Coach Bill Belichick Explains His Starting Quarterback Decision

Head coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have made a decision regarding the starting quarterback for the upcoming games. Of course, this may not be a definitive decision, but it’s definitely an acceptable answer.

The Patriots head coach went on WEEI’s OMF on Monday morning. When asked why he decided to stay with Cam Newton, Belichick provided a good answer.

“We’ve won three of our last four games. Hopefully, we can continue to play good football on offense, defense, and special teams and have a chance of being competitive this week and moving forward.”

Belichick is all-in when it comes to winning games. He has the right winning formula for his team.

Head coach Bill Belichick won’t change his starting quarterback

Greg Bedard from The Boston Sports criticized Newton’s game on Sunday. He believes that Belichick should definitely go with Jarrett Stidham as a starter. Yes, New England won the game against the Arizona Cardinals, but Bedard doesn’t like Newton at all.

“That was unacceptable. Or, at least it should be if Bill Belichick truly believes what he preaches to his players about every decision he makes: Belichick does what’s in the best interest of the team. If that’s the case, then he needs to have a serious discussion with Josh McDaniels and Jedd Fisch about possibly benching Newton for Jarrett Stidham. Newton was terrible on Sunday in the Patriots’ eventual 20-17 victory over the Cardinals that was basically done without any of Newton’s help — unless you want to count the gift personal foul penalty he drew to set up the game-winning field goal. What you saw on Sunday was a Patriots team trying to win despite having — insert god-awful NFL quarterback’s name here (Tim Tebow, Trevor Siemian, Ryan Finley, David Blough, Jeff Driskel, etc) — as their quarterback. Yes, it was that bad.”

Bedard is overreacting. Newton didn’t play his best football, but he doesn’t really deserve to be benched at this point. New England doesn’t really have to be changing the starter in the midst of a 3-1 stretch.

Newton’s impact on the Patriots goes beyond stats. He is a true leader inside the locker room, and Patriots players really like him.

The Patriots have five games on the schedule:

• Week 13 at Los Angeles Chargers – Sunday, December 6
• Week 14 at Los Angeles Rams – Thursday, December 10
• Week 15 at Miami Dolphins – Sunday, December 20
• Week 16 vs. Buffalo Bills – Monday, December 28
• Week 17 vs. New York Jets – Sunday, January 3