Newton Not a Fun Task for Dolphins Defense
The Miami Dolphins will have the honor of being the first opponents for Cam Newton's first start with the New England Patriots, which is now official after Bill Belichick declared Newton his starter for Week 1.
This shapes up as a tough assignment for the Dolphins and the coaching staff, who have seen first-hand what Newton can do.
Newton has faced the Dolphins twice in his career and he's also faced New England twice, both times with head coach Brian Flores and new defensive coordinator Josh Boyer part of the Patriots staff.
In those four games, Newton is 4-0 with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had 95 rushing yards in Carolina's 45-21 victory against the Dolphins in a Monday night in 2017.
In 2013, Newton was 19-for-28 for 209 yards with three touchdowns and no picks in a 24-20 victory against New England and six days later was 19-for-38 for 174 yards with one touchdown and one pick in a 20-16 victory.
In 2017, Newton had a 316-yard, three-touchdown performance when the Panthers won 33-30 at Gillette Stadium. He was even better against the Dolphins, passed for 254 yards and four touchdowns to go along with the 95 rushing yards.
Flores pretty much echoed the sentiments of most when he said the news of Newton being named the starter in New England over Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer wasn't exactly surprising.
“I think we all had an inkling that that was going to be the case, so we were preparing for all three quarterbacks and we’ll still do that," Flores said. "You’ve always got to prepare for the backup and you have to know who the third quarterback is if there is one. The same at all positions. You want to know who the O-line is and who the backups are on the O-line and who the D-line is and who the backups are on the D-line. But with him being named the starter — I mean, we’ve watched a lot of film on Cam. We’ll continue to do that, but we’ll also watch what Hoyer and Stidham and the rest of the guys on the team."
