Cam Newton's Job is Safe For Now

The New England Patriots traveled to Kansas City today to take on the Chiefs in an impromptu Monday Night Football game. It will be a very short business trip for the Pats as they left this morning, causing a traffic jam, and will fly back overnight. If they are lucky, Cam Newton will be there waiting when they arrive because we saw what the team looked like without him tonight and it's not pretty.

Brian Hoyer started on short notice and did not inspire much confidence before Bill Belichick yanked him in the second half in favor of Jarrett Stidham. Hoyer took a bad sack to ruin a possible scoring drive and completed 15 of 24 passes for 130 yards and a pick. Stidham was five of 13 for 60 yards, touchdown and two picks.

First the good news - one of those interceptions by Stidham was because Julian Edelman just took his eye off the ball and it bounced right to Tyrann Mathieu. The second pick was forcing it deep at a time when the Patriots were down 16 and desperate for a score. Would you rather he check down until the clock died? Stidham is a man of action. That's what you want in a quarterback.

However, Stidham obviously isn't what Belichick wants in a quarterback. Cam Newton easily won the job in training camp and Hoyer spent the first few weeks as the backup. When Cam had to quarantine and DL, Hoyer got the start. That seems bad for Stidham's prospects going forward.

We should find out the ugly truth later this week when the Patriots find out if Cam Newton can play on Sunday against the Broncos. We'll have to take a close look at the new NFL guidelines and protocols, but if Cam can't go, Belichick is going to have to play one of these guys. Does he want to start the guy he didn't want to start or the guy who started that he yanked so he could play the guy he didn't want to start? Not ideal!

It's crazy to think that Belichick was seriously considering one of these guys as his starting quarterback after Tom Brady left. What if some other teams that needed a quarterback had made him an offer? Can you imagine Belichick sulking through an entire season with Stidham and/or Hoyer? Let's hope Cam has a quick and complete recovery so we don't see that side of him.