Less than two weeks ago, following a hideous Thursday night loss to the Rams, Bill Belichick declared that he’d answered questions about Cam Newton’s hold on the Patriots starting quarterback role for the last time.
But given that the Patriots were eliminated from the postseason via Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins and the Newton-led offense hasn’t scored a touchdown in two-plus games, the questions about a possible change at the quarterback position have continued this week. IT’s not crazy, after all, to think second-year former fourth-round pick backup Jarrett Stidham might deserve a shot to show his stuff. So, the questions have come.
And Belichick has clearly not been happy about it.
That began with an awkward exchange with the OMF show on WEEI on Monday.
It continued at the beginning of Belichick’s Wednesday morning video call with local reporters when ESPN’s Mike Reiss asked if New England would be sticking with Newton as the team began its preparations for Monday night’s battle with the AFC East champion Bills.
“We’re not answering that question every day,” Belichick bristled. “We’ve been through this for a month.”
Reiss then respectfully followed up accurately noting that the circumstances for the team have changed having been eliminated from playoff contention.
“How 'bout if I let you know if we’re going to make a change,” Belichick said, interrupting Reiss, who noted that sounded good to him before asking whether the lack of a clear answer from the coach might be “partly due to competitive reasons, you don’t want to let the Bills know?”
“Any questions on Buffalo, Mike?” Belichick responded.
“Thanks, Bill,” said Reiss.
