October 7, 2020 | 5:00 AM
Welcome to Boston.com’s Sports Q, our daily conversation, initiated by you and moderated by Chad Finn, about a compelling topic in Boston sports. Here’s how it works: You submit questions to Chad through Twitter, Facebook, and email. He’ll pick one each weekday to answer, then we’ll take the discussion to the comments. Chad will stop by several times per day to navigate. But you drive the conversation.
I guess there’s really no way of knowing the answer to this one, but I wonder what everyone thinks. Had Cam Newton been able to play, would the Patriots have won Monday night? Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham were so bad, and they still had a chance. I think they would have. Thoughts? – Lee W.
I think most Patriots fans probably asked themselves this one after the game Monday night, right? Hoyer and Stidham combined to go 20 of 37 for 190 yards, with one touchdown – a nice throw from Stidham to N’Keal Harry. They also totaled three interceptions, two sacks, and two horrible decisions in the red zone by the veteran Hoyer.
Despite the mediocre to abysmal quarterback play, the Patriots ran 35 times for 185 yards, and are now over 700 rushing yards for the season. With Newton, who has had truly excellent moments as both a passer and a runner this season, sometimes even looking like the 2015 NFL MVP version of himself, you have to figure the Patriots would have cashed in on some of those early opportunities.
It’s funny, when I saw this question, my initial answer was no. But now that I think about it, I do believe the Patriots would have won with Newton at the helm. The defense did an excellent job of slowing down Patrick Mahomes and the relay team of Chiefs receivers, and even on their second quarterback of the night, the Patriots trailed just 13-10 early in the fourth quarter.
Newton probably would have been excellent against the Chiefs, who were missing arguably their best defensive player in tackle Chris Jones. With even simple competence, the Patriots might have won the game. Hope we get a postseason rematch with a healthy Newton to find out.
But what does everyone else think? Would the Patriots have won Monday with Cam Newton at quarterback? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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