Both times Bill Belichick has spoke since the 24-3 loss to the Rams, the Patriots coach reiterated Cam Newton is the team's quarterback moving forward.
So, why is that according to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels?
“Cam has certainly, he certainly has been the best option for us all year long since he earned the opportunity in training camp," he said on a conference call Friday. "And look, whenever the offense struggles, I know the attention is always going to get turned to that position. Me personally, it’s my responsibility to put us in a position to be more productive than we were last night. Every time we struggle offensively and don’t score enough points to win the game, I know I need to do a better job.
"Quarterback play is dependent on a lot of things to be done right and execute properly. The quarterback has to do his job, but there are a lot of other people that go into doing that same thing and being a productive offensive unit. Cam works hard. Cam knows what we want to try and do to win. Right now, I think there’s a lot of things we all can do better. We have to work hard and try and come back and have a good week of preparation in practice and see if we can play better as a unit down in Miami and get this thing back on track.”
With that being said, it is worth wondering if Jarrett Stidham will get a chance to start a game down the stretch as the team needs to get a full evaluation of him at some point, right?
McDaniels said the biggest evaluation of him comes in practice and quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch later added the majority of his reps come on the scout team. So, doesn't he need to start a game so the team can see him running the Patriots offense over a full week?
We'll see.