Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is loving his new QB Cam Newton, but it hasn’t changed his attitude.
It was all smiles in the Patriots locker room on Sunday afternoon, as Cam Newton debuted in a relatively sweat-less game, effortlessly carrying the offense downfield whenever called upon to do so. He even triumphantly got to keep his chain.
But if there’s no one in Foxborough to witness a victory over Miami, does it make a sound?
As soon as the final whistle blew, Patriots scribes seemed extra excited for at least one element of the football season to return to normalcy as they hustled to Bill Belichick’s postgame Zoom for some tight-lipped half answering.
Luckily, Belichick didn’t disappoint. After being asked about the elephant in the room — Can you compare this season without fans to anything you’ve experienced in your football life?! — Belichick had a perfect canned answer prepared.
This made me laugh out loud. pic.twitter.com/5PUiKPZGKy
— Mark Dondero (@MarkDondero) September 14, 2020
“Practice.” Next!
Seriously, we’ve missed this. Clearly, Belichick isn’t too overwhelmed by the constant postmortems on the Brady Era, or COVID-19 protocols, or the opt outs that swarmed his roster about a month ago. Sure, the vibe is different in 2020 without the raging rooters occupying the bleachers, but according to our coach, who cares? It’s practice, but it counts. Not that interesting. Go out there and execute.
Belichick even had enough stamina left to drop jokes on the team’s writers, one of whom tried to ask an honest question about rostering an extra QB for the weeks to come.
“I think we have @scottzolak right around the corner,” jokes Bill Belichick, when asked if he would consider signing a practice squad QB and not have that player with the team (like the Eagles).
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 8, 2020
Yeah, just put Zolak in. That should do it.
All in all, it was a happy weekend in New England for all parties involved, and the team’s “weaknesses” were easily overshadowed by Josh McDaniels and Belichick’s ingenuity, Cam’s effectiveness, and the defense’s ball-hawking mastery.
Sure, it felt a little like practice. But it was the type of practice tape everybody watches and gets jacked up over for the weeks to come. Not a bad start.
Patriots: Stephon Gilmore’s contract adjustment feels like a shot at Tom Brady
The New England Patriots restructured Stephon Gilmore's contract and gave the Defensive Player of the Year a raise for 2020.