Cam Newton released from Patriots due to Vax status
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https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/08/31/new-england-patriots-cam-newton-released-vaccination-status/
Wow. Wonder if he is surprised or has other cards up his sleeve. Maybe he is seriously considering retirement.
Oh and Ballers is highly recommended. Great series. Just started watching. Old show.
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FOXBORO (CBS) – "Patriots head coach Bill Belichick famously said “dependability is more important than ability" . . . On Tuesday, Belichick shocked the football world when he released Newton and handed the job to the rookie [Mac] Jones.
Adam Beasley Tweet: "There wasn't just one reason that Cam Newton is gone. It was a combination of at least three, I'm told: Mac Jones' emergence, Newton's vaccination stance (which caused a bit of a stir behind the scenes) and Cam's uninspiring performance this summer."
Hmm . . . Veteran QB released and rookie set in his place five weeks before the Brady meet.
Hmm.
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Everybody in the sports world knew Mac was the starting QB, if not to start the season, then just a few games in. He's been that good.
I was very high on this kid coming out and thought he was the #2 prospect behind Lawrence. He's a very Drew Brees-ish kinda guy. Not the biggest arm, but he goes through and reads his progressions very well, makes good decisions with the ball and is very accurate.
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Wrong…
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Cam Newton's vaccination status wasn't a factor in the team's decision to release him.
"No. Look, you guys keep talking about that," Belichick told reporters Wednesday morning.
"I would just point out that I don't know what the number is, but the number of players, coaches and staff members that have been infected by COVID in this training camp -- who have been vaccinated -- is a pretty high number. So I wouldn't lose sight of that."
The NFL previously announced that 68 players and staff tested positive for COVID-19 out of 7,190 tested individuals during a three-week stretch from Aug. 1-21. The rate of positive tests among unvaccinated NFL personnel was seven times higher than the rate of positive tests among vaccinated personnel, according to the league.
Newton was away from the Patriots for five days last week due to what the team called a COVID-19 protocol "misunderstanding." He missed three practices over that stretch, which allowed rookie Mac Jones to take control of the team.
The Patriots had disclosed that Newton had undergone daily testing at the time, all of which were negative. According to NFL-NFLPA protocols, Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals -- including all players -- are exempt from daily testing if they have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Newton had never confirmed his vaccination status, saying it was personal.
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@lufins-dad said in Cam Newton released from Patriots due to Vax status:
"No. Look, you guys keep talking about that," Belichick told reporters Wednesday morning.
"I would just point out that I don't know what the number is, but the number of players, coaches and staff members that have been infected by COVID in this training camp -- who have been vaccinated -- is a pretty high number. So I wouldn't lose sight of that."White male coach fires black QB in favor of white QB, and also says vaccinations don't work. Shocking.
Could white males possibly be any worse?
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Here's an interesting Comment from somebody after a YouTube thing about this: "I think it was a combination of things. They signed Cam in case they didn't get a guy they like in the draft. Even if they did get their guy, they would still have Cam if the rookie wasn't ready to play yet. Mac clearly impressed them enough to decide that unvaccinated Cam wasn't worth keeping (which I think also played a part in their decision)"
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@lufins-dad said in Cam Newton released from Patriots due to Vax status:
Wrong…
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Cam Newton's vaccination status wasn't a factor in the team's decision to release him.
"No. Look, you guys keep talking about that," Belichick told reporters Wednesday morning.
"I would just point out that I don't know what the number is, but the number of players, coaches and staff members that have been infected by COVID in this training camp -- who have been vaccinated -- is a pretty high number. So I wouldn't lose sight of that."
The NFL previously announced that 68 players and staff tested positive for COVID-19 out of 7,190 tested individuals during a three-week stretch from Aug. 1-21. The rate of positive tests among unvaccinated NFL personnel was seven times higher than the rate of positive tests among vaccinated personnel, according to the league.
Newton was away from the Patriots for five days last week due to what the team called a COVID-19 protocol "misunderstanding." He missed three practices over that stretch, which allowed rookie Mac Jones to take control of the team.
The Patriots had disclosed that Newton had undergone daily testing at the time, all of which were negative. According to NFL-NFLPA protocols, Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals -- including all players -- are exempt from daily testing if they have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Newton had never confirmed his vaccination status, saying it was personal.
So missing practices and uncertainty in qualifying to play had no impact on one of the most competitive activities in the US?
Who is buying that?
This sounds like the final nail in the coffin. Harder to get rid of a social media popular, black athlete without a gift of an excuse even if the card isn’t played.
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@loki said in Cam Newton released from Patriots due to Vax status:
This sounds like the final nail in the coffin.
Sorry, Loki? I don't know what you mean by "final nail". For the Pats, you mean?
If I were of a paranoid persuasion, I'd wonder if Belichick released Cam and inserted Mac because he knew Brady was gonna kick Pat butt and he wanted a handy excuse to explain it away. "Had no choice in releasing Cam. We did the best we could with Mac Jones, but . . . (sigh), it just wasn't good enough."
Probably that's not the case, though.
Probably.
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On another front, on the practical usefulness of 90% of football peeps' utterances to the press. The Packers GM addressing the QB Aaron Rodgers-front office kerfuffle from earlier in the year.
"I’ve had really good conversations throughout camp with Aaron and Matt, and I think the communication has been really, really good,” Gutekunst said. One sentence later, "And the conversations that I’ve had with Aaron have been excellent.”
Yep, really good convo. Really, um, good.
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This may have had more to do with Belichick's decision.
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@mik said in Cam Newton released from Patriots due to Vax status:
This may have had more to do with Belichick's decision.
It really is bizarre that Cam Newton was league MVP one year.
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Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@mik Yeah, it's been pointed out in more than one place how you can't keep a veteran on the bench in favor of a rookie.
Julian Edelman said it was a cold decision, but that if you knew Belichick it's not surprising. We know all about that, don't we? But what was Belichick supposed to do? If Jones was the better bet, on what basis could BB be justified in putting Newton in the field when he couldn't read the playbook as well as Jones?
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Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@jolly said in Cam Newton released from Patriots due to Vax status:
More background...
See? The Unvaccinated are idiots...
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Here's a prediction analysis for Thursday's game, Bucs-Cowboys: https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2021/9/6/22658885/cowboys-at-buccaneers-week-1-primer-dak-prescott-tom-brady-mike-mccarthy-bruce-arians-zack-martin
(Although, from another site: "Most people only love reading predictions so that they can throw them back in your face down the road after you end up being wrong about something . . . ")
Excerpts:
"For Dallas, it’s very simple: the season will go as Dak [Prescott] goes. His ankle looks great, and so does his shoulder despite a mostly-manufactured worry mill during the preseason. On Thursday night in Tampa Bay, Prescott will see his first game action since his gruesome injury against the Giants last year."
So he's going up against Brady with a recovering throwing shoulder. After being out forever. Hmm. I'm thinking he's got to be like the ant in the song about the ant and the rubber tree; he's gotta have miles and miles of hope.
After a lot more interesting content, "In other words, it’s a good thing that Dak’s ankle looks to be doing so well, because he may very well have to do a lot of running on Thursday. Between those potential problems on the offensive line and the thought of Tom Brady facing such a young and inexperienced defense, it’s easy to see why the Buccaneers are favored to win. But the Cowboys have the ingredients to win too, setting up a potentially thrilling start to the season."
Lots more good stuff at the site, with me mostly reading along dumbly and nodding like a bobblehead.
