The right direction turned out to be off the team.
Belichick isn’t messing around. He never is, of course. There is never a hesitation when it comes to decisions that need to be made. No heart strings. No emotions. No tipping of his hand. “This is professional football,” he likes to say.
Everything, as he often repeats, comes down to doing “what’s best for the team.” In that case, it was going with Jones, who outplayed Newton from the first day of camp through the third preseason game. Not just in totality, but on almost every single day of practice.
That includes the five last week that Newton wasn’t available because he pointlessly put himself on the wrong side of the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols by a) not being vaccinated and b) leaving town and taking the wrong kind of tests.
Newton was willing to take on that added hurdle of being unvaxxed — the NFL is more lenient with those who have received their shots. How much it mattered in the final decision is unknown, but sure couldn’t have helped.
If nothing else, Jones got nearly a full week, including a couple of joint practices against the New York Giants, to sear into Belichick’s mind what the team would look like not just with the Alabama rookie as QB1 … but Newton not even there.
Mac Jones will start from Day 1 for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, who cut Cam Newton on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Newton returned to start the third preseason game last week, but it was Jones who got the most reps. Newton played just two series and went 2-of-4 passing. Jones, meanwhile, was in for six drives and went 10-of-14 for 156 yards and a touchdown.
Newton attempted just 21 passes in three preseason games. Jones had 65, and 107 total snaps. Pro Football Focus graded Jones out with a 92.2 rating. Newton was just 79.6.
There was a belief that Belichick was using the preseason to get Jones more work so he’d be ready when his time came. (Plus Newton, as a veteran and former league MVP, didn’t need it.) That wasn’t the case. After all, Belichick never limited Tom Brady’s preseason workload, even as he pushed into his 40s.
The writing was on the wall. A more timid coach, a more conservative coach, might have decided to let Newton start the season, perhaps even play past a Week 4 return visit from Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that should prove to be emotional and intense.
Belichick isn’t that, though. His six Super Bowl rings suggest no one should be. If Jones is ready, then Jones is ready. It’s on him to deal with the pressure and expectations.
And Jones looked ready. Very ready.
The QB draft class of 2021 already looks promising. The top two picks, Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, are immediate starters in Jacksonville and with the New York Jets. No. 3 selection Trey Lance is making San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan contemplate a platoon system. And 11th pick Justin Fields will take over in Chicago soon — at least once the coaches there move on from Andy Dalton, who plays the role of Newton in their QB drama.
None of them have looked as good as Jones in this preseason. None walked into as good of a situation or enjoyed the supporting cast or coaching talent around them, of course. Still, Jones, who went 15th, has looked every bit as good, or better, than all of them.
Belichick certainly thinks this is his guy. Newton was signed a year ago on a low-budget contract to serve as the bridge between Brady and whatever the future held. He was a good teammate. He was a good player. It was clear Belichick really liked him, even signing Cam to a $12 million, one-year deal for 2021.
Newton was also aging, with his best days obviously behind him.
If Jones hadn’t distinguished himself, Newton would still be serving as that bridge. Jones won the job though, and Belichick clearly didn’t think Newton would serve best as a backup.
This way, it’s Jones or bust — journeyman Brian Hoyer will be there for only emergency purposes. There is no quarterback controversy.
That’s the plan for New England to try to win a Super Bowl, which is the only goal at a place with so many of them.
It’s Mac Jones or bust.
Sentimentality and caution are not allowed when trying to move in the right direction.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
