Patriots QB Cam Newton has…made the whole region…forget about Tom Brady?
Truly, this is the kind of Patriots take you have to tip your hat to once your brain un-knots itself. I don’t know whether to smirk, fume, or spin my head in a full circle.
I thought I was impervious to the Take Cannon, after absorbing so much pandemic-paused sports media (STEPHEN A. SMITH: “Now, laundry detergent…fellas, how do we like to load it?!”). I assumed I was immune to blink-of-an-eye changes to legacy discussions and the GOAT pyramid, considering most people have been changing their opinions weekly without live sports to help them build a narrative.
Now, we’ve finally reached the point in the cycle where Cam Newton signing in New England, for what amounts to the NFL’s version of the veteran’s minimum, has taken a big bite out of Tom Brady’s popularity, as Glenn Ordway asserted on WEEI Monday.
"Cam Newton has hurt Tom Brady's popularity in New England" --@GlennDOrdway
— Jones & Mego with Arcand (@JonesandMego) July 20, 2020
Call me crazy, but any dip in Brady’s popularity likely occurred months before Newton’s arrival, when TB12…ditched this city for Florida?!
If you abandoned Brady, you did so then, when the wound was fresh. You didn’t wait through months of Jarrett Stidham practice tape only to throw dirt on your former savior once the path to bandwagoning was clear once more, and Newton’s fedora entered the picture.
Plus, if you believe the oddsmakers, King Incentives won’t even be the starter. So why has his arrival removed Brady from the narrative?
Odds for Jarrett Stidham to start Week 1 better now than right after Cam Newton signed https://t.co/JurOFtBZXi pic.twitter.com/EA3NODD8BO
— WEEI (@WEEI) July 16, 2020
Plus, if you’re a Newton devotee and have now kicked Brady to the curb, what did you particularly like about Brady these past two decades? The two are polar opposites. Brady’s consistent dominance and triumph over his draft status helped define the New England region for 20 years. Newton’s a mercenary sent to reclaim his MVP moniker, who’ll likely price himself out of Bill Belichick’s system if he performs this year.
If one, strange Cam Newton season makes you think less of Brady, I’m not sure where your thoughts were in the first place.
If you’re already thinking less of Brady thanks to three weeks of hype tweets and Instagrams about WoRkInG iN tHe LaB ~LiKe UsUaL~, then you may be a lost cause.