New England Coach Bill Belichick has Jarrett Stidham and Cam Newton as his quarterbacks, but will either one be the answer after this season? Reed Hoffmann/Associated Press
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Following the worst home loss of the Bill Belichick era, the Patriots find themselves at a crossroads.
On Monday night, the Buffalo Bills came into New England as the new kings of the AFC East. In beating the Patriots 38-9, the 29-point loss is the worst home loss since Belichick took over as head coach in 2000. It’s the second-worse loss of his coaching career in New England behind Buffalo’s 31-0 win in 2003.
The Patriots will enter this offseason looking to rebuild and it’s obvious what they need most: A franchise quarterback.
After 20 years of Tom Brady, life isn’t going to get easier for the Patriots. That was seen on Monday night as the Bills, led by their franchise quarterback Josh Allen, rolled over the Patriots in embarrassing fashion.
It seems clear by now that Cam Newton isn’t the answer. The 34-year-old completed 5 of 10 passes for 34 passing yards to go with 24 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. He was benched for Jarrett Stidham at 8:20 of the third quarter after the offense went three-and-out three times in six drives. Newton’s offense has now scored one touchdown in the last three games, in which the Patriots are 0-3.
After the loss, Coach Belichick wouldn’t put the blame on Newton when asked about inserting Stidham into the game.
“Well, we weren’t playing very well. It was the opportunity to give (Stidham) a chance to play,” Belichick said. “Cam did a good job for us. I mean, that wasn’t the problem. We were just not very competitive in the beginning.”
Newton might not be the sole problem, but he doesn’t look like the solution.
Newton failed to reach the 100-yard mark in four games this season. He’s thrown for over 200 yards in four of 14 starts. He’s 6-8 as the starter. He’s outstanding on the ground, which is evident by his 12 rushing touchdowns, but the Patriots passing attack – or lack thereof – has been embarrassing. It doesn’t help that the Patriots don’t have a legitimate No. 1 receiver or capable pass-catching tight end, but when your quarterback gets benched for the third time in a season due to a blowout loss, something has to change.
“I’ll put it like this: You don’t get pulled out just because you’re having a standup game,” Newton said. “I can tell you that. I’d be the first person to say that. There are some things I feel like I could have done better. But what my standard is for myself, it’s never to just blend in and just be the status quo. There’s some plays that need to have been made on my part that I feel like I could have done a better job at doing.”
For the Patriots, the hard part will be figuring out who the next quarterback should be. At this point, it’s even tough to say what they have in Stidham, the 2019 fourth-round pick. On Monday, he was pressured constantly, finishing 4 of 11 for 44 yards. The 24-year-old looks like he throws a better ball than Newton, but his sample size is too small to come to any conclusion.
“I think that’s one of the biggest things for development is just getting experience,” Stidham said.
Everyone knew finding the next Patriots quarterback would be a challenge, but add in the fact that they’re in a division with two young promising quarterbacks – Allen (who is legit) and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (who still has some question marks) – and the job for Belichick has gotten tougher.
The truth is that the Bills have their ‘guy.’ The Dolphins think they do, too. Look at the history of both franchises and you clearly see how important that is.
From 1986-1996, Jim Kelly led the Bills to eight playoff appearances in 10 years. When he retired after 1996, Buffalo went to the playoffs four times in the last 22 seasons. This year will mark the Bills first back-to-back playoff seasons since 1998-1999.
From 1983-1999, the Dolphins went to the playoffs 10 times behind Dan Marino. In the previous 19 years since Marino retired, Miami’s been to the playoffs four times.
This season marks the Patriots worst season since 2000 when they went 5-11. They won the Super Bowl next year. That marked Brady’s first of six championships. Now that Brady’s gone, the quarterback cupboard looks bare and the Patriots will watch the playoffs from home.
For Belichick, the real challenge begins this offseason.
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