Bill Belichick Is Done Taking Questions About His Starting Quarterback
BOSTON (CBS) -- Late Thursday night, a grumpy Bill Belichick was rather unhappy to be facing questions about a potential change at quarterback from Cam Newton to Jarrett Stidham.
Some 10 hours later, while back home in Foxboro, the Patriots' head coach was not in any better mood to field such questions.
The Boston Globe's Ben Volin, who asked a couple of the quarterback questions on Thursday evening, asked the coach if his decision remained the same after viewing the tape of the game.
Belichick held off from putting forth any more sarcasm, but his answer was direct.
"Yeah, I've answered that question for the last time," Belichick said.
Belichick also defended Newton a bit for his costly pick-six, noting that Aaron Donald's disruption of Damien Harris ruined the timing of the play and created a bad situation for the Patriots.
"He could've thrown it into the ground, but I don't know why he would've thrown it into the ground. It wasn't that kind of play," Belichick said. "It's just one of those things. Donald made a good play and knocked the timing off a little. Tough situation."
Questions regarding a potential QB change have popped up numerous times throughout the season, and Belichick's response has been consistent: Cam is the Patriots' quarterback.
Perhaps part of the team's agreement with the veteran involved a semi-guarantee to start, so long as he remained healthy and relatively effective. Perhaps the coaching staff has a low collective opinion of Stidham. It's unclear.
What is clear, based on everything Belichick has said for the past several months, is that Cam Newton is the Patriots quarterback, and he's not interested in being asked any more questions on the matter.
