The New England Patriots appeared to be back to their typical selves on the big stage Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens, securing a huge upset victory to keep them within arms reach of one of the three AFC Wild Card playoff spots. Their quarterback, Cam Newton, has been questioned by doubters a ton since his time ended in Carolina this offseason. On Sunday, he silenced a few with his performance in the win.
On the daily Locked On Patriots podcast, host Mike D’Abate was joined by Steve Balestrieri to discuss the current state of the New England Patriots. Naturally, the offense was brought up, with Newton compared to Tom Brady.
Balestrieri: I mean, you are facing one of the top-10 rush defenses in the NFL. They know you are going to run the football. They are doing everything in their power to stop you and you still run the ball down their throat for 173 yards. The fact that the passing game, and you mentioned it earlier with Cam Newton, he recognized the blitz and that has been the big issue for the Patriots' offense this year, when teams blitz Cam.
Newton has not been able to recognize it in time and he is not able to find the open guy. Against the blitz on Sunday night, and the Ravens can get after the quarterback, Cam Newton was 9-of-12 for over 100 yards and a touchdown against extra pass rushers. I think that is outstanding. Those are Tom Brady-type numbers. I am all in on that. I believe that McDaniels called a great game. I think the offense and Cam showed that it can improve and I’m really looking forward to seeing them build on this. I am looking forward to seeing them get more people involved.
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