There were lots of reasons the Patriots offense struggled in Sunday's 18-12 loss to the Broncos.
They had a bunch of injuries on the offensive line. They had very little practice time leading up to the game due to numerous facility shutdowns as the team dealt with multiple positive COVID-19 tests.
Perhaps the most common talking point has been one that is not new: They don't have the weapons. Their wide receivers and tight ends can't get open.
While there is some validity to all of those explanations, we may be letting one very important part of the offense off the hook: Quarterback Cam Newton.
Some postgame video breakdowns have started to highlight some of Newton's struggles Sunday, including several instances of him not seeing or not throwing to open receivers, exhibiting poor footwork, and holding onto the ball too long.
As Dale Arnold pointed out on Dale and Keefe Tuesday, we might be too quick to blame everyone except the quarterback after years of watching Tom Brady.
"We've been conditioned over the years here that if something goes awry with the passing attack in New England, our default mechanism is to immediately blame the wide receivers, because it was never the quarterback's fault here," Arnold said. "And for a lot of that time, that was probably true.
"I heard this after the loss to the Denver Broncos. 'Well of course there was no one to throw to. The wide receivers were never open.' ... We're used to saying, 'Well it can't be the quarterback's fault.' Yes it can. Your quarterback has been bad."
Arnold cited a pair of breakdowns from former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky and former Patriot Matt Chatham, both of whom pointed the finger at Newton.
There is a silver lining here, though. Orlovsky and Chatham both noted that these struggles from Newton on Sunday can at least partly be blamed on a lack of practice reps, and that a lot of it can be fixed with more practice time this week.
To his credit, Newton hasn't blamed anyone else and made it clear Monday morning on The Greg Hill Show that he needs to be better.
"I have to be better," Newton said. "I want to make that perfectly clear. I have to play better football for the New England Patriots and I will."
