Patriots fans are all too familiar with this: the starting quarterback looking for a high five, and being left hanging, the internet going wild thereafter with memes, GIFs and tweets galore. Of the many staples of Tom Brady’s illustrious 20-year career in Foxboro, one of the most memorable, and lighthearted, hallmarks, was Brady often being denied high fives.
There was rarely any contention around Brady’s unfulfilled gesture, just laughs and banter. Though of note there was the time in the 2019 preseason when Brady celebrated a touchdown pass from Brian Hoyer yet showed little enthusiasm when rookie QB Jarrett Stidham orchestrated a TD drive of his own. Predictably much ado was made of that nothing.
Perhaps Cam Newton was well aware of that aspect of Brady’s legacy, or the 2019 “slight” in Detroit, or maybe he was just being a good teammate and leader when he went out of his way to congratulate Mac Jones after he threw his first professional TD pass Sunday night vs. the Giants.
Newton, known for his enthusiasm and energy among many things, would not be denied. Many remember him racing down the sideline to celebrate after Rhamondre Stevenson’s 91-yard touchdown run against Washington this preseason. Cam loves to celebrate his own successes as well as those of his teammates, which his teammate acknowledged after the fact.
Debate has raged over the air and online as to whether Cam deserves to be the starting quarterback, or if Mac Jones has pleyed well enough to beat him out. In light of this competition, should that high five have gone unfulfilled one could see unnecessary controversy following. Imagine the calls and tweets about Mac freezing out Cam, the rookie displeased over the likely result of the QB battle! Instead, now we’re left with another pleasantly memorable moment from a very successful preseason, something fans and media alike discussed joyfully online after the Pats victory over the Giants in their preseason finale.
So long as Cam continues to work that hard to connect and celebrate with his teammates all season long there should be many happy fans, and teammates, and reciprocal high fives from Mac Jones, too.
