If you thought 2020 could get any worse in New England, the fact that the Patriots are on track to come in third place in the AFC East should be enough to put a damper on your day. The biggest reason the Pats are struggling is due to the fact that their offense has been looking stagnant for pretty much all of October. A lot of that has been due to the play of quarterback, Cam Newton.

In the first three weeks of the season Newton looked great. It looked as if he had returned to the Newton of old and maybe could have been in the running for comeback player of the year. But unfortunately for Newton, Covid came and took over the team for a few weeks and left him and the team with minimal practice. Since his return from the Covid list, he has looked like a shell of his former self. He even acknowledged that he knows he could get benched if he continues to play poorly.

In his last two games, Newton has thrown for less than 300 yards while also throwing five total interceptions. He has led only one drive that has ended in a touchdown since week three and has not thrown a touchdown pass since then. On the season Newton has thrown for 969 yards and has a 71.7 passer rating thus far.

Let’s compare these numbers to the guy the Patriots didn’t want to pay in the offseason shall we,

Now 43 years old, Tom Brady has been doing very well down in Tampa Bay for the Buccaneers. So far this season, Brady has thrown for 1,910 yards almost 1,000 yards more than Newton and has an impeccable 102.7 passer rating through seven games. Now you could argue that Brady has a lot more weapons this year which is absolutely true, but last year Brady had fairly similar weapons as Newton and was able to throw for 1,409 yards in his first five games for the Patriots.

It is a bit unfair for us to compare Newton to Brady, but if the fact of the matter is that the Pats could have just given the GOAT a contract he deserved for once, we could be looking at another season of AFC East dominance. Unfortunately, ego’s clashed and Bill Belichick is now looking at a team that is about one bad loss away from throwing away the entire season. Now with Julian Edelman scheduled to miss time due to knee surgery, and Stephon Gilmore putting his house on the market, it appears the Patriots are in full sell mode for the trade deadline.

At the end of the day, it comes down to the play of the quarterback, and Newton hasn’t cut it so far this season and it seems he could only have one more opportunity to prove that he can make an impact on this team. As of late all signs seem to be pointing down for the Patriots and it doesn’t seem like things are going to be getting better anytime soon. If I were Belichick, I would be actively searching for the next QB for the Patriots because the answer is not on the roster right now.