New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots won again on Thursday, beating the New York Jets 27-14 at Gillette Stadium. The surging Patriots have won eight straight games and own the best record in the NFL at 9-2, dominating both sides of the ball.
Not everyone’s buying into New England’s hot start, however. Former Patriots quarterback Cam Newton isn’t.
During his appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” on Friday, Newton dismissed New England’s hot start when discussing the best teams in the AFC.
“It has fool’s gold written all over it,” Newton said, crediting much of the team’s success to a soft schedule. “The thing that I have a problem with is if you keep playing sorry scrubs, then you’re going to have this falsetto of a mentality going into the playoffs, and it has one-and-done written all over it. Give me the Indianapolis Colts.”
Newton, who played quarterback for the Patriots in 2020, has a point. New England has played the easiest schedule in the NFL this year and is taking advantage of it.
However, that’s not the Patriots’ fault. They can only play the teams in front of them, and they’ve taken care of business almost every week. They haven’t lost since Week 3 and have the best road record in the NFL, plus they still haven’t had their bye week yet.
Furthermore, New England has still managed to bank several wins against legit playoff teams. The Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills on the road in primetime and also beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road. It’s not like New England hasn’t been tested.
Newton thinks the Colts are better, and he may be right. Unfortunately, they don’t play the Patriots during the regular season.
New England has some tough matchups in December against the Bills and Baltimore Ravens, both of whom are Super Bowl contenders. If the Patriots win those games, Newton may have to eat his words.
