One of the biggest takeaways from Cam Newton's lengthy video conference Thursday was he wished he had more time to learn the Patriots system.
Newton was signed as a free agent in very late June and then did not have a preseason because of COVID-19, so it was tough to get a full grasp of the offense right away.
He said this made him appreciate the offseason even more.
"My only regret was I wish I had more time to dissect what I was actually getting in to," Newton said when he was asked if there was something he could have done to perform better on the field. "I've been in this league long enough to kind of always downplay, like, 'Man, we don't need preseason. We don't need OTAs. We're ready to go.' Yeah, maybe if I was still in the system I came from. But learning this system, you just need more time, you need more real reps to kind of go through because there's only but so much you can kind of make up.
"You could put the eyelashes on. You could do your eyebrows. You could put your lipstick on. The mascara and the lip liner. But sooner or later, it's going to rain and the real true you will show. And unfortunately it showed -- not necessarily in ways that I wanted to."
Speaking Friday, Bill Belichick agreed.
“I agree with what Cam said, I wish we had more time together," he said. "I wish as a team we had more time with our team and with a lot of guys, especially new players. Yeah, I agree with that.”
As for 2021 and if Belichick would like to continue working with Newton, he said he's focused on this week.
“Again at this point, trying to do the best I can to help our team prepare for the Jets and finish the season on a good note," Belichick said. "Again, these guys have really competed well in practice this week. They’ve tried to get ready like they have all year long and I want to do the best that I can to prepare our team to give us every opportunity to perform well on Sunday.
"So, all your questions about some other year and going forward and all that, we’ll deal with that in due time. But right now, really want us to go out and perform well on Sunday and that’s really what everyone is trying to do here, which that’s what I want and I expect and that is what I respect about this group is the way they have approached things like that.”
The Patriots will have to make some big decisions at the position in terms of what direction they would like to go.
