It was only preseason. By any definition, meaningless.
But Cam Newton Thursday night in Philadelphia played like a man who’d heard enough about rookie hot shot Mac Jones. He helped his cause. And there’s little doubt he is going to be the Patriots’ starting quarterback at the start of the season.
We know by now that Bill Belichick loves Newton the way he loves Lawrence Taylor, special teams play, and the Army-Navy football game. Newton returned the love in Philly, completing 8 of 9 passes for 103 yards and putting two touchdowns on the board in the first quarter of New England’s 35-0 rout of the Eagles.
Jones followed Newton, played the second and third quarters, and had another strong showing, completing 13 of 19 passes for 146 yards against Philadelphia’s scrubs. None of it really matters as long as Newton plays the way he played.
Bottom line: The job is Cam’s to lose and he did nothing to hurt his cause in Philadelphia.
In the Patriots’ first preseason game, Newton played only two series (12 snaps) and completed 4 of 7 passes for 49 yards. Jones got in for five series (33 snaps), completing 13 of 19 passes for 87 yards. Neither threw a touchdown pass. For a lot of us, that was enough to call for the kid to take over as starting quarterback.
After all, who needs to see any more of Cam? Newton failed famously in his 2020 season with the Patriots. He completed only eight touchdown passes in 15 games and the Patriots finished 7-9, out of the playoffs. Despite this, after selecting Jones with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Belichick declared, “Cam’s our quarterback.”
Belichick loathes the speculation that comes with a quarterback controversy. Diligent Patriots beat reporters sweat through daily practices, searching for mysteries without any clues. They look for patterns, any small signal to indicate that Jones might have a chance to start. They check to see which quarterback is playing with the starters and which is playing with the subs. Who gets the most snaps?
The Hoodie spit out this beauty when he was asked about these trends:
“The most important thing for each and every one of us is to focus on what our job is . . . That’s what we’re trying to do. Spend a lot of time worrying about who else is doing something else and who else is out there and not out there or whatever is honestly a total waste of time and energy. It’s not productive, so we don’t need to worry about it.”
Newton was similarly obtuse, saying, “I don’t necessarily care about who’s starting. I mostly care about making sure I put the best product out there for me, and I know Mac is feeling the same way.”
Swell. But Newton seemed a little sensitive last Friday, delivering an Instagram post about loyalty (“I deserve it”), later claiming that he was commenting on a personal matter, not about his football status.
And then he went out and played like a man intent on reminding everybody that he was MVP of the National Football League in 2015.
Newton’s first drive was uneventful. Taking over on the Eagles’ 9-yard line, Newton handed off twice and watched Damien Harris waltz into the end zone for a 7-0 lead. Easy Breezy. Steve Grogan could have handled the job on this “drive” and Grogan is 68 years old.
Newton was precise in his next two drives. He completed his first four passes. Completions to Jakobi Meyers (two) and Kendrick Bourne moved the Patriots to Philly’s 22-yard line before the drive stalled.
Cam had another good series on New England’s third possession, completing 4 of 4 passes and connecting with Meyers for a 28-yard catch-and run touchdown play. He displayed good pocket presence in the 66-yard drive. The enthusiastic Scott Zolak said it was as good as Newton had looked since coming to New England.
Newton made sure the TD football wound up in the hands of an appreciative fan.
“Hopefully there will be a lot of Sunday giveaways to look forward to this season,” said Newton.
“Cam had a good week, but I thought everybody worked hard,” said Belichick. " . . . We all have a long way to go. I’m not really worried about last year. It’s a new year, a new team. I think we’re making progress.”
Wearing a protective brace on his left knee, Jones took over for Newton with the Patriots pinned on their 9-yard line and drove the Patriots 91 yards in 17 plays over 8:52. Rhamondre Stevenson’s touchdown run gave the Patriots a 19-0 lead.
Jones had one more shot before halftime and almost connected on a home run ball (50 yards on the fly) down the left sideline to N’Keal Harry. Harry stretched out, dropped the ball, and went to the medical tent after the play. Jones took the Patriots over the goal line again (75-yard drive) early in the third. Brian Hoyer mopped up in the fourth.
All in all, a good night for both of New England’s quarterback contenders. But it’s pretty obvious that Cam is the starter and no amount of fan/media noise is going to change Belichick’s mind.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.
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