The Patriots were not a good football team in 2020, largely due to an anemic offense.
And while the quarterback, of course, is the most important piece of the unit, perhaps the majority of the blame for New England's offensive struggles last season shouldn't fall on the shoulders of the starting signal-caller.
Cam Newton struggled over the course of the 2020 campaign, and he certainly deserves a level of criticism for his underwhelming first go-around in Foxboro. But as former Patriot Ty Law explained Wednesday on "The Greg Hill Show," Newton wasn't exactly set up to succeed in New England and seemingly any signal-caller would have been hard-pressed to lead a productive offense.
"Last year, they were not going to go anywhere, I don’t care who the quarterback was because no one fears the receivers," Law said, as transcribed by WEEI. "And when you don’t fear the receivers you can stack everybody in there and, man, we’re just waiting to get picks. You look at that game and say you know what, I’m going to add to my stat sheet in this game."
Law continued: "It wasn’t the best season for the Patriots or Cam Newton. But I will continue to say that if you think it would have been that much different or that much further along with Tom (Brady), I’ll still say I don’t think so. I don’t think they had the team surrounding him to bring out the best. Everyone had a challenging year due to the pandemic. But when you get eight guys (who opt out) and a lot of those guys were starters, Tom Brady’s gone who’s been the leader of the team, just the chemistry wasn’t there.
"I don’t care, because you need that stability in the locker room and a lot of those vets opted out that had that leadership. So I think if (Newton) was to be the quarterback this year they’d put some pieces around him to cater to his style of play and his athletic ability. They’ll be a lot better football team. But If Tom Brady was on the Patriots he wouldn’t be holding that Lombardi Trophy this year, I can guarantee you that."
Law probably is right. Just look at the 2019 season -- Brady's final season in New England -- when the Patriots completely fell apart after a hot start to the campaign. There was no pandemic, Brady had a healthy Julian Edelman at his disposal and New England boasted one of the better defenses in the league. The Patriots still went 4-4 over their final eight regular-season games and lost at home in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
So while Newton obviously doesn't deserve much -- if any -- praise for his efforts last season, the criticism he's garnered over the past few months might be a bit too harsh.
