let me be perfectly clear, you're not going to create any type of division between me and Josh McDaniels. You're talking to a person who, No. 1, respects this opportunity first and foremost. That's talking from Coach Bill Belichick. That's talking in regards of Josh McDaniels, obviously. Robert Kraft. And even (quarterbacks coach) Jedd (Fisch). I think it would be selfish of me to kind of indirectly point the finger, when, here's a person who is putting our team in the best situation to win. For the most part, me and Josh's relationship has grown, obviously, while I've been here. For me to kind of know him, and know how his theory and thinking is, it's been just something I've even attached to myself even more. He's a very passionate person that I would never second-guess his theory, no matter what it is -- and yeah, was it the play-calling? There's been times where, as a player, you kind of bail your coach out because of the plays that you may make. But more times than not, Josh has bailed the whole team out because of his theory and his in-game adjustments. So, it's a give-and-take.
"No, going back to Thursday, it's a lot of fingers. You don't have enough hands to go around to point the fingers. I know all the highlights is going to be on the offense, and obviously, with me being the signal-caller and person in demand, a lot of blame goes to me. Yeah, and that's fair. Any time you look at an offense, and you're saying, 'You had a lot of three-and-outs. You had a lot of opportunities missed. The defense upheld their end of the bargain.' But at the end of the day, we play the most ultimate team sport. That's football. We need all three phases to be in cahoots at the same time -- offensively, defensively and special teams. And any time that opportunity lacks, then you're going to have what you've seen on Thursday. We've had games -- I'm not going to necessarily go back and say -- where we have two out of the three perform -- like Thursday, and you got the result we have -- one out of three perform, and we've seen games where all three of them all perform well. We know how that can look. So, that's why you practice. That's why you anticipate. That's why you have the courage to say, 'Man, we're going to get better each and every time' because that's what is going to happen. Look, you don't go into a game and say, 'You're going to get your ass beat.' No. You're going to go into the game saying, 'You're going to be beating ass. And that's our mentality.
"Yeah, there is some division right now. I'm not sure what's being said in the fan base. I only can assume, and things like that. It's you guys' job to probe and pick and things like that. And I respect that. But yet at the same time, you have guys in this locker room, including myself, that's willing to do whatever it takes to win a football game. And when you don't get the outcome that you're desperately searching for, yeah, it hurts. Yeah, you take it personally. Yeah, you need time to kind of debrief.
"But for me to sit up here and throw a person that I admire, in Josh, under the bus and say, 'He should have called more passes,' no, I'm not going to do that, man. I'm not going to do that. Because I know just as much as the energy that I know goes into me wanting to win, I know Josh shares the same thing. And I know he wants to put this team in the best situation to win. And that's the only thing you can ask for."
The Patriots have been frustratingly inconsistent this season. New England beat the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Chargers in consecutive weeks before it was brought back down to earth by the Rams in Week 14, all but ending its postseason hopes.
Ultimately, as Newton said, there are many fingers to point to place blame on New England's lackluster offensive performance from his play to McDaniels' play-calling and the overall talent on the Patriots' depth chart.
