Patriots: Mike Felger Addresses Cam Newton Criticism and Refutes it Was About Race

The Sports Hub’s Mike Felger addressed his criticism about New England Patriots QB Cam Newton.

Mike Felger, the co-host of 98.5 The Sport Hub’s “Felger and Mazz,” went on a rant last week about Cam Newton’s propensity to celebrate touchdowns shortly after the New England Patriots signed the former MVP.

Felger said Newton has “probably” showboated the most of any player over the last decade and that it would “piss him off” if head coach Bill Belichick allowed the QB to do the Superman celebration. Yeah, we forgot how time consuming that and the dab are, Felger! Sorry man, we didn’t mean to steal 1.3 seconds of your precious football time.

And he claimed Rob Gronkowski didn’t “screw around” in New England. Alright, buddy! Felger’s rant prompted the subject of race to come up for obvious reasons — Newton is a black QB who will be succeeding a long line of white starting signal callers in the team’s history. But he responded to that backlash and stated his comments had nothing to do with race.

ESPN’s First Take discussed if Felger’s rant had any racial undertones, which had more people talking about it considering Boston’s past run-ins with racism that were further unearthed in wake of George Floyd’s death. The panel didn’t come away with the impression Felger was at all being racist.

The radio host recalled taking countless shots at Tom Brady in regards to various aspects — his play, personal life, etc. — so it’s not like his disdain for Newton’s celebration was singling out the new Patriots QB.

However, there is one thing to consider when dissecting Felger’s comments. Since when do the Patriots not celebrate? Former Patriots offensive lineman Damien Woody said Belichick would encourage the players to celebrate and show emotion because they deserved to do so after how hard he made them work to prepare.

There’s also this clip of Belichick actually expressing that EXACT sentiment to his locker room!

How many Gronk spikes and Brady helmet smashes have we seen over the last 10 years? It’s pretty obvious Belichick (and most coaches) probably don’t condone the excessive celebrations from guys of yesteryear like Chad Ochocinco, but we have no idea why Felger seems to think Belichick has a hard stance against his guys expressing themselves during games.

It’s just simply not true.