The New England Patriots emerged with a hard-fought 20-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but it did not produce a vintage Cam Newton performance. Not by a long shot.

On Monday, the former league MVP was quick to admit that he was far from his best against Arizona. However, Newton was adamant that the victory was enough to atone for what was a poor performance from his end:

“I'll be the first person to say I didn't play my best game yesterday,” Newton said, via Chris Mason of Mass Live News. “I'm not going to apologize for winning. I don't care how we won… what transpired yesterday was the result of a great team win that I'm not going to feel sorry for.”

The Patriots quarterback went 9-of-18 on his passes against the Cardinals for a miserable 89 yards. Newton failed to log a touchdown, and had two interceptions on the evening. Needless to say, this was anything but a trademark performance from the three-time Pro-Bowler.

As he said, however, the most important thing here is that the Patriots came out victorious. It may not have been a pretty win, but it marked their fifth victory of the campaign. New England is now 5-6 on the season, and Sunday's win was their third in four games.

The Patriots will return to action Sunday to face off against the Los Angeles Chargers for Week Week 13. For his part, this will be a good opportunity for Newton to bounce back from what was one of his worst outings of the season. A win would be good, too.