Patriots: You have to feel for Cam Newton after his rough postgame interview

It’s hard not to sympathize with Patriots quarterback Cam Newton after his revealing postgame presser.

The New England Patriots didn’t have anything to play for against the Buffalo Bills as far as the playoffs are concerned, but they still had a chance to play spoiler and salvage their epic 20-year streak without a losing record.

When the dust settled, however, the Patriots looked as though they already had their sights set on the offseason, faltering to the tune of a 38-9 defeat. The defense was picked apart by budding superstar Josh Allen, while the offense (specifically the passing game) continued to look inept.

How bad was it? Well, Cam Newton was benched in the middle of the third quarter in light of another rough performance in the pocket. After the loss, fans were probably expecting him to be his typical lively and accountable self, but that was anything but the case.

During his postgame interview, the three-time Pro Bowler, clearly defeated by putting in hours of work and preparation and finding it extremely difficult to churn out wins, decided to vent about his family and how much he’s sacrificed this season.

Newton started off by touching on the Monday Night Football graphic that showed his bizarre morning routine, which includes waking up at 4 a.m. and not having his first sip of coffee until four hours later. After that, he started talking about outside factors that are seemingly impacting his mindset in a negative manner.

"“That’s been my schedule for 90% of the time I’ve been here, so you can kind of understand the frustration I do have when I don’t have the outcome, because I’m sacrificing so much. You’re talking to a person who hasn’t seen his kids in three months.“Obviously, the contract is what it is. Submitting myself to this team is something I’ve been doing since day one. Being accessible. Yeah, it’s frustrating. It makes you mad.”"

For those who forget, Newton is currently playing on a one-year deal with a veteran minimum base salary of $1.05 million. The contract does feature bonuses and incentives, but they would only see its value increase to a sum of $2.6 million. Knowing that he’s auditioning for a potentially lucrative deal and playing this poorly while failing to win games must be mentally taxing, to say the least.

"“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, yeah, I’ve sacrificed so much this year,” Newton added."

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1343739723391504384

We’d be the first to admit that signing Newton hasn’t worked out for the Patriots, but we’re not so sure that many quarterbacks (realistic ones, obviously) would have been able to come in and lead this lackluster roster to a winning record, let alone make the playoffs.

Not seeing your kids for three months must be a brutal feeling, especially in the face of adversity, and fans in New England would be hard-pressed not to feel for him after reading/hearing his poignant postgame comments.

Damiere Byrd dropping wide open touchdown sums up Patriots 2020 season

New England Patriots wide receiver Damiere Byrd dropped a wide open touchdown pass on the team's opening drive vs the Buffalo Bills.