FOXBORO — To Cam Newton’s credit, the New England Patriots’ quarterback is not shy about facing the criticism of his performances this season.
“I think the feeling is mutual, I’d be first person to tell you I to need to play better,” Newton admitted after a 38-9 loss to the AFC East Division champion Buffalo Bills Monday night at Gillette Stadium.
“It’s extremely frustrating, knowing what you’re capable of, having belief in yourself, it’s just not showing when it counts the most,” said Newton after he completed just five of 10 passes for 34 yards against Buffalo, none for more than a nine-yard gain.
“I’ve never been a person to be controversial in the locker room, contrary to any other person’s belief,” Newton said of his performance. “I try to be the best teammate I can possibly be. That’s what I will continue to do. I will keep getting better each and every week, getting more comfortable in this offense. Let’s see where it gets me.”
It very well could be on the sidelines for Sunday’s season finale in Foxboro against the New York Jets. Jarrett Stidham came on in Newton’s relief during the second half against the Bills, but wasn’t all that impressive either, completing just four of 11 passes for 44 yards.
“At the end of the day, whatever opportunity I’m given, I want to try and make the most of it,” Stidham said of whether he will get the starting nod against the Jets. “Whether that’s in the third quarter, the fourth quarter, whenever that is, I need to go out and make the most of it. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”
Watching from the sidelines and gauging the team during the week in practice, Stidham maintained that the blame for the lack of production and points is not on any one player.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily just one thing,” Stidham said. “There’s 11 guys on offense and everybody’s got to do their job the right way every single play in order to move the ball. That’s how we execute and that’s how we need to execute.
Collectively, all 11 of us have to be on the same page and move the ball and do our job.”
As per Bill Belichick, his starting quarterback decision may be made on game day.
“I think everybody in the game of football wants to be playing every single week.” Stidham said. “I would absolutely love to have that opportunity, but again, that’s not in my control and I’m not going to focus on it.”
The Patriots possessed the ball for only 20 minutes against the Bills’ defense and moved the first-down markers just 11 times.
“I’ll put it like this, you don’t get pulled out just because you’re having a stand-up game,” Newton said. “I can tell you that. I’d be the first person to say that. There are some things I feel like I could have done better. But what my standard is for myself, it’s never to just blend in and just be the status quo.
“There’s some plays that need to have been made on my part that I feel like I could have done a better job at doing. As a signal-caller, as a person who is a dynamic player on this team, I need to impact the game more, and it just didn’t happen.”
The Patriots went scoreless on their final six series, going 0-for-4 in the second half.
“I think it’s a combination of things that we all can do better,” Belichick said. “So that’s what we’ll work toward this week and work toward in the future. You know, look at everything, try to improve everything, whether it’s design, execution, protection, route running, decision-making.”
Belichick indicated that the decision to replace Newton was an attempt to shake the Patriots’ offense out of its game-long futility.
“We didn’t have much direction,” Belichick said. “Just the combination of things. Protection, dropped balls, lack of good execution. We just didn’t execute the passing game well.
“We weren’t playing very well. It was the opportunity to give him (Stidham) a chance to play. Cam did a good job for us. I mean, that wasn’t the problem. We were just not very competitive in the beginning.”
New England totaled just 201 yards of offense and only 72 yards in the second half on four series. On five of the Patriots’ final six series, New England netted 12 yards or less.
Only once during those final six offensive series did the Patriots cross midfield and that was only to the Buffalo 47-yard line.
“You can kind of understand the frustration I do have when I don’t have the outcome because I’m sacrificing so much,” Newton said of his daily routine that begins at 4:20 a.m. and ends without having family or friends to come home to.
Newton’s incentive-filled, one-year contract with New England will end after Sunday.
“Obviously, the contract is what it is,” Newton said. “Submitting myself to this team, being accessible is something I’ve been doing since day one. It’s (losses, performance) frustrating. It makes you mad. It makes you angry knowing that to be a trusted teammate you first have to submit to authority and submit to what the coaches are asking you to do.
“I feel like I have done that. I’m not in the place of blame. I’m more or less venting right now because, I’ve sacrificed so much this year. I mean, it hurts when you have the outing that you have, just to go home, then start it over.
“I’m just doing what I’m asked to do, trying to be the best player for this team I can possibly be,” he added. “That’s what it is. It’s nothing that another opposing team is doing. I’d be the first to say that I need to get better, and it starts with practice.
“I don’t care about no contract. I just want to win.”